Amendment to the special act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens

The President has signed another amendment to the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of that country. The most important changes include:

1. exclusion not only of Polish citizens but also other European Union citizens from the group of persons who may be covered by the provisions of the Act;
2. adjustment of the Act’s provisions to situations where direct entry into the territory of the Republic of Poland from the territory of Ukraine is no longer necessary for a Ukrainian citizen to be covered by the Act’s provisions. The current provisions assume entry (arrival) only via a border where border control is conducted. However, entry (arrival) may occur via an internal border within the meaning of Article 2 point 1 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code), where border control is not conducted (e.g. the border of the Republic of Poland with the Slovak Republic);
3. designation of the Chief Commander of the Border Guard as the competent authority acting as the national contact point for exchanging information with competent authorities of other EU Member States regarding persons benefiting from temporary protection within the meaning of Article 106(1) of the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting foreigners protection on the territory of the Republic of Poland;
4. extension of the catalogue of entities with access to the register of Ukrainian citizens assigned a PESEL number to include voivodes;
5. extension of the Governmental Strategic Reserves Agency’s powers to accept as donations, store, issue and export to Ukraine not only medicinal products but also medical devices;
6. regarding the monetary benefit of 40 PLN for accommodation and meals, introduction of the rule that an application for the monetary benefit must be submitted within one month from the last day of the period covered by the application; applications submitted after the deadline will be left unconsidered;
7. in the provisions regulating the right of Ukrainian citizens to perform work, the catalogue of data which the entity commissioning the work must provide to the district labour office has been extended;
8. to enable the organisation of Polish language training for Ukrainian citizens practising medical professions, a provision has been introduced allowing the Minister responsible for labour to co-finance such training from the Labour Fund;
9. in the provisions concerning the registration of data of minor Ukrainian citizens who arrived in the territory of the Republic of Poland without a person exercising actual custody over them, and minor Ukrainian citizens who arrived in the territory of the Republic of Poland and before arrival were placed in foster care in Ukraine, the possibility for the Border Guard to access these data has been extended;
10. in the provisions concerning the right to family benefits, the 500+ benefit, the family care capital, the “Dobry Start” benefit, and subsidies to reduce parents’ fees for child care in nurseries, a provision regulating the cost of administering these benefits at a level of 1.5% of the amount allocated for payment of these benefits and subsidies has been introduced;
11. regulations have been added to identify potential cases of loss of entitlement to benefits due to a Ukrainian citizen leaving the territory of the Republic of Poland for a period exceeding one month (through information made available by the Chief Commander of the Border Guard and introduction of provisions allowing the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and municipal authorities responsible for benefit administration to summon Ukrainian citizens applying for or receiving benefits to appear in person under penalty of losing the right to those benefits if they fail to comply with the summons within the specified deadline);
12. a provision has been added directly indicating the source of funding for the costs of issuing disability certificates for Ukrainian citizens from the state budget;
13. a change has been introduced to allow support for daily carers of Ukrainian children until the child commences compulsory schooling as referred to in Article 31(4) of the Act of 14 December 2016 – Education Law;
14. provisions facilitating schools’ organisation of additional Polish language teaching in the 2022/2023 school year, as referred to in Article 165(7) of the Act of 14 December 2016 – Education Law, have been made more flexible, including in inter-school groups;

 
The Act also provides for amendments to, among others:

• the Act of 20 April 2004 on Employment Promotion and Labour Market Institutions. Changes include provisions under which the district governor (starosta) will initiate, organise and finance Polish language training for unemployed foreigners and job seekers from the Labour Fund. A foreigner may participate in one training course. The fee payable to the training institution for organising the training for one foreigner for one course may not exceed 2,000 PLN. In justified cases, the district governor may increase the fee payable to the training institution for organising sectoral Polish language training for one foreigner for one course up to 3,000 PLN. The Act also introduces possibilities of refunding to entities running social welfare homes and family support and foster care system organisations part or all of the costs of wages and social security contributions for employing unemployed or job-seeking persons full-time or part-time for 12 months. As indicated in the explanatory memorandum to the draft Act, the aim is to encourage employing unemployed or job-seeking persons in these units, thus strengthening their staffing.
• the Act of 12 December 2013 on Foreigners. Amendments provide the principle that the occupation criterion should form the basis for prioritising visa applications, and the determination of the foreigner’s country of origin should have a subsidiary character.
• the Act of 14 December 2016 – Education Law. The amendments extend from 12 to 24 months the right to additional, free Polish language learning for persons who are not Polish citizens, subject to compulsory schooling or education, who do not know Polish or know it insufficiently to benefit from schooling.

The Act also includes a transitional provision whereby, within 14 days of the Act’s entry into force, entities that provided accommodation and meals to Ukrainian citizens without a PESEL number may submit applications for monetary benefits covering the period up to 29 April 2022. Applications will be submitted on a form according to the model application for monetary benefits for providing accommodation and meals to Ukrainian citizens arriving in the territory of the Republic of Poland in connection with the war, valid until 29 April 2022. Applications for monetary benefits covering the period in which accommodation and meals were provided to a Ukrainian citizen up to the date of the Act’s entry into force must be submitted by 31 July 2022. Applications covering the period after the Act’s entry into force must be submitted within one month of the last day of the period covered by the application. Applications submitted after the above deadlines will be left unconsidered.

The Act shall enter into force on the day following its promulgation, with numerous exceptions.