Case registered before the CJEU under C-797/25

O.T., Ukrainian national, beneficiary of temporary protection, submitted on 29 April 2024 an application to the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province for a temporary residence and work permit in Poland. He was legally residing in Poland on the basis of temporary protection and had obtained a personal identification number (PESEL) with UKR status. By letter of 29 January 2025, the applicant filed a reminder to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, claiming that the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province was unduly delaying the proceedings in her case. Subsequently, on 19 May 2025, the applicant initiated legal proceedings before the Regional Administrative Court in Wrocław (the referring court), with the support of a lawyer, against the inaction of the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province.

The applicant requested the court to rule that: (a) the inaction was in flagrant breach of the law; (b) to oblige the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province to examine the application within 14 days; (c) to impose a fine on the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province; (d) to be awarded PLN 10 000 from the Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province as compensation for the infringement of her right to have her case examined within a reasonable time; and (e) to be covered the costs of the proceedings.

The applicant mainly argued that despite applying for a temporary residence and work permit on 29 April 2024 and subsequently sending a reminder, the case had not been resolved, which constituted a breach of her right to have their case examined within a reasonable time. The Provincial Governor of the Dolnośląskie Province counterargued that Articles 100c(1) and Article 100d(1) of the Law of 12 March 2022 on assistance to nationals of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict in the territory of that State) (‘the UoPOU’) allowed for the suspension of time limits for processing matters concerning the granting of a temporary residence permit to a foreign national. The governor claimed that the main factors contributing to the longer processing times of applications for legal residence submitted by foreign nationals were the huge increase in the number of applications for permits received in recent years and staff shortages at the provincial governor’s office.

The Regional Administrative Court decided to stay the proceedings and submitted the following question to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling:

Must the Treaty principles of:

1. proportionality (Article 52(1) read in conjunction with Article 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, OJ 2007 C 303, p. 1, read in conjunction with Article 6(1) of the Treaty on European Union, OJ 2016 C 202, p. 13);
2. sincere cooperation and effectiveness (Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union);
3. the ‘right to good administration’, which includes, among others, the right to have a case examined within a reasonable time (regarded as a principle of the European Union – Article 41(1) read in conjunction with Article 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 6(1) of the Treaty on European Union, and derived from the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union)

– be interpreted as precluding the possibility of temporarily suspending, under national law, the time limits set for conducting administrative proceedings and granting a temporary residence and work permit to a Ukrainian national authorised to legally reside in a Member State on the basis of temporary protection, in connection with Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection, and Article 3(2)(f) of Directive (EU) 2024/1233 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State ?