Understanding your protection decision
Identify the result, keep proof of delivery and plan documents, rights or review steps for each family member.
Identify exactly what was decided
Read the operative part, reasons and instructions with suitable language help. Refugee status, subsidiary protection, refusal, inadmissibility, discontinuance and transfer are different outcomes. Check every person covered and whether each issue was decided. Keep the full decision and proof of when and how it was delivered; the date can start a review deadline.
After protection is granted
Ask the Office about the residence card, any travel document and the effect of the decision becoming final. A document expiry date and the duration of protection are different matters. Confirm access to work, health cover, local support and any integration programme with the relevant authority; check application deadlines rather than assuming automatic enrolment or every benefit.
If you disagree or receive a refusal
Contact a legal adviser immediately with the complete decision, application and delivery evidence. Check the specific review route and deadline for your procedure and application date. The Refugee Board normally examines appeals from the Head of the Office; do not treat refusal, transfer and other decisions as identical. Do not sign a waiver of appeal without understanding its consequences.
Plan stay and travel safely
Ask when stay rights, assistance or departure obligations change and whether review or a stay request is needed. Do not assume a later court complaint automatically suspends enforcement. Protection in Poland does not automatically give residence or work rights in every other country. Before using a national passport, contacting home-country authorities or travelling there, obtain advice on possible effects on protection.
Editorial summary checked against official sources: 2026-10-26
Reading the decision and identifying review instructions