Duda signs amendments to law on assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Poland

Polskie Radio reports that the law provides that Ukrainians will be able to live in temporary accommodation for free only during the first 120 days from the moment of their first arrival in Poland, after which they will pay for living in such places.

The changes also provide that citizens of Ukraine, who live in such places in Poland for more than 120 days, will have to pay 50% of their own maintenance costs from March, but no more than 40 zlotys per day (over UAH 300 UAH). From May, they will need to cover 75% of living costs, but no more than 60 zlotys per day (UAH 50).

At the same time, this does not apply to vulnerable categories: people with disabilities, people of retirement age, pregnant women, women with children under one year old, women with three or more children, and people in a difficult situation. They will continue to live in such places for free.

Other changes provide for the "freezing" of social assistance payments to Ukrainian citizens at the time of departure from Poland. This provision will mean that if someone leaves Poland every time, social assistance will be frozen.

If the stay outside of Poland is more than 30 days, then the citizen of Ukraine will lose the granted status, therefore he will lose the right to social assistance. Social status can be restored if a Ukrainian flees the war in Ukraine again as a result of hostilities on the territory of the country.

In addition, Ukrainians fleeing the war in Ukraine will now have only 30 days, instead of 90 as before, to obtain a Polish identification code (PESEL).

According to approximate estimates, there are up to 3.5 million Ukrainians in Poland, of which up to 1.3 million arrived in the country after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.