During the appeal procedure

Incorrect designation of the body to which the appeal is addressed / Incorrect referral of the appeal

Appeals against decisions in matters issued in residence matters are submitted in writing to the Head of the Office for Foreigners through the voivode who refused the given residence title. This means that the appeal is sent to the address of this voivode (and not the address of the Office for Foreigners delivery office) and submitted to the second instance authority through it, for example by addressing it as follows:

"Head of the Office for Foreigners

through the Mazovian Voivode

Department of Foreigners' Affairs

Hive. Marszałkowska 3/5

00-624 Warsaw"

The appeal is addressed to the Head of the Office for Foreigners through the voivode who issued the contested decision, in order to enable the voivode to familiarize themself with the content of the objections included in the appeal and the justification for repealing or amending the decision, including the documentation submitted in support of him. After reviewing the appeal and its annexes, the voivode, if they consider that this appeal deserves to be upheld in its entirety, may within 7 days issue a new decision in which they will revoke or amend the contested decision (Articles 132-133 of the Code of Civil Procedure). In the event that the voivode in the mode of self-control does not consider it justified to accept the appeal, only then will they forward it together with the documentation to the Head of the Office for Foreigners.

If a foreigner or their representative wants to skip the stage of self-control of the decision by the voivode and sends an appeal directly to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, acting in accordance with the regulations, they will be forced to send them back together with attachments to the voivode, in accordance with their competence. The applicable law does not provide for such a possibility. Thus, the commencement of the examination of the appeal itself will be rejected in time.

It should be noted that appeals in cases of work permits, which are also issued by voivodes, require an appeal to the minister responsible for labor (Ministry of Family and Social Policy).

In the case of a decision on return obligations, the first-instance authority is the commander of the Border Guard branch or post, while the appeal is submitted through them to the Head of the Office for Foreigners. The procedure for lodging an appeal is analogous to that for appeals in residence cases.

In the MOS, in the "Fill out the application or prepare a pleading" section, available after logging in, there are templates of appeals that make their wording easier, including the risk of improper designation of the authority.