According to UdSC data, applications for temporary, permanent and long-term EU resident residence are submitted in Poland unevenly. The greatest interest from foreigners concerns regions with large urban agglomerations that offer better employment opportunities.
In the years 2023–2025, the Masovian Voivodeship Office accepted 396,000. such applications, and the next places were taken by the Wielkopolska Provincial Office (182 thousand) and the Lower Silesian Provincial Office (165 thousand). At the other extreme were regions such as Świętokrzyskie (17 thousand), Opole (23 thousand) and Podkarpackie (24 thousand).
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There are also differences in the application processing time. The shortest average deadlines were recorded in the Małopolska Voivodeship Office (172 days), the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (201 days) and the Lublin Voivodeship (223 days). In turn, foreigners wait the longest for decisions in the Silesian Voivodeship Office (640 days), the Opole Voivodeship Office (623 days) and the Pomeranian Voivodeship Office (537 days).
As Jakub Dudziak emphasized, the increase in the number of applications observed since 2014 has significantly burdened voivodeship offices.
— For example, in 2019, 250,000 applications were submitted. people, in 2021 it was 393 thousand. people, and in 2023 already 609 thousand. people. Only last year did this trend stop, and the number of submitted applications was lower than in 2023. Moreover, in recent years, voivodeship offices have been struggling with a significant additional workload, said Jakub Dudziak from UdSC.
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The UdSC spokesman drew attention to procedural problems that may extend the processing time of applications. Formal deficiencies in documents or lack of cooperation on the part of foreigners and their representatives often complicate proceedings.
To streamline administrative processes, digitization of stay legalization procedures is planned. In August, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft amendment to the Act on Foreigners, which introduces the obligation to submit applications exclusively online via the Case Management Module system. As Dudziak pointed out, nThese regulations are intended to shorten the time of procedures, eliminate unfair intermediaries and improve cooperation between voivodeship offices and the Internal Security Agency. The bill has already been adopted by the Sejm and is awaiting the Senate's decision.
