What the law says

The voivode must decide on stały pobyt within 6 months (Art. 210(1) of the Act on Foreigners). The clock starts not on the day you apply but on the last of these events: the application has no formal defects (or they have been fixed) and you have submitted the documents the voivode asked for, or the time given for them has passed (Art. 210(2)). So a complete set of documents from the start shortens the case; we covered what to submit in our article on stały pobyt documents. If you appeal the decision, the Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef UdSC) must decide the appeal within 90 days (Art. 210(3)).

This is a deadline for the office, not a promise to you. And right now it does not apply at all.

Until 4 March 2027 the deadline does not run

Art. 100d of the Ukrainian special act (as amended on 22.05.2026) says that until 4 March 2027 deadlines in the voivode's cases on pobyt czasowy (temporary residence), stały pobyt and EU long-term residence do not start, and those already running are suspended. It covers all cases before the voivode, including citizens of Belarus, Georgia or the USA, not only Ukrainians.

Two more parts of the same article:

  • until that date the rules on the authority's inaction and the duty to inform the applicant about a delay do not apply; no fines or sums of money are awarded to the applicant for a decision not issued (para. 3);
  • a delay before that date is not grounds for a ponaglenie (formal reminder) or a complaint about inaction or excessive length of proceedings (para. 4).

So the advice you may find online to "claim compensation for the long wait" does not work before 4 March 2027.

How long people actually wait

There are no official nationwide statistics on processing times. The closest is the NIK audit of 11 December 2025: in a sample of cases at the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Office from 2022 to 2024, stały pobyt cases took over 9 months on average instead of at most six months, and some took over 3 years and 7 months. These are figures from one voivodeship, but they show the order of magnitude.

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Is my stay legal while I wait

Yes, if you applied during a legal stay and the application has no formal defects (or you fixed them in time). Your stay is then considered legal from the day you applied until the day the decision becomes final (Art. 206(1)(2)).

The proof is no longer a stamp in your passport but a zaświadczenie (certificate) that you have applied: once the office has checked your application, you download it from MOS and print it (since 27 April 2026 applications are filed only online via MOS).

One exception: this does not apply if the proceedings were suspended at your own request (Art. 206(2)). Keep that in mind before asking for a suspension.

What you can do while you wait

  • Answer a wezwanie (summons) on time. If the voivode asks for more documents, you get at least 14 days from delivery of the summons (Art. 203(2a)). Until the documents are in, the 6 months do not start, so any delay on your side makes the case longer.
  • Keep the zaświadczenie. It is your proof of legal stay for as long as the case lasts.
  • After 4 March 2027, once the deadline runs again and passes, you can file a ponaglenie: with reasons, addressed to the Head of UdSC and submitted through the voivode (Art. 37 §1 and §3(1) of the Code of Administrative Procedure, KPA; Art. 22(2) of the Act on Foreigners). A ponaglenie filed before the deadline has passed is left unexamined (Art. 37 §3a KPA). There is also a complaint to the administrative court about inaction, but that is a separate procedure under a different act.

Why every month of waiting matters for citizenship

The time to citizenship counts from the permit, not from the application. If you get stały pobyt through Karta Polaka or Polish descent, you can be recognised as a citizen after 1 year of continuous residence on that permit, with Polish at B1 (Art. 30(1)(7) and (2) of the Polish Citizenship Act). On the general basis, including stały pobyt without Karta Polaka, you need 3 years, a stable income, housing and B1 (Art. 30(1)(1)). So a six-month delay in the decision pushes citizenship back by six months too.

This is the law in force on 29.09.2026. There are bills in the Sejm that would lengthen these periods, but none has become law. For the whole route from residence card to passport, see our article from residence card to citizenship, and on whether there will be a test, our article on the citizenship test.

Sources

FAQ

How long does a stały pobyt decision take in 2026?

By law 6 months, but until 4 March 2027 the deadline does not run (Art. 100d of the Ukrainian special act). In practice, over 9 months on average in Lower Silesia (NIK, 2025).

Does the suspension apply to people who are not from Ukraine?

Yes. Art. 100d covers all of the voivode's cases on temporary, permanent and EU long-term residence.

Can I get compensation for the long wait?

Not before 4 March 2027: Art. 100d(3) rules out sums of money for the applicant because of the delay.

Is my stay legal while I wait?

Yes, if you applied during a legal stay and without formal defects (Art. 206). Proof: the zaświadczenie from MOS.

When can I file a ponaglenie?

Only once the deadline has passed: it starts running after 4 March 2027, and the 6 months count from the last of the events in Art. 210(2). It goes to the Head of UdSC through the voivode.

Does the wait delay citizenship?

Yes: the one year (with Karta Polaka) or three years (general basis) count from the stały pobyt permit, not from the application.

PLTest Editorial Team

We prepare content based on official sources — the Act on the Karta Polaka, MSZ clarifications, and gov.pl — and fact-check every legal claim before publishing. Questions in the PLTest database are verified against the experience of hundreds of users who have already gone through the consul interview.