The new changes provide that Ukrainians will now have to pay for their stay in Poland for more than 3 months.

In addition, if Ukrainians leave Poland, social benefits will be limited.

This is reported by Ukrinform.

The updated law provides that Ukrainians will be able to live in temporary accommodation for free only in the first 120 days from the moment of their first arrival in Poland.

After that, Ukrainians will be forced to pay for living in such places.

According to the changes, citizens of Ukraine who live in such places in Poland for more than 120 days will be forced to pay 50% of their own maintenance costs from March 2023, but no more than 40 zlotys per day (over UAH 300).

From May next year, Ukrainian refugees will need to cover 75% of their living costs, but no more than 60 zlotys per day (500 UAH).

At the same time, this does not apply to vulnerable categories of the population:

people with disabilities, people of retirement age, pregnant women, women with children under one year old, women with three children and more 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 citizens of Ukraine at the time of departure from the territory of Poland.

This provision will mean that if someone leaves Poland every time, the social assistance paid by the communes (administrative unit of Poland) or ZUS (Polish Social Insurance Office) will be frozen.

If the stay outside of Poland will be more than 30 days, the citizen of Ukraine will lose the granted status, thus losing 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.

Changes in the law provide for the recognition in Poland of the electronic document available in the Diya application (equivalent to the Polish mObywatel document) as a document for legal stay in the country for Ukrainian refugees.

This document, together with a travel document, will give a citizen of Ukraine the right to cross the border multiple times without the need to obtain a visa.

In addition, the provision on the

simplified procedure for obtaining a permit for temporary residence in Poland

(up to three years) has been removed from the special law.

However, the special law guarantees a legal stay in Poland for refugees from the war in Ukraine for 1.5 years, starting from February 24 of the current year and ending on August 24, 2023.

From April 1, 2023, Ukrainians will still be able to apply for a temporary residence permit in Poland if they are employed in the country of temporary stay or have opened their own business.

It should be added that now Ukrainians fleeing the war in Ukraine will have only

30 days

, instead of 90 as before, to

obtain a Polish identification code

(PESEL).

The approved document also provides for the allocation of 2 billion zlotys (17 billion UAH) from the Aid Fund in 2023 for education for Ukrainians in Poland.

In addition, funds from this fund can be allocated for the digitization of objects of tangible and intangible heritage of Ukraine and the needs of the Polish Red Cross.

Further, changes to the special law on assistance to Ukrainians will be sent to the Senate of Poland for consideration.

It is expected to enter into force on January 1 next year.

It should be noted that an increase in the number of refugees arriving from Ukraine is again recorded in Poland.

According to Polish President Andrzej Duda, in order to continue to support Ukrainians who are forced to leave their homes due to the aggression of the Russian Federation, the country will ask for financial assistance from the European Union.