The period of stay of Ukrainians with temporary protection has been extended until September 30, 2025.

Temporary protection of Ukrainians

In addition, a special official website has been created to help Ukrainian citizens traveling to or planning to enter Poland

Information on refugee reception centers is available at the link.

Refugee social security (temporary housing, food, employment opportunities, etc.)

You can use the central vacancy database on your own without visiting the employment service via computer, telephone or other mobile devices with Internet access. Search for job offers is also possible with a special mobile application ePraca (Android and iOS).

You can also use the help of an employment officer to help you find a vacancy (or other job vacancy databases) in the Central Database and provide information on relevant job offers (employer contact details and other important information).

The employee will also provide you with information about the possibility of receiving assistance from other government agencies / funds, etc.

Information on the rules of employment of foreigners

An employee of the office will provide you with information on the employment conditions of foreigners, including available on the Internet in Ukrainian. After reviewing your legal situation (availability of residence permit, possible work permits, etc.), the employee will try to advise on how best to legalize work, and indicate in which institutions to address this issue and to whom to apply (whether a foreigner or employer).

Registration with the employment service as unemployed

After registering with the employment service, you will be able to apply a complete package of the catalog of forms of assistance defined in the current regulations. This catalog includes:

• professional training,
• co-financing of business opening,
• compensation for employment (technical work, public works, etc.),
• reimbursement of the cost of travel and accommodation to and from the place of work,
• reimbursement of expenses for the care of a child under 7 years of age or a dependent, etc.

Useful websites:

information on Polish state aid to refugees from Ukraine (including Ukrainian)

information on employment service assistance is available in Ukrainian, contact details of the employment service

database of job vacancies (including some information in Ukrainian)

database of vacancies in Europe (translation into Ukrainian)

EPraca application (in Polish)

Medical care (especially for chronic patients (eg insulin-dependent))

Cancer patients from Ukraine who were forced to stop treatment in Ukraine (This applies only to citizens who crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border after February 24, 2022 and therefore can not continue treatment in Ukraine).

According to the information posted on the Polish Government website, you can continue your treatment in Poland.

Information, including in Ukrainian, can be obtained from the 24-hour toll-free hotline of the National Health Fund: 800 190,590

The hotline is open 24 hours a day, 24/7. The hotline serves patients in Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Information can also be obtained by e-mail, chat [online communication] or video link with a sign language interpreter.

By calling this number, the patient will be able to inform about the need to continue cancer treatment in Poland. All the patient needs to do is leave their contact details.

The data will be transferred to the center, which will take care of the organization of further treatment.

The center will contact the patient within 2 working days to get detailed information about the patient and the course of previous treatment.

There is at least one oncology hospital in each voivodship that is ready to accept patients from Ukraine.

Possibility to extend short-term stays and visas for citizens of Ukraine;

After crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border, the status of a citizen of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland is legal. Currently, there is no need to apply for residence permits to the relevant government agencies of the Republic of Poland.

Useful information on the education of Ukrainian children who left Ukraine

Should I apply for refugee status?

If you have a place to stay and you have enough money to stay in the country you crossed:

Citizens of Ukraine have the right to a legal short-term stay of up to 90 days in EU countries. If you have the financial means to stay in the EU during this period, you do not need to apply for refugee status immediately. The EU institutions recommend, if possible, to wait for the development of the situation and solutions to be proposed by the authorities of the country whose borders cross.

The European Commission is ready to use a temporary protection mechanism.

Unlike the refugee status procedure, this mechanism is designed to reduce bureaucratic procedures to a minimum and speed up the process as much as possible.

It provides:

• Obtaining a temporary residence permit for the period of temporary protection. The certificate is issued for one year and can be automatically renewed twice for six months. If the war in Ukraine lasts more than two years, the authorities may decide to extend the license for another year;
• Access to work. There is no requirement of 6 months in this case;
• Access to education. Children under the age of 18 have the right to study in educational institutions on a par with the citizens of the host country;
• Provision of housing. This involves settling in an appropriate center or providing accommodation;
• Access to social security and medicine;
• Opportunity to obtain refugee status in the future. Accordingly, obtaining temporary protection does not preclude obtaining refugee status in the future.

Temporary protection also provides that if the host country does not have the opportunity to continue accepting people, some may be relocated to a neighboring state (but only with the permission of the person to be relocated).

What to do when crossing the Ukrainian border. Do I need to apply for refugee status?

More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine as a result of the armed conflict. The UN expects this figure to rise to 5-6 million. An algorithm has been developed for those who plan to leave, which explains how to act after crossing the border of Ukraine.

If you do not have acquaintances with whom you can stay, do not have enough money to continue living in the host country

In this situation, the best option is to obtain refugee status.

You can apply for refugee status:

1. When entering the country. You must inform the border guard officer who will check the documents that you want to obtain refugee status in this country.
2. If there are queues at the border crossing point, you can ask the officer who will check the documents where to find the nearest Border Guard Service. And then apply through this office.

Once you have applied for refugee status, you will have the right to live in one of the refugee centers. The state can also provide housing in other ways.

Having received refugee status, you are guaranteed:

1. Obtaining a residence permit, which will be valid for up to 3 years, and which can be renewed;
2. The right to employment and education;
3. The right to social security and medical services.

Importantly

To obtain refugee status, you will be required to submit your passport to the appropriate institutions until you receive a decision on your status.

• The process of obtaining refugee status can take an average of 6 months to a year;
• You can only get refugee status in the country whose border you have crossed;
• You will not be eligible to work for the first six months after applying. If you have not been granted refugee status for 6 months, you are entitled to a certificate that will allow you to work until you receive the status.

What to do if the passport expires?

If you entered Poland on a foreign biometric passport, which has already expired or expires within the next three months, you can apply to the nearest Consulate of Ukraine in a live queue (one of the five - Warsaw, Krakow, Lublin, Gdansk, Wroclaw) to extend the passport. To do this, you must have the original passport and a copy.

What to do if you have a child without a passport?

If your child has crossed the border with a birth certificate and you (mother or father) have a passport (biometric or old), you can enter information about the child in your passport. To do this, contact the nearest Consulate of Ukraine (one of the five). You must have the original passport, a copy of the passport, the original and a copy of the birth certificate and two 3.5 × 4.5 photographs. Parents' passports contain information about children under 18 years of age.

What should I do after crossing the border?

If you do not need urgent help and have a place for a temporary stay, then you do not need to register at the reception (reception) or elsewhere. You can immediately go to your destination throughout Poland.

Do I need to contact the Embassy / Consulate? Do I need to register at the Embassy / Consulate?

You have the right to apply to the Consulate if necessary, but you are not obliged to apply to or register with the Consulate.

What issues do I need to contact the consulate?

1. extend the validity of the passport for up to 5 years in the event of its expiration (for children, the validity of the passport may be extended for 4 years);
2. enter information about children / children under 16 years of age in the passport of one of the parents;
3. if you have only an internal passport (old model in the form of a booklet), where there are no entries in Latin, you can issue a Certificate of Identity, where your personal data will be indicated in Polish and Ukrainian.

Can I get a new passport in Poland?

Currently, the consulates in Lublin and Gdansk accept documents for foreign passports

If I cross the border with a document other than a foreign passport (domestic passport, ID card, birth certificate, etc.), do I need to report to the consulate within 14 days?

No need. Persons who have left Ukraine from the armed conflict and are temporarily in the Republic of Poland do not need to register at the consulate, or enter information about children in the passport as soon as possible, or renew the passport.

Polish identification number - PESEL

It gives the right to use social benefits, rent housing, open a bank account. PESEL can be issued in any department of the city council. To fill out the form, you need any document proving your identity. In addition, people over the age of 12 must have their fingerprints taken to obtain PESEL. 

Ukrainians who have evacuated to Poland and applied for PESEL can receive a one-time payment of 300 zlotys (approximately 2 thousand hryvnias). Applications for assistance can be left at the centers of administrative services, local administrations.

How to use the currency

The National Bank of Ukraine and the National Bank of Poland signed an agreement last year that will allow Ukrainians staying in Poland to exchange Ukrainian hryvnias for Polish zlotys. Adult citizens of Ukraine will be able to exchange up to 10 thousand hryvnias in cash per person. Only banknotes in denominations of 100 to 1,000 UAH will be accepted for exchange.

To exchange, Ukrainians must have a passport in the form of an ID-card issued after 2016 or a foreign passport.

The exchange can be carried out in selected branches of PKO Bank Polski - the list is here. 

Possibilities of electronic residence permit for Ukrainians

With the help of the Diia.pl digital document, immigrants will be able to

• apply for a residence permit,
  
• cross the external border of the EU,
• travel within the Schengen area for 90 days in any 180-day period.

How to activate the program and add a Diia.pl document?

In order to receive the Diia.pl document you must

• have PESEL, the Polish equivalent of the Ukrainian identification code,
  
• make an electronic signature to create an account on the mObywatel platform,
• install the mObywatel application on your mobile phone (it is available for Android and iOS),
• launch the application and follow the instructions.