Last day: Ukrainians in Poland with UKR status who lack a foreign passport must verify their identity by August 31

Today, August 31, is the last day for Ukrainians living in Poland with temporary protection status UKR to verify their identity and thereby retain their right to social benefits. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). If the mandatory verification is not completed within the set deadline, the UKR status will be automatically revoked, and payments under the "800+" program will cease as of September 1.

Who exactly the requirement applies to

The obligation to verify identity does not extend to all Ukrainian refugees, but to a specific group: those whose PESEL number with UKR status was issued on the basis of a birth certificate or other internal documents, rather than a valid foreign passport. As ZUS notes, this primarily concerns children who were granted temporary protection in the first months of the full-scale invasion without a foreign passport. For this category, identity verification becomes a critical condition for retaining their rights.

What needs to be done to keep the payments

According to ZUS, the procedure is as simple and one-time as possible: it is enough to visit the local gmina (municipal) office once and present a valid identity document — the foreign passport of the child or adult. The right of Ukrainian children to assistance under the "800+" program is directly tied to having the corresponding stay status, so the fact of identity verification directly determines whether they will continue to receive this support.

What happens if the deadline is missed

The consequences of missing the deadline are significant. If a person does not verify their identity by August 31 inclusive, the UKR status will automatically change to NUE, which means the complete termination of temporary protection. In that case, "800+" payments will stop, and for further legal residence and work in Poland the person will have to apply for new permit documents from scratch.

Context: scale and public opinion

The reminder about the deadline came against the backdrop of data showing that since the start of the full-scale war, Poland has provided protection to 1.73 million Ukrainians forced to leave their country due to the Russian invasion. At the same time, as previously reported, most Poles associate the deterioration of attitudes toward Ukrainians with disputes over historical memory and social benefits: only 7% of respondents said their attitude toward Ukrainian citizens had not changed. Under these conditions, timely document processing becomes not only a bureaucratic but also a practical necessity for maintaining legal status and financial support.