Authors: Monika Gwiazda, Dagmara Jachacz, Joanna Oleszkowicz, Magdalena Maciąg, Tomasz Sieniow (ed.)

Staying in the territory of a foreign country entails many responsibilities, starting with fulfilling the legal requirements for crossing the border, through obtaining permission to stay and to have fixed address, as well as getting the timely renewal of a visa. Polish law guarantees liberties to foreigners legally residing in the territory of Poland, which are often equal to Polish citizens’ liberties. The knowledge of rights and responsibilities can greatly facilitate a foreigner’s stay in Poland, and it is also a condition of their good integration with Polish society.

The integration of foreigners in the Lublin voivodeship is the title of the project implemented in 2009-2010 by the Institute for the Rule of Law. The project was co-financed from the European Fund for the Integration of Third-country Nationals and from the state budget. The activities of the Institute for the Rule of Law, which include legal assistance and integration addressed to foreigners legally staying in our country, are widely presented on the website www.migrant.lublin.pl. We hope that thanks to the handbook prepared by FIPP lawyers , this integration will be faster and easier and the foreigners choosing Poland as their second homeland will benefit from the guidance given in the handbook and they will derive an advantage for themselves and their families. We believe that our actions will result in a new quality of the integration of foreigners in our region.