e-LEGAL ADVICE

ruplen
2 10 2017

Recently the Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw ruled on conditions of issuing a subsequent temporary residence permit for a foreigner married to a Polish national. The Court discussed two requirements for a residence permit pertaining to marriage, namely whether the marriage is concluded as a marriage of convenience and whether the circumstances of the case justify the stay of the foreigner in Poland for a period lasting longer than 3 months. The Court confirmed that it is only when an application for the first residence permit is under consideration, that the administrative bodies can verify if the marriage was concluded to circumvent the law (with the sole purpose of obtaining a residence permit). The circumstances justifying the stay of the foreigner in Poland are a different matter though, as a dissolution of marriage (factual relationship) affects the result of the case, when a subsequent application for a residence permit is lodged.

Currently the Polish Parliament debates the need to change the Law on Foreigners, including the regulation on marriages of convenience. According to the draft law, the administrative bodies will have a wider margin of appreciation when interpreting the term.