irregularly staying foreigners, including stateless persons. Amongst such care is medical rescue in emergency situations. Stateless persons who received tolerated and humanitarian stay have access to public health care under the same conditions and scope as Polish citizens. 3.4.2.7 TRAVEL AND IDENTITY DOCUMENTS The Polish Act on Foreigners provides for two distinct types of travel documents that may be issued to foreigners: a Polish travel document for a foreigner (Article 252) and a temporary Polish travel document for a foreigner (Article 267). A Polish travel document is issued, as a rule, to foreigners with permanent residence permits, while a temporary Polish travel document is issued, as a rule, to foreigners with residence permits issued by the Polish consular authorities. Neither can be issued to a person with a permit for tolerated stay. The lack of identity and travel documents is often mentioned by stateless persons as an obstacle to enjoying their basic rights such as access to public health care and social benefits along with the possibility to get married. The absence of such documents is also perceived as an impediment in respect of applying for a residence permit. Those lacking identity documents also complain that they are unable to travel, open a bank account or obtain a driving license. These concerns were also echoed by the stateless persons interviewed for the purposes of this study, some of whom also reported they had come to Poland with a valid travel document which was later stolen or had expired and the consular authorities subsequently refusing to issue a new document. 3.4.3 Amnesty During the discussions about the status of stateless persons in Poland, state authorities have repeatedly pointed out that the 2012 so called “abolition” (or amnesty) allowed for legalization of long-term irregular residents in Poland, including those without nationality. Still, out of over 9,500 applicants only 21 were recorded as stateless. The chances of receiving a positive decision in the case of stateless persons were significantly undermined by the statutory requirement to submit a valid travel document. Even though the 2011 Act regulating the abolition process provided for a possibility of waiving this obligation in justified cases, in practice it was extremely difficult to achieve.100 The problematic issue of requiring a valid travel document was also highlighted in a study based on interviews with regional administration workers who complained about cooperation difficulties with consulates and the partially unclear legal framework.101 Cases have been recorded where a stateless person managed to regularize his or her stay during the abolition process but later refrained from submitting an application for a new residence permit fearing that without a travel document he or she would not be successful and would be detained. Similar observations were made in another study which points out that Voivods102 only very rarely make use of the possibility to apply a waiver from the requirement to submit a valid travel document. 100 This strict approach was also taken by the Regional Administrative Court. See also M. Fagasiński, M. Górczyńska, M. Szczepanik, Wychodząc z cienia. Badanie prawnych, politycznych i społecznych konsekwencji programu regularyzacyjnego 2012, Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka, 2015, available in Polish only. 101 W. Goszczyński, Abolicja 2012, Perspektywa instytucji wdrażającej. Raport z badania jakościowego przygotowanego dla Polskiej Akcji Humanitarnej w ramach projektu: „Kampania informacyjna na temat zasad abolicji, adresowana do cudzoziemców nielegalnie przebywających w Polsce, oraz badanie przebiegu abolicji w roku 2012” finansowanego z grantu Fundacji im. Stefana Batorego, available in Polish only. 102 D. Pudzianowska, M. Szczepanik Ending Childhood Statelessness – a Study on Poland, cited above. UNHCR POLAND, SEPTEMBER 2019 37