Poland's Residence Permit for Parents (Non-EU)

Hi,

I am a non-EU, married to a Pole and living in Poland for quite a time now. I have one question, information around which is very limited - Getting your old aged parents here to live with you.

While other EU countries have clearly mentioned that the dependents - minor children, spouse, parents or anyone financially depended on the applicant- can apply for a residency, there is no such clarity on the Polish website (rule book) on the legality of residence of parents.

If anyone has done it or is aware of the law, please guide. Thanks in Advance.

P.S. I also carry a Blue Card.

@Pytania123

Parents are not considered family members for purposes of family reunification, and generally have to apply independently on their own merits. You would have to speak to a qualified immigration attorney to determine which, if any, options are available to you in your particular case.

Not sure which Polish website are you referring to. Polish Act on Foreigners should be your ultimate source of information, where Article 159(3) clearly states that:

3. The following persons shall be considered a family member referred to in paragraph 1(1):
(1) a person married to a foreigner under Polish law;
(2) a minor child of a foreigner and a person married to him/her under Polish law, including an
adopted child;
(3) a minor child of a foreigner, including an adopted child, dependent on him/her, of whom the
foreigner has actual parental custody;
(4) a minor child of a person referred to in paragraph 1, including an adopted child, dependent on
him/her, of whom he/she has actual parental custody.

@dovla
Exactly my concern.
While the other member states allow the parents to be included under the family reunification, Polish law seems to not include them and restricts itself to the nuclear family concept.

Anyway, thanks for the clarification. I should focus on visitor's visa in this case.

In what other countries? In Germany for example, it is not allowed, except is special circumstances ("if necessary in order to avoid particular hardship").

I don't think any EU member states allow parents of adult EU residents to be reunited except under the most extraordinary of circumstances, generally to help support a minor child.


Your parents would have to get that visa on their own merits. Since they are destitute (dependent on you for income), they will have a hard time convincing a consul that they have the means to support themselves during their stay. If you sponsor them, then they will not be able to stay longer than the length of the visa. They would not be allowed to seek work or apply for residency, as that would violate the terms of the visa. In any case, it is going to be virtually impossible to prove to the consul that they intend to leave the country when their visas expire, as they clearly have no intention to do so.

The reason you find so little about it on the internet is that what you are trying to do is next to impossible.

Getting a visitors visa for your parents is not "next to impossible". It is actually quite straightforward. With a formal invitation letter certified at urzad wojewodzki, you take not only the responsibility for your parents' subsistence, but also for their visa overstay and possible deportation. They do not get visa "on their own merits", but because you vouch for them. If you invite them for some reasonable period, even without any special reason ("I want to spend some time with my parents"), they should have no problem getting visas. But if consular officer feels that you are trying to misuse visitor's visa to get them to live in Poland - you have a problem.

I was talking about getting them residency.

As for the visitor visa, that will be very difficult, too. Sponsorship or not, the parents will have to convince the consul that they will return home when their visa expires. That's going to be very difficult to do if they are dependent on their child for support. This proves that their ties to Poland are stronger than their ties to their home country. Sponsorship does not guarantee that a visa will be granted.