Poland has long been one of the most homogenous European nations, featuring a nation that identifies as between 95 and 97 percent ethnically Polish. However, the groundwork is being laid for more and more transformative immigration, including with a new proposal that could rapidly boost the number of residency permits approved.
The Polish Prime Minister’s Office of Donald Tusk has presented a draft of the so-called “silent consent,” meaning the presumption of legalizing residence for a foreigner if authorities do not respond to a foreigner’s application within 60 days.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants per year could benefit from this new development.
“Poland has transformed into an immigration state,” writes Polish news outlet Forsal.pl, regarding the new changes.
According to the outlet, 509,237 foreigners applied for a temporary residence permit in Poland. Negative decisions accounted for only 26,000 cases, positive ones for 328,000 people, and the remaining proceedings were discontinued or left unexamined. Given the current numbers, this new “slient consent” system promoted by Poland’s left-wing Tusk government would mean around 150,000 more presumed permits per year.
According to the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration, demand for foreign workers in the Polish labor market continues to drive increasing numbers of migrants into the country, but authorities believe there is a problem that many foreigners are now having to wait months for their residence permits to be approved by the voivodes.
The length of proceedings impacts those arriving in the country for seasonal or manual labor, as well as citizens of developed third countries who come to Poland to invest, work in IT, or run their businesses. For example, the share of Indian immigrants is rapidly growing in Poland.
Poland’s government says there are now long wait times for foreigners which are holding up the process of foreigners received their permits, which the government claims is hindering investment in Poland.
To address this concern, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister has presented draft amendments (UD408) to shorten this wait time via the use of so-called tacit consent, writes Forsal.pl.
With a planned adoption date of the second quarter of 2026, the amendments aim to shorten the real waiting time for consideration of applications submitted by citizens of selected third countries who do not pose an increased migration risk.
Given the uncertainty surrounding the deadline for completing the procedure, some foreigners choose to forgo submitting appropriate residence applications. Instead, they opt for visas or visa-free travel, which, however, only allows for a stay of 90 days within the last six months. An additional problem is the inability to freely leave Poland while awaiting a residence permit decision. In practice, this also applies to individuals performing work duties abroad.
The new regulations will apply only to citizens of the most “developed third countries,” whose security situation is stable. However, this could, for example, allow Indians to expedite their immigration to Poland, which has delivered significant negative consequences for a number of Western countries.
According to the draft, silent consent will occur 60 days after submitting a complete application. In the case of formal deficiencies, the deadline will be counted from the moment they are completed.
The bill also assumes that the solution will apply only to proceedings conducted by voivodes, i.e., the first administrative instance. It will not cover appeal proceedings conducted before the Head of the Office for Foreigners.
This shortened process will not be possible for foreigners listed in the Schengen Information System (SIS) or on the list of persons whose stay in Poland is undesirable. The new regulations will also not apply if, during the exchange of information, there are indications of a threat to national security or public order.
The bill also calls for possible security checks even after the proceedings have been tacitly concluded. Until these checks are completed, the foreigner will not receive a residence card. If it is later determined that the individual poses a threat, the voivode will be able to revoke the permit immediately.
Data from the Office for Foreigners for 2025 shows that 509,237 third-country nationals applied for temporary residence permits in Poland. Among them were 187,676 women and 321,561 men.
In total, over 328,000 people received positive decisions. Negative decisions concerned approximately 26,000 cases. The remaining proceedings were dismissed or left without review. For comparison, Poland issued 337,874 first residence permits to non-EU citizens, the highest number in the European Union, back in 2022 after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In 2023, this number hit a peak of 642,789 first residence permits.
By the end of 2025, nearly 1.3 million foreigners were working legally in Poland, a record high.
Citizens of Ukraine submitted the largest number of applications in 2025, with 288,537, followed by citizens of Belarus, with 45,387 applications. Next came citizens of Colombia, with over 22,000, Georgia, with over 20,000, and India, with over 18,000 applications.
High numbers were also recorded for citizens of Moldova, Turkey, the Philippines, and Nepal, each with over 8,000 applications. Some 4,501 Russian citizens also applied for temporary residence in Poland, with more than 3,000 of their applications approved.
The post ‘Poland has transformed into an immigration state’ – Polish government moves to shorten approval time for foreign workers as over 500,000 migrants apply for residency appeared first on Remix News.
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