And yet, the madness of indefinitely postponing deadlines for handling foreigners’ residence cases has been stopped. A few days ago, an administrative court served me with a judgment in a case concerning my complaint about the inactivity of authorities in a foreigner’s matter. In this judgment, the court agreed with me that such postponement of deadlines for handling a foreigner’s case is inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
More precisely, it is the statutory provisions—repeatedly extended without justified reason—that prolong a special regulation temporarily suspending the deadlines for handling foreigners’ residence cases which are unconstitutional. The court referred to the case law of the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny, according to which the provision suspending deadlines for issuing decisions may have been justified by the events of 2022 and the sudden influx of a large number of refugees from Ukraine caused by Russian invasion of Ukraine, but at present it has lost its raison d’être.
Consequently, its further extension cannot be considered consistent with the constitutionally protected right to a court and the principle of proportionality.
This judgment is very good news for foreigners. It opens the door to accelerating the processing of their cases, curbs the impunity of regional (voivodeship) offices, and gives hope for a return to normality. Bravo to the administrative courts!
Image by Freepik
