Poland has entered a new phase of maritime border management with the entry-into-force of the so-called “Safe Baltic” law on 8 February 2026. Signed by President Karol Nawrocki in January and published in the Journal of Laws last week, the statute widens the legal mandate of the Polish Navy, Border Guard and police units to operate beyond the country’s 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and to deploy force—up to and including live weapons—when protecting critical infrastructure or acting in self-defence.
Although drafted in response to rising hybrid-security threats in the Baltic Sea, the measure has immediate implications for commercial operators. Energy majors such as Orlen (operator of the Baltic Pipe gas link and several offshore platforms) have long complained about drone and vessel incursions near high-value assets. The new rules allow naval commanders to board suspicious craft more quickly and coordinate air-defence coverage with NATO allies, reducing reaction times from hours to minutes.
For global-mobility managers the most tangible effect is heightened boarding-party inspections of supply ships, workboats and survey vessels servicing offshore projects. Polish authorities say that crew lists will be vetted against the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) in real time, and that Schengen-exempt technicians flown in for urgent repairs must now carry letters from licence holders confirming the “critical” nature of their work. Companies running rotation schedules through the ports of Gdańsk or Gdynia should therefore expect spot checks and factor in an extra 30–45 minutes for clearance.
![Poland enacts “Safe Baltic” law, boosting naval and border–guard powers at sea]()
If questions arise about whether a crew member needs a Schengen C visa, a national D visa or can rely on a ship-to-shore transit waiver, VisaHQ’s Poland team can provide same-day guidance and file the required paperwork online. Their platform (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) integrates with EES monitoring, tracks biometric submissions and produces invitation letters that satisfy Border Guard criteria—saving operators time when every minute offshore counts.
Law firms in Warsaw note that “Safe Baltic” also amends the 1991 Act on the Border Guard, giving officers broader powers to collect biometric data from foreign seafarers and to issue on-the-spot refusal-of-entry decisions if documentation is incomplete. While the Interior Ministry stresses that the changes target security risks rather than legitimate workers, practitioners advise ship-managers to double-check that short-term visa exemptions—for example, for UK or U.S. nationals staying on board—are correctly recorded in crew manifests.
In the medium term, business-travel stakeholders welcome the clarity the law provides. “We finally have a single legal instrument that spells out the chain of command in mixed civilian-military situations at sea,” says Małgorzata Kowal, head of mobility compliance at a major engineering contractor. “That predictability helps us brief crews, insurers and supply-chain partners and should ultimately speed up offshore projects rather than slow them down.”
Although drafted in response to rising hybrid-security threats in the Baltic Sea, the measure has immediate implications for commercial operators. Energy majors such as Orlen (operator of the Baltic Pipe gas link and several offshore platforms) have long complained about drone and vessel incursions near high-value assets. The new rules allow naval commanders to board suspicious craft more quickly and coordinate air-defence coverage with NATO allies, reducing reaction times from hours to minutes.
For global-mobility managers the most tangible effect is heightened boarding-party inspections of supply ships, workboats and survey vessels servicing offshore projects. Polish authorities say that crew lists will be vetted against the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) in real time, and that Schengen-exempt technicians flown in for urgent repairs must now carry letters from licence holders confirming the “critical” nature of their work. Companies running rotation schedules through the ports of Gdańsk or Gdynia should therefore expect spot checks and factor in an extra 30–45 minutes for clearance.
If questions arise about whether a crew member needs a Schengen C visa, a national D visa or can rely on a ship-to-shore transit waiver, VisaHQ’s Poland team can provide same-day guidance and file the required paperwork online. Their platform (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) integrates with EES monitoring, tracks biometric submissions and produces invitation letters that satisfy Border Guard criteria—saving operators time when every minute offshore counts.
Law firms in Warsaw note that “Safe Baltic” also amends the 1991 Act on the Border Guard, giving officers broader powers to collect biometric data from foreign seafarers and to issue on-the-spot refusal-of-entry decisions if documentation is incomplete. While the Interior Ministry stresses that the changes target security risks rather than legitimate workers, practitioners advise ship-managers to double-check that short-term visa exemptions—for example, for UK or U.S. nationals staying on board—are correctly recorded in crew manifests.
In the medium term, business-travel stakeholders welcome the clarity the law provides. “We finally have a single legal instrument that spells out the chain of command in mixed civilian-military situations at sea,” says Małgorzata Kowal, head of mobility compliance at a major engineering contractor. “That predictability helps us brief crews, insurers and supply-chain partners and should ultimately speed up offshore projects rather than slow them down.”
