The authors of the article analyse the Polish system of providing international protection to people who seek sanctuary in Poland, taking into account the views of refugees who benefit from the solutions offered by Poland. The study takes advantage of the results of empirical research conducted by the authors between November 2015 and February 2016 in the form of interviews with refugees, which illustrate and complement the analysis of the Polish legal institutional system of providing assistance and protection to refugees in Poland. By combining these two sources of information the author identifies potential differences between the formal determinants of the refugees’ situation in Poland and the refugees’ subjective perception of it. The main thesis of the article comes down to the statement that essentially the legal institutional system in Poland does not differ significantly from the solutions adopted in the other countries of the European Union, while elements such as the social climate and the state’s attitude to the responsibility to provide protection, which can be referred to as ‘culture of acceptance’, constitute the most important reason for the rather negative opinion of Poland as a target country.