Return of application

Detailed explanation

The administrative body is obliged to respect its substantive and territorial jurisdiction, that is, it deals with the type of administrative matters (substantive jurisdiction) determined on the basis of the Regulations on the scope of its activity on the territorial scope specified by the regulations (territorial jurisdiction).

If the member and the administration find that they do not have substantive or territorial jurisdiction, they shall be obliged to forward the application to the competent authority without delay and inform the applicant thereof.

• For example, an application for granting a residence permit is submitted to the voivode competent for the place of stay of the foreigner to whom the application relates. If you live in a given voivodeship (e.g., you live in Warsaw, i.e., the Mazovian Voivode is competent in the case) and you send the application to another Voivode (e.g., the Voivode of Łódź), this Voivode will send the application to the voivode who is competent for its consideration. We are talking about territorial jurisdiction.

• If, on the other hand, you submit an application for a residence permit to an authority other than the voivode, e.g., to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, this authority will send the application to the competent voivode. We are talking about a material property.

However, if the administrative body is not able to determine the competent authority to consider the case or the common court is competent in the case – the administrative body returns the application to the applicant.

The administrative body shall also return the application if the request contained in the application (e.g. issuing a certificate or granting a permit) is subject to stamp duty, and the applicant does not pay the due fee within the time limit set for this action (7-14 days), despite the correct request of the administrative body to pay the fee under pain of returning the application (see also: stamp duty refund).

The application shall be returned by way of a decision against which the complaint is lodged (see: Appeals).