New act on foreigners!

   After long legislative procedure the widely discussed new Act on foreigners was finally signed by Polish president Komorowski. It will come into force from May 1, 2014, replacing the previous Act on foreigners from 2003. 

   The new act is not a "revolution", however, it includes some important changes. One of the good news is the fact, that there will be a possibility to get temporary residence permit for up to 3 years (now 2 years is the maximum). There will be also a possibility to get temporary residence permit and work permit through one, joint procedure (now you should apply twice in two separate offices, that takes a lot of time). It seems interesting, we will see how it will look like in practice.

   The Act on foreigners doesn't apply for EU/EFTA citizens, their rights and obligations are regulated by other legal provisions, so nothing will change  for them on May.

   Of course, when new act comes into force, all previous posts in this blog will be actualized according to the new regulations.

Legal basis:

• The Act of 30 December 2013 on foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2013., item 1650)

The list of Schengen Area member states

The list of Schengen Area member states - to make it clear once for all :) :

Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark (excluding Greenland and Faroe Islands)
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands (excluding Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and the Carribean Netherlands)
Norway (excluding Svalbard)
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain (with special provisions for Ceuta and Melilla)
Sweden
Switzerland

It should be noted, that:

Five EU members - Ireland, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania are not in the Schengen Area.

Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are Schengen Area member states, being at the same time non-EU members.