Polish President Karol Nawrocki has signed a law extending special protection programs for Ukrainian refugees until March 4, 2026. After this date, the temporary protection that has been in effect since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine will be canceled. The relevant information was published by the Zakon i Biznes publication, citing Polish sources.
The new law changes a number of conditions for Ukrainians to stay in Poland. In particular, to receive social assistance for children, it is now necessary for one of the parents to officially work in Poland and pay taxes. An additional condition is that the child must attend a Polish educational institution, except in cases of disability.
The head of the Polish presidential administration, Zbigniew Bogutski, said that the new restrictions will also affect access to free medical services and other benefits for those who are unemployed. According to him, these changes are designed to prevent the so-called “social tourism” from Ukraine at the expense of the Polish budget. After the end of the special protection in 2026, Ukrainian citizens will be considered on general terms for foreigners, without additional preferences. According to Bogutski, the new law is the last within the current aid formula. In addition to the already signed law, the Polish president is to present two new bills to the Sejm in the near future. The first concerns changes to the conditions for acquiring Polish citizenship: it is proposed to increase the period of necessary residence in refugee status from two to ten years.
The second bill concerns a ban on public display of symbols of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as well as the introduction of liability for "attempts to spread false information about the Volyn tragedy.".
Analysts believe that these legislative initiatives may affect both the internal situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and interstate relations between Kyiv and Warsaw.
