Poland has notified an electronic document available to refugees from Ukraine to the European Commission – Diia.pl to the European Commission. It is as a document confirming their legal stay on the territory of Poland and enabling them to travel within the European Union and also to cross its external borders.

Diia.pl is the first fully digital residence permit in the European Union. The document is available via the mObywatel mobile application, which can be installed on Android and iOS mobile phones.

In order to regulate the movement of Ukrainian citizens within the Schengen area and the crossing of the EU’s external border, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration (MIAA) forwarded a notification to the European Commission of the Diia.pl document, which is being used temporarily, as a proof of legal residence in Poland. Information on the document was simultaneously sent to EU Member States and Schengen-associated countries.

After official notification, the Diia.pl electronic document, held by a citizen of Ukraine or another foreigner (whose residence on the territory of the Republic of Poland is recognised as legal on the basis of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in Connection with Armed Conflict on the Territory of that State), performs the role of a residence document used, together with a valid travel document, to cross the external border of the EU. It also allows movement within the Schengen area for 90 days in any 180-day period.

For the same purpose, i.e. to allow travel, the MIA has also notified the European Commission as a residence permit also the certificate of temporary protection, which is issued by the Head of the Office for Foreigners to persons under temporary protection with citizenship other than Ukrainian.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński