In May 2014, the Act on Foreigners entered into force. It introduced the possibility of revoking a foreign national’s permanent residence permit if the basis for granting that permit was the fact that the foreign national was married to a Polish citizen, provided that the foreign national divorced within two years of the date on which the permanent residence permit was granted.
Previously, the regulations did not provide for such a possibility. Provincial offices therefore began revoking residence permits en masse from foreign nationals who had divorced within two years of obtaining a permanent residence permit. Foreign nationals were taken by surprise by the sudden and unexpected loss of their residence permits in Poland. This is because the authorities were applying the new regulations to events that had taken place many years earlier; permits were being revoked for foreigners due to divorces that had occurred several or more than a dozen years prior. Foreign nationals who had lived in Poland for several decades and had stable professional lives began contacting our law firm, but suddenly learned that their residence permits in Poland had been revoked, and thus, overnight, their continued stay in our country became illegal. The Border Guard initiated deportation proceedings.
Fortunately, Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland—and the principle of a democratic state governed by the rule of law enshrined therein—came to the aid of foreign nationals. This principle includes, among other things, the rule of lex retro non agit (the prohibition on the retroactive application of law). This principle means that the law should apply only prospectively. Thus, the provision introduced in May 2014 allowing for the revocation of a permanent residence permit may be applied only to divorces that took place after that date.
The law firm’s arguments were accepted by the Head of the Office for Foreigners and set a precedent on the basis of which all similar cases were resolved in favor of the foreigners, and provincial offices have refrained from revoking residence permits. The number of foreigners saved remains a mystery to this day.
