On 24 June this year, changes to the provision of the Act of 12 December 2013 on foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 519, as amended), regarding official certification of knowledge of the Polish language, came into force. In connection with the changes, the Minister of the Interior and Administration issued a regulation of 31 May 2023 on the list of certificates of proficiency in Polish confirming the knowledge of the Polish language required for the granting of a residence permit for a long-term resident of the European Union (Journal of Laws, item 1076), which also entered into force on 24 June 2023
The rules for certification of proficiency in Polish language at the level of at least B1 listed in the Regulation are:
1. certificate of proficiency in Polish language referred to in Article 11a(2) of the Polish Language Act of 7 October 1999 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 672) (document confirming proficiency in Polish language as in the previous legal regime);
2. certificates of the following institutions:
– European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages (ECL),
– telc GmbH, WBT Weiterbildungs-Testsysteme GmbH (TELC);
3. a certificate confirming knowledge of the Polish language in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages of the Council of Europe, issued by a specified university.
4. a certificate of entitlement to practise the profession of sworn translator or a certificate confirming entry in the list of sworn translators.
The new catalogue of Polish language proficiency certificates applies to proceedings for the granting of a long-term EU resident’s residence permit that have not been completed by 24 June 2023. In these proceedings, foreigners may prove the presence of a confirmed knowledge of the Polish language already using the documents included in the above catalogue.
Noteworthy, it is still possible to indicate confirmed knowledge of the Polish language by means of a certificate of graduation from a school or university with Polish as the language of education in Poland and by means of a certificate of graduation from a school or university with Polish as the language of education abroad.