The alien shall submit an application for the permanent residence permit in person,
not later than on the last day of their legal stay on the territory of the Republic
of Poland. If the application for the permit was not submitted by the alien in person,
the voivode requests their personal appearance within 7 days, otherwise the application
will not be processed.
When submitting an application for the permanent residence permit, the alien shall
leave their fingerprints in order to obtain the residence card.
Aliens who are less than 6 years old or for whom leaving fingerprints is physically
impossible, do not fall under the above obligation.
If an alien does not leave their fingerprints in order to obtain the residence card,
although they are obliged to it, the proceedings to grant the alien a permanent
stay permit are not initiated.
If the deadline for application submission was met and there is no information missing
from the application or the information missing was provided on time, the alien's
stay is considered legal from the day the application was submitted, until the day
when the final decision regarding this case is made. If the proceedings related
with granting a permanent stay permit are suspended on the alien's request, their
stay during this time shall not be deemed legal.
NOTE: Having a stamp in their travel document does not entitle the alien to travel
to the territories of other countries of the Schengen Area, however, the alien can
travel to their country of origin.
The permanent stay permit is granted for unspecified time.
A document confirming the identity of the alien during their stay on the territory
of the Republic of Poland and entitling them, together with the travel document,
to crossing the border multiple times without the necessity to obtain a visa is
the residence card. The residence card is valid for 10 years since the day when
it was issued and after this period, it is subject to validation. After receiving
the decision permitting the permanent stay, the alien must register their place
of permanent residence and provide a proof of registering their permanent residence
together with their PESEL (Polish Resident Identification Number) to the Department
of Nationals' and Foreigners' Affairs.
A foreigner is obliged to collect the residence card in person.