Visa

Regulations

Act on Foreigners

The Act of 12 December 2013 on Foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 769) in Section IV regulates the process of issuing national visas and certain procedures related to the issuance of Schengen visas (e.g. national objectives for issuing Schengen visas, national annotations, national procedures related to visa consultations), as well as issues related to procedures for extending visas, as well as their reversal and invalidation.

In addition, Article 5(2) of the Act on Foreigners indicates that the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009 of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) shall apply to all procedural issues concerning national visas that are not covered by the Act on Foreigners.

Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009 (Visa Code)

Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009 of 13 July 2009 establishing the Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) is the main source of law concerning the processes related to the issuance of Schengen visas.

The Visa Code establishes common rules for the submission of visa applications for all Member States, specifying:

• the State competent for examining the application for a Schengen visa;

• the rules for lodging an application for a Schengen visa;

• documents and fees required from the foreigner;

• the rules for examination of the application by the consul;

• the rules for taking a visa decision by the consul;

• grounds for refusal of a Schengen visa;

• the rules for the extension, annulment and revocation of a Schengen visa;

• the procedures for issuing visas at the external borders;

• the organisation of visa sections;

• rules on cooperation between visa authorities and external service providers.

Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806

Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement stipulates that from the third-country nationals listed in Annex I to that Regulation, and also persons