Pursuant to Article 41 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, during the course of proceedings, the parties as well as their representatives and attorneys are obliged to notify the public administration authority of any change of address. The consequences of failing to inform the authority of a change of residence are described in Article 41 § 2 of the Code, according to which, if the obligation referred to in § 1 is neglected, the delivery of correspondence to the previous address shall have legal effect.

The aforementioned regulation is incredibly important in the context of any foreigner applying for international protection. A foreigner who decides to reside outside of a residential center run by the Chief of the Office for Foreigners will receive additional financial benefits via the post office. At the same time, a summons for an interview will be sent by the Office for Foreigners to the address indicated by the party. This interview is one of the most important stages of the entire proceeding, as it is during this time that the party has the opportunity to present their case in full. Failing to inform the Chief of the Office for Foreigners about a change of address will lead to the Office sending both the financial benefits as well as summons for an interrogation to the old address. While having not picked up the money transfer will result in it being returned to the Office, failing to collect the summons and thus possibly failing to show up for the interrogation on the specified date might lead to the international protection case being discontinued. This can result in a decision on the obligation to return to the country of origin and being subjected to the so-called deportation procedure.

In practice, it turns out that a change of residence by a foreigner, made with the knowledge and consent of the Office for Foreigners (for example, transferring to another reception center or switching to so-called “benefits outside the center”), does not produce the same legal effect with respect to the Border Guard, which is the public authority conducting the return obligation proceedings. In a situation where a foreigner submits another application for international protection and decides to live outside a foreigners’ reception center, in order to avoid the risk of “fictional service” (i.e. a letter being deemed delivered to the previously known address), the foreigner should notify the Border Guard of their change of residence. This will help avoid the risk of the Border Guard sending correspondence to the address originally indicated in the case files. Although, after the change of residence approved by the Head of the Office for Foreigners, the new address data is entered into the information system to which the Border Guard has access, in practice, correspondence is sometimes still sent by the Border Guard to the old address. In the opinion of the Rule of Law Institute Foundation, this practice is unfair to foreigners who are not in hiding and who are unaware that notifying the Head of the Office for Foreigners during the asylum procedure does not fulfill the obligation to notify the Border Guard.