Applying for international protection
Prepare your account and documents, contact the Border Guard and confirm the next steps after lodging your claim.
Choose the correct procedure
International protection examines persecution or serious harm on return and may result in refugee status or subsidiary protection. It is different from temporary protection, an ordinary residence permit and the separate Polish national asylum procedure. Explain your own protection needs; nationality or having relatives in Poland does not itself establish the outcome.
Contact the competent Border Guard
Applications are lodged through Straż Graniczna for examination by the Head of the Office for Foreigners. Ask where and how to attend, including accompanying family members and special arrangements if unable to appear. Belarus-border restrictions and statutory exceptions need current individual checking; do not assume every border location accepts every claim. Seek legal help before planning a journey.
Prepare truthful information
Bring available identity/travel and family documents and evidence of the danger. Prepare a timeline, previous stays or protection claims, route and family circumstances. Explain missing documents rather than inventing facts. Tell officials about children, health, disability, pregnancy or violence-related needs and ask for an interpreter in a language you understand.
Confirm registration and instructions
Check names, dates and the recorded account with interpretation; ask to correct errors before signing. Keep confirmations, case number and instructions about documents, reception and correspondence. Ask how to renew any temporary identity certificate (TZTC); it is not a passport or permission to travel abroad. An online residence-permit form does not replace lodging a protection claim.
Editorial summary checked against official sources: 2026-10-26
Lodging an international protection application