Polish passports are issued to Polish citizens to travel outside of Poland. For traveling inside the European Union, as well as to Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Croatia and the British dependencies in Europe (i.e., Gibraltar, Jersey, Isle of Man, Guernsey), Polish citizens can use their national ID card.
Polish passport – general informations
The statement in a Polish passport declares in Polish, English, and French:
THE AUTHORITIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND HEREBY KINDLY REQUEST ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN TO PROVIDE THE BEARER OF THIS PASSPORT WITH ALL ASSISTANCE THAT MAY BE DEEMED NECESSARY WHILE ABROAD.
The Polish statement for which is:
WŁADZE RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ ZWRACAJĄ SIĘ Z UPRZEJMĄ PROŚBĄ DO WSZYSTKICH, KTÓRYCH MOZE TO DOTYCZYĆ, O OKAZANE POSIADACZOM TEGO PASPORTU WSZELKIEJ POMOCY, JAKA MOŻE OKAZAĆ SIĘ NIEZBĘDNA W CZASIE POBYTU ZA GRANICĄ.
There are currently three designs of Polish passports in use. One design contains biometric data and the inscription EUROPEAN UNION in Polish on the cover (introduced in 2006), and two without those features: one with a red cover (issued 2001-2006) and one with a navy-blue cover (issued prior to 2001). Polish passports of the old designs retain their validity until the expiration date but are no longer issued.
The two more recent designs of Polish passport are trilingual and written in Polish, English, and French. The oldest of the three designs is additionally written in Russian with the exception of the page with personal data which is only bilingual (Polish and English).
Polish passports are issued for the period of 10 years.
The growing threat of terrorist attacks around the world has prompted many countries and international organizations to intensify their efforts aiming at increasing the level of safety of the travel documents. During its session in Thessaloniki on April 19th and 20th, 2003, the European Council stated that there was a need for common approach in relation to biometric identifiers or biometric data used in the documents of citizens of the third countries, passports of citizens of the European Union and information system (VIS and SIS II).
Polish passport – legal provisions
Work conducted within the European Union led to the establishment of solutions and agreements, which paved the way for the acceptance of the Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 of 13 December 2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States.
The foregoing regulations connected with the new requirements imposed on passports and travel documents that entitle to cross the border and at the same time can be used to verify the identity of their holder put Poland as the EU Member State against new challenges in respect of issuance of passports and travel documents and control thereof. The implementation of the new policy called for the introduction of a number of new legal, organizational and technical solutions by Poland in a fairly limited amount of time.
Polish passport – benefits
The right of Polish citizens to free movement in the country and abroad is one of the basic constitutional rights. The legal and organizational solutions which were introduced are in accordance with the Article 52 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
According to the foregoing Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 , Poland is under duty to introduce the first biometric feature in the travel documents which are issued for a period of time exceeding 12 months not later than on August 28th, 2006. The said Regulation, as a directly binding legal act, puts an obligation on the state institutions to issue such documents at the aforementioned date, nevertheless, to remain the integrity of the Polish law system and to give the state institutions the appropriate instruments necessary to fulfill the said obligation, a draft of the new Act on passport documents has been prepared.
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