What changed on 27 April 2026
On that day the Office for Foreigners launched the MOS system, and residence permit applications became electronic only. You log in with a trusted profile or a qualified signature, there are no queues and no appointment bookings any more, and the application can be filed at any time.
The paper procedure disappeared along with them. Paper applications that had not reached the voivodeship office by 27 April are left without consideration, and the postmark date does not matter: what counts is the date of receipt. This is why outdated checklists are dangerous not because their form is old, but because they cost you time and status.
Check the date of the page you take your checklist from. Some voivodeship websites still describe four printed photographs, photocopies in a folder and filing at a counter. That describes the procedure before April 2026. The current list of attachments is shown by MOS itself once you start filling in the application for your specific legal basis.
The set your case cannot start without
Two things are worth separating here, because everyday checklists blend them together. There are attachments without which the proceedings will not start at all, and there are documents that prove your particular legal basis. The first group is short and identical for everyone.
JPG format, resolution of at least 684 by 883 pixels (width by height), file up to 2.5 MB, proportions matching a 35 by 45 mm photo. More than the minimum is fine, less is not. The photo must be colour, sharp and taken no earlier than 6 months before filing: the face fills 70 to 80 percent of the frame, the background light and uniform, eyes open, looking straight ahead. The rule sets no DPI requirement at all, only pixels, file size and proportions.
Every page, not only the data page: blank pages count too. PDF format. You will show the original passport later, when the office calls you in.
The stamp duty is paid up front, together with filing. If you are exempt, as a holder of a valid Karta Polaka, you will not have this attachment at all.
Everything else is requested separately by the voivode once the case is open. That is not a reason to prepare nothing in advance: the deadline to respond is short, and collecting a certificate from scratch in those days is awkward.
Documents for your legal basis
The legal bases are listed in Art. 195 ust. 1 of the Act on Foreigners, and each is proven with its own set. Below are the ones that concern our readers most often.
A copy of the valid Karta plus the original for inspection. There is no minimum period of residence in Poland for this basis, so the weight of proof shifts to the intent to settle permanently, covered in the next section.
Documents showing the chain from your ancestor to you: birth and marriage records, old Polish passports or certificates. There is no residence period requirement here either. A document issued abroad needs a translation, and civil status records also need an apostille.
The marriage certificate, your spouse's document, and evidence of shared life. The condition is strict: at least 3 years of marriage on the day of filing and 2 years of uninterrupted residence in Poland specifically on the card issued in connection with that marriage.
Birth certificate, the parent's document, confirmation of parental custody. The length of stay does not matter.
Income certificate, contracts, proof of tax compliance. This basis is narrower than it looks: it requires 4 years specifically on a permit under Art. 114 ust. 1a, meaning work in an occupation recognised by a separate regulation as desirable for the Polish economy, plus a stable regular income. The list of occupations lives in that regulation rather than in the act itself, so check it is current on the day you file.
The decision granting the status and evidence of 5 years of uninterrupted residence. Here proving continuity matters more than the status itself.
About continuity. Where a legal basis requires years of residence, the law counts them under Art. 195 ust. 4: no single break longer than 6 months, and all breaks together no longer than 10 months. Four exceptions are not counted as breaks at all, among them work abroad for an employer based in Poland and a placement required by the programme of a Polish university.
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Check your level →Intent to settle permanently
For the Karta Polaka and Polish origin the law requires no years lived in Poland. Hence a common mistake: the applicant submits a copy of the Karta, a passport scan, and waits for a decision. The voivode, however, checks something else, and this is where refusals happen most often.
Both of these bases are worded as an intent to settle in Poland permanently. Intent is not a declaration in the form, it is proven with documents about your life here or about your preparation to move.
- Housing: a lease agreement, a title deed, a written consent of the owner for you to live there.
- Work or business: an employment contract, an extract from the business register, an income certificate.
- Family in Poland: relatives' documents together with documents proving the relationship.
- Children: a certificate from the school or kindergarten the child already attends.
- Earlier stays: old residence cards, visas and stamps that show your link to the country did not start on the day of filing.
One document is rarely enough. What works is the combination: housing plus income plus something about family or education. The fewer years you have lived in Poland, the more attention this section deserves.
Originals, copies, translations
Electronic filing did not remove the requirements as to form, it moved them in time. In MOS you upload scans, and you present originals and certified copies when called in.
Any document in a foreign language is submitted with a Polish translation made by a sworn translator. The register of sworn translators is kept by the Ministry of Justice, and a translation can be ordered remotely from a scan: a certified translation is legally equivalent.
A common needless expense hides here. Documents issued in Ukraine do not need an apostille for Poland: the Poland-Ukraine legal assistance treaty of 24 May 1993 (Art. 15, Dz.U. 1994 nr 96 poz. 465) recognises one party's official documents on the other's territory without legalisation. A sworn translation is enough. An apostille is still required for documents from countries with no such treaty, and it is obtained in the issuing country before filing.
Filing online does not remove the visit. The voivode calls you in person to show the original travel document, give fingerprints and a specimen signature: the visit is set no sooner than 7 days from delivery of the summons. The foreigner is the party to the proceedings; for children under 6 the parents file, older children attend in person.
What does filing cost, and the card itself?
There are two payments, and they are confused with each other more often than anything else here.
- Stamp duty for examining the case: 640 zł. Paid in advance. Exempt are holders of a valid Karta Polaka, persons granted asylum in Poland, and posted workers under the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
- Fee for issuing the residence card: 100 zł. It is paid after a positive decision, and the Karta Polaka exemption does not cover it. A 50 percent reduction is available to people in a difficult financial situation who receive social assistance, and to children under 16 on the day of filing.
The practical takeaway for a Karta Polaka holder. The whole procedure costs 100 zł, and the law requires no minimum period of residence in Poland. It is the shortest lawful route to an indefinite status that exists, and after one year on it citizenship opens up under Art. 30 ust. 1 pkt 7.
Formal deficiencies and what they mean
When an attachment or document is missing, the voivode does not refuse straight away. You are called on to supply it within a deadline that under Art. 64 § 2 of the Code of Administrative Procedure cannot be shorter than 7 days. The authority sets the actual length itself, taking the scope of the defects into account, so it is sometimes longer.
Missing that deadline is worse than a refusal on the merits. The application is left without consideration, meaning no proceedings are conducted at all: no decision you could appeal comes into existence, and you have to file again from scratch. The protection that a timely application gives you disappears with it.
About the legality of your stay. An application filed on time and free of formal deficiencies makes your stay legal from the day of filing until the decision becomes final. If there were deficiencies and you cured them within the deadline, that protection applies too. If you did not, it disappears together with the application.
Hence a simple practice: collect the documents for your legal basis before you press submit, even though MOS does not ask for them at that step. The call comes when it suits the office, not when it suits you.
After the decision: the card, the status and ten years
A positive decision gives you an indefinite status, but the plastic itself is never indefinite. The residence card is issued for 10 years, after which it is replaced, and that issuance costs the same 100 zł.
The difference between the status and the card is worth remembering separately, because a common fear rests on it. An expired card does not take away your right to live in Poland: it merely stops being a valid document with which you demonstrate that right. That is inconvenient at the border and at the bank, but it is not a loss of status.
The permit itself can be withdrawn under Art. 199, and the most common myth here concerns leaving the country. The figure in it is off by an order of magnitude: the permit is withdrawn from someone who has left Poland for more than 6 years, not 6 months. Six months is the continuity threshold before the permit is granted and a rule for the CUKR card, and it has nothing to do with permanent residence once granted.
And the last practical point, the one many people start this route for. After one year on a status obtained through the Karta Polaka or Polish origin, citizenship opens up by recognition as a Polish citizen: Art. 30 ust. 1 pkt 7 of the Act on Polish Citizenship. On general grounds the wait is three years.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still file the permanent residence application on paper?
No. Since 27 April 2026 residence permit applications are filed electronically through the MOS portal only. Paper applications that had not reached the voivodeship office by that date are left without consideration, and the postmark date does not matter.
How many photographs are needed and in what format?
MOS takes one digital photo in JPG format: at least 684 by 883 pixels, up to 2.5 MB, proportions matching a 35 by 45 mm photo, taken no earlier than 6 months before filing. That is a minimum, a larger image is fine, and the rule sets no DPI requirement. Some voivodeship pages still describe four printed photographs: that is the old procedure, so check the current requirements in MOS itself.
What does permanent residence cost for a Karta Polaka holder?
The 640 zł stamp duty does not apply to them: holders of a valid Karta Polaka are exempt, as are persons granted asylum and posted workers under the Brexit agreement. The only payment is 100 zł for issuing the residence card itself.
Which documents need a sworn translation?
Any document in a foreign language is submitted with a Polish translation by a sworn translator from the Ministry of Justice register. Civil status records, birth or marriage certificates, additionally require an apostille or certification by a Polish consul.
How long do you get to supply a missing document?
The voivode calls on you to cure the formal deficiencies and sets a deadline of no less than 7 days (Art. 64 § 2 of the Code of Administrative Procedure); the authority may allow more. If you miss it, the application is left without consideration: no proceedings at all, rather than a refusal on the merits. You have to file again.