Don’t miss out on the Pole’s Card financial assistance (and how I got a permanent residence permit in Poland)

Many people are only beginning to be interested in the issue of financial assistance under the Pole’s Card, and some have already received it. I will tell you from my own experience how I did not receive financial assistance and why it was not entirely my fault.

Financial assistance is granted to holders of the Pole’s Card if the holder of the Pole’s Card has applied for permanent residence on the basis of the Pole’s Card and thereby confirms his/her intention to settle in Poland permanently. For this purpose, the Government of Poland has implemented a program that provides financial assistance to persons of Polish origin from other countries who hold a Pole’s Card.

So, with this intention, I went to apply for permanent residence in the city of Bielsko-Biała, because at that time I was working in Szczyrk (15 km from Bielsko-Biała) at a ski resort.

I didn’t take into account that I was actually assigned to the city of Mikołów and the lady in Foreigner Office in Bielsko-Biała told me that I had to go to Katowice, because because of my assignment, it was not their jurisdiction.

I don’t know if she was completely right, because after all, the area of my actual interests at that time was the town of Szczyrk, which is under the jurisdiction of the Silesian Foreigner Office branch in Bielsko-Biała. It was possible not to show the assignment in Mikołów at all, but only the rental agreement in Szczyrk. However, I did not have a rental agreement at the time. But let’s get to the point.

You can apply for a permanent residence permit on the basis of the Pole’s Card virtually anywhere in Poland, you just need to specify the area of interest. Most often it is work and residence.
I was fascinated by the fact that a nice lady at the Foreigner Office in Bielsko-Biała said that the decision would be made faster in Katowice, because they are a subdivision in Bielsko-Biała anyway and the documents are sent from them to Katowice. Looking ahead, I will say that I made an appointment to submit an application in Katowice on December 7, 2018, and actually submitted documents, fingerprints and received a stamp on August 8, 2019.

History from the Pole’s Card to the Permanent Residence Card and how NOT to receive financial assistance

Arriving early at the Foreigner Office in Bielsko-Biała, I was informed that I had to apply in Katowice, and I decided that I would go to Katowice.
It was a nice winter day, and I had a day off, which in general could be 1 or 2 a month, because the nature of my work in the mountains was mostly seasonal. I was in a good mood and I went to print out one of the pages of the application in Bielsko-Biała, because although I filled out the application for permanent residence at home carefully and correctly, on one of the pages I had to specify the city, and I had written Bielsko-Biała, and since I was already going to Katowice… you understand my logic. That’s right, I should have written Katowice.
Having printed out 2 pages just in case, I went to the train station – Dworzec PKP in Bielsko-Biała and bought a train ticket to Katowice.

I have described in detail how to buy tickets for public transport in any city in Poland and for intercity trains in this article – I strongly advise you to read it, because it will save you a lot of nerves, time, effort and even money.

So, I arrived in Katowice quite quickly, in about an hour. I found my way to the Foreigner Office myself, because Google Maps helped me with this.

Maybe someone needs me to explain the most difficult part – first you need to go through the entire tunnel under the tracks from the PKP train station in Katowice, and then turn left and walk through another long tunnel. Once you get out of it, you will quickly and easily find your way – it takes a maximum of 10 minutes, maybe less.

I entered the building of the Foreigner Office in Katowice and looked for a long time to see where I should submit my documents. It seems that there is the same queue for permanent residence and temporary residence, but for some reason people take tickets and enter with them… I also heard that you can apply for permanent residence immediately without waiting in line… This was all going through my head. And now to the point.

Attention! Who is applying for permanent residence. In Katowice, at the Foreigner Office, when you enter the building, go up the stairs and go straight to another staircase. There, enter the hall and see the place for filing 1 and 2. Go to the 1st one and say that you want to make an application. You will be given a ticket with the letter and number of the place where you will submit your documents.

I did something wrong at the beginning because I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. I went left down the corridor instead of right. There I met a corridor full of foreigners applying for temporary residence. I was in an unpleasant shock because the ticket machine said that there were no more tickets for today. “But in Bielsko-Biała you can just come and submit documents, so it must be possible here somehow,” I thought to myself. And I was right.

I was a little desperate, because it was my only day off and time to solve the paperwork. The next attempt could be whenever, especially given the seasonal nature of my work at the time.

But hope did not leave me, and it was then that I randomly walked to the exit and found that other staircase. When I got there, I was completely confident, because I saw that it was mostly Poles applying for foreign passports. And I thought that I was no different – I have Polish roots and I am the same Pole (after all, I apply for permanent residence on the basis of the Pole’s Card and Polish roots) and went ahead. If it wasn’t for my confidence and desperation, I wouldn’t have submitted the documents that day.

And here’s my experience – maybe you need it, use it. At the aforementioned place number 1, I was given a ticket with a number. I waited in line and when my number was displayed in red letters on the board, I went.

The lady who accepted the documents was not at all friendly. She accepted the documents, but did not look at anything at all, did not check anything – she just took all papers I gave her and said: “You will receive a letter with the date to come to give your fingerprints and get your passport stamped. Goodbye”. And here’s the kicker! The basis of this entire article!

APPLY FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ON A POLE’S CARD WITHOUT WAITING FOR A STAMP IN THE PASSPORT, BUT WITHIN THREE MONTHS FROM THE ACTUAL DAY OF SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS!

I will explain what the procedure is so that you can get your financial assistance. I thought so – I submitted the documents, but did not receive a stamp. I will receive a letter telling me when to come for fingerprints, I will go, take my fingerprints, get a stamp and on the same day I will apply for financial assistance under the Pole’s Card, as everyone recommends. BUT EVEN THOUGH THE STAMP WAS ACTUALLY GIVEN TO ME ON AUGUST 8, 2019, IT WAS RECORDED ON DECEMBER 7, 2018, that is, the actual day of submission of documents, and not the day I took my fingerprints and received the stamp!

On the same August 8, the day I got the stamp, I wrote a request for assistance under the Pole’s Card, paid PLN 10 at the Foreigner Office cash desk, made copies worth PLN 10, and 2 weeks later I got a call saying that I could not get assistance because I was late. I submitted the documents on December 7, 2018 and I had three months to apply for the Pole’s Card, i.e. until March 7, 2019.

According to the law, I did not meet the deadline. I explained that I had received the stamp on August 8, 2019, but it was entered on December 7, 2018. The lady on the other end said that this was the procedure and she could not do anything. Now I had 2 options – to be left without financial assistance, or to cancel apply of all documents and apply once again from the scratch.

Learn from my mistakes and be wiser, apply for financial assistance right away, without waiting for a stamp. And who would have thought that the Foreigner Office itself puts stamps “retroactively”.

P.S. 2019. I’m thinking about the option of refusing to apply for permanent residence and then reapplying again. Still, the amount is not small – about 6 thousand zlotys for the entire period of assistance. Moreover, I changed my place of residence and work and transferred my documents to Krakow. But the waiting time is also depressing. I’ve been waiting for 10 months already, maybe in 2-3 months I’ll get the card, and then I’ll have to reapply again… and wait for at least a year more…

At the same time, I need to have a stable job and address, and what if something comes to my mind again and I want to change at least my place of residence, or even my job… Do I have to bring and send documents to the Foreigner Office again? So I am now in a state of reflection – on the one hand – a lot of money, on the other hand, I have time, which also often means money and even more – personal freedom.

In any case, this article is not about that, so be careful and when applying for permanent residence on the basis of the Pole’s Card, immediately submit the application for financial assistance (świadczenie pieniężne), and since you already have the information, you will not make my mistakes.

P.P.S. 2021.

In March 2020, I wrote a letter requesting to cancel my application for a permanent residence card. I didn’t know at the time that I already had a positive decision and left for my home country for a while. Now it’s 2021 and I picked up my permanent residence card more than a year ago, in July 2020. The decision was issued in Krakow in February 2020. On May 31, 2020, I received a text message saying that my card was ready and I had to pick it up. My letter of request to cancel the application was not taken into account. In total, the case was considered in Krakow for 3 months. Another 2 months passed from receiving the decision to the production of the plastic. Due to a change of job and place of residence, my application was sent from Katowice to Krakow for 5 months!