The Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA) confirmed on 1 October 2026 that temporary controls at Poland’s land borders with Germany and Lithuania will be prolonged for a further six-month period, from 2 October 2026 through 30 March 2027. The decision, enacted by a regulation signed by Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński, was published on the government’s legislative website and immediately communicated to the press. Poland first re-introduced controls on these two internal Schengen frontiers on 7 July 2025, citing an unprecedented rise in irregular crossings and concerns that migrants were being channelled through the Baltic route to test the EU’s border defenses. Since then, Border Guard officers have inspected more than 4.5 million travellers and 2.3 million vehicles, turning back thousands who lacked the right to enter the Schengen area. Under Articles 25–28 of the Schengen Borders Code, a Member State may temporarily restore internal border checks when it faces a serious threat to public order or internal security. Warsaw argues that continued “secondary movements” of migrants from Belarus and Russia, as well as organised smuggling networks operating out of the Balkans, justify the measure. The European Commission’s public register of notifications confirms that Poland has duly informed Brussels of the extension. For business travellers and corporate mobility managers the practical impact is two-fold. First, travellers entering Poland by road or rail from Germany or Lithuania should carry passports or national ID cards and be prepared for random checks that can add 10–30 minutes to journey times at major crossings such as Świecko/Frankfurt-Oder and Budzisko. Second, logistics operators moving just-in-time cargo will need to adjust schedules to account for potential queues, particularly in the run-up to the Christmas peak season. Airlines and coach companies are unaffected, as the controls apply only to land borders. The Polish government insists that the controls are targeted and proportionate, and it has deployed additional mobile patrols rather than fixed checkpoints to minimise disruption to legitimate traffic. Nevertheless, critics—including the Polish Chamber of Commerce and several German exporters’ associations—warn that a prolonged suspension of passport-free travel inside the Schengen zone risks dampening cross-border trade and undermining the single market. Companies with mobile workforces should monitor waiting-time dashboards published by granica.gov.pl and advise employees to budget extra time when travelling overland between Poland, Germany and Lithuania.
Source: Reuters / PAP
