|Published on: 1st July 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on Poland provides a detailed overview of legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex providing an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
(A) International protection
Asylum procedure
- Statistics: 13,232 people applied for international protection in Poland in 2025. 75% of them were nationals of Ukraine and Belarus. The in-merit protection rate was 48%. The average processing time for a decision on the merits increased significantly to 202 days (131 days in 2024) and, in September 2025, statutory time limits for handling international protection cases were suspended until March 2026.
- Suspension of the right to asylum: In March 2025, the right to apply for international protection at the Poland-Belarus border was suspended for an initial period of 60 days. However, the measure remained in force for the rest of the year. Polish authorities also failed to comply with all interim measures indicated by the European Court of Human Rights in related cases, and reports emerged of them refusing to register asylum applications from people anywhere in the country if they had entered from Belarus.
- Access to the border: The ban on access to the exclusion zone along the border with Belarus remained in force throughout 2025 and was repeatedly extended. The provision of humanitarian and legal assistance continued to be severely restricted as most NGOs were denied access and the limited permits that were granted were insufficient for protection needs to be met. Separately, humanitarian workers also continued to face the risk of criminalisation for providing assistance to people at the border.
- Violence at the border and pushbacks: There were numerous reports of violence and pushbacks at the border with Belarus in According to testimonies collected by NGOs, border guards engaged in physical and verbal abuse, humiliation, intimidation and the destruction of people’s personal belongings. In addition, there were documented cases of the use of pepper spray and the forcible removal of people’s clothing and their subsequent detention in freezing conditions.
- Implementation of the Pact on Asylum and Migration: In February 2025, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that his government would not implement the Pact on Migration and Asylum if it involved mandatory migrant quotas.
- Return procedure: In November 2025, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) halted an operation to return Pakistani nationals from Poland. The decision followed an intervention by an NGO which informed the agency of a possible violation of the principle of non-refoulement and that Poland had failed to ensure the affected people’s right to apply for asylum.
Reception conditions
- Withdrawal and reduction of aid: In order to comply with jurisprudence from the Court of Justice of the EU, provisions that had allowed for the total withdrawal of material reception conditions in cases of serious breaches of reception centre rules were repealed in 2025.
- Healthcare: Since January 2026, asylum applicants’ children who are born in Poland are entitled to medical care from birth, provided that an application for international protection is submitted on their behalf.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Detention of vulnerable applicants: Accompanied children continued to be detained in 2025 and the best interests of the child were rarely considered in court. In addition, there was no system for identifying victims of violence and torture survivors continued to be detained. Asylum detention often remained automatic, expert and medical evidence was frequently disregarded and courts rarely appointed independent experts to assess vulnerability or trauma.
Content of international protection
- Naturalisation: Since July 2025, certificates issued by post-secondary schools with Polish as the language of instruction have not been accepted as proof of Polish language proficiency. Separately, the fee for acquiring citizenship was quadrupled in 2025.
- Family reunification: In June 2025, the definition of ‘family member’ was expanded to include the parents and, under certain conditions, siblings of minor beneficiaries of protection.
(B) Temporary protection
- Extension of the temporary protection regime: Temporary protection is valid until March 2027 for all temporary protection beneficiaries.
- Access to asylum and other legal statuses: In 2025, the Office for Foreigners tightened its policy towards Ukrainians who were seeking asylum in Poland. Although 1,524 Ukrainian nationals were granted international protection, 2,847 were refused. Since May 2026, it has been possible for some temporary protection beneficiaries to apply for a three-year residence permit.
- Housing: Since November 2025, access to collective accommodation has only been available to certain vulnerable people. In addition, the list of people who could be classed as vulnerable was further limited in March 2026. Temporary protection beneficiaries are no longer able to access reception centres for asylum applicants.
- Social welfare: Certain benefits are now only available to temporary protection beneficiaries if they are active in the labour market.
- Healthcare: Since March 2026, access to healthcare has been limited to torture survivors, rape victims, children, people living in the collective accommodation centres, pregnant women and people who were injured in the war in Ukraine.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
