From 1 August, the Organizational Department’s duties related to issuing passports will be taken over by the out-of-town branch of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Office in Jelenia Góra, located at 19 Armii Krajowej Street. This is the result of a decision by the Lower Silesian Voivode, who terminated the agreement with the county authorities under which residents of our county could apply for passports locally. “Immediately after receiving the decision that the voivode was terminating the agreement with the counties concerning passport matters, most county offices across the country, including Bolesławiec, asked the voivodes to leave passport departments in the county offices,” says county head Krzysztof Konopka. Representatives of the Association of Polish Counties also submitted a similar request to the Minister of the Interior. Unfortunately, the requests came to nothing.
Decisions concerning the issuing of passports have never constituted the counties’ own responsibilities. Activities related to issuing these decisions were carried out under an agreement between the Lower Silesian Voivode and the county board. The office generated no income from this. The county office’s Organizational Department accepted approximately 300 passport applications each month.
The county office employees who have so far handled passports have a range of other duties. These include registering school sports clubs and physical-culture associations that do not conduct business activity; supervising associations operating in the county; issuing permits to bring human remains from another country; storing found property and auctioning and selling it; and issuing permits for collecting cash or in-kind donations throughout the county or in a part covering more than one municipality. Therefore, the county authorities do not plan to dismiss the employees handling passport matters.
(information from the Bolesławiec County Office)