The CUKR card in Poland: switching from UKR to a residence card

If you are in Poland with UKR, it is important to remember the date 4 March 2027: temporary protection in its current form is not indefinite. CUKR card — is a temporary residence permit for 3 years with a note that you previously held ochrona czasowa (temporary protection).

In Polish the document is called karta pobytu z adnotacją «Poprzednio posiadacz ochrony czasowej». For short it is called CUKR — that is how people search, and that is how we write it.

You can file the application from 4 May 2026 to 4 March 2027, via MOS only (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl). There is no «appointment to file at the office» for this card. The rules come from UDSC; we apply them to your family, trips abroad and open cases.

CUKR is temporary residence, not EU-citizen status. It gives a basis after UKR ends, lets you work without a PUP notification and may count towards the period for the EU resident card. This is not Polish permanent residence.

Consultation on obtaining a CUKR card

Who can get a CUKR card: four conditions

A Ukrainian passport and PESEL UKR «sometime in the past» is not enough. The voivode looks at four conditions at once. If even one is not met — the card is refused, and the stamp duty is not refunded because of that.

On the day you send the application in MOS UKR status in PESEL must be valid.
4 June 2025 it must have been valid then too. If you were already off the register that day, the window is closed — even if UKR was restored later.
On the day the card is issued (when it is produced, not when you collect it) UKR must still be in place. While you wait for the card, a long trip out of Poland can lift protection.
365 days of UKR in a row. Several separate periods across trips do not add up. You need an unbroken history.

Who is in the target group: Ukrainian citizens and some family members (a spouse, minor children, in some cases relatives with Karta Polaka) who arrived after 23 February 2022 because of the war. From 5 March 2026 some non-Ukrainians also fell under temporary protection — we look at PESEL, not only citizenship in the passport.

Children. If the child arrived from Ukraine with their own UKR, they can be filed with a parent — even if the parent does not yet have CUKR. If the child was born in Poland after 23.02.2022 — first the card for the mother, then for the child. These are different queues; they cannot be mixed into one «whole family» application.

Work, a contract, ZUS and rented housing for CUKR are not needed. This is not an ordinary residence permit tied to a purpose of stay. That is why the card seems simpler — and that is why it matters in advance whether filing would affect a work case already in progress.

We will check the PESEL extract and the travel calendar: whether you meet the four conditions and whether filing would affect a current work-based card case.

We will check that MOS will let the application send: passport, fingerprints and a signature already in the register. If not — the gmina first.

We will count the stamp duty: 340 PLN for the permit and 100 PLN for the card, to different accounts of your voivodeship. A digital photo. Profil Zaufany or a qualified signature.

We will assemble the application in MOS. You sign (we never pass on a login.gov.pl login), we obtain the UPO.

When the office says the card can be collected, we will remind you of the 60-day deadline and accompany collection. UKR ends the moment the card is handed over, not the moment the application is sent.

CUKR CARD

~~700 PLN / netto~~ 500 PLN / netto (until 30 September)

Next family member with UKR -50%

Children under 6 — free of charge

Check of the four UKR conditions | We will check a current residence case

Application in MOS | Photo, fees 340+100 PLN, signature

If the register is missing data — a route to the gmina | A reminder to collect the card within 60 days

Why legalise your stay with MIA CONSULT GROUP

Experience and expertise

A clear reading of your situation and expert help from specialists with 10+ years of practice.

Individual approach

We solve the case as a whole — for you and your family, in line with your plans.

Professional advice

Our specialists will propose the most suitable path from UKR status to a CUKR card for your current situation and long-term plans.

Easy communication

Our offices are in Warsaw and Sopot. Most services are available online, from home or the office, with a short turnaround.

Full range of services

We help with legalisation as well as company setup, accounting, tax and HR in Poland.

Multilingual specialists

We work in Polish, English and Russian and act as your representative before voivodeship offices and on the MOS portal.

The CUKR card: documents and requirements

For CUKR in MOS you usually do not need a large pack of employment certificates. The system checks state registers. If data is missing, the application will not send.

What you usually need to attach yourselves:

a digital photo to MOS requirements;
proof of payment of 340 PLN (the fee for the permit) and 100 PLN (the card) — two payments, two different accounts, before sending the application;
if the system asks — a passport scan. The number, series and expiry must match the data in the register.

What must already be in the registers (otherwise MOS will not accept the application): name, date of birth, citizenship, passport data, fingerprints (except children under 6) or a note that they cannot be taken, a signature specimen (except children under 12). Fingerprints were often taken at the gmina when PESEL was issued. If there has been no biometrics after 1 July 2024 — the gmina first, then MOS again.

For CUKR you need a new MOS account, even if you used the old portal. Login via login.gov.pl.

A separate certificate «I spent 365 days on UKR» is usually not attached: the register shows it. If the travel calendar does not match the application, the office will see it.

How obtaining a CUKR card works

A typical course of the case: you sent the application in MOS → you received UPO → you stay on UKR while the card is prepared → a notice arrives that the card is ready → you collect it. A summons to the voivodeship «with fingerprints», as for ordinary temporary residence, is often not issued for CUKR.

If MOS writes that you need to go to the gmina, the register has no fingerprints, signature or a current passport. The gmina first, then MOS again. An office appointment «just in case» is not needed here.

Until you collect the card you are still legally on UKR. The moment you receive it, PESEL is set to CUKR and ochrona czasowa ends. Benefits such as 800+ do not disappear with UKR on their own — they have their own rules. Those who already received them often continue; those who did not are not switched on automatically through CUKR.

The card must be collected within 60 days of the notice. Otherwise it is cancelled, there is no permit, you stay on UKR. The 3-year term is counted from the date the card was produced, not from the day you received it in hand.

If you change address — tell the voivode who issued the card, usually within 15 working days.

What advantages does a CUKR card give?

Why switch from UKR to a CUKR card:

Term. UKR as a mechanism runs until 4 March 2027. CUKR gives three years of temporary residence from the date the card is issued. This is not a permanent status, but the horizon is no longer March 2027.
Work. You can be hired without a notification to the county labour office. For an employer that is simpler than UKR status with a separate paper for PUP.
Your own business. Activity is on the rules for a foreigner with temporary residence, not on the rules for a Polish citizen.
Schengen. The card and a valid passport — up to 90 days in any 180. This is not unlimited travel and not a residence permit in another EU country.
Further on status. Years on CUKR can count towards the qualifying period EU long-term resident status. This is not Polish permanent residence and not citizenship. UKR as a rule does not count towards that period — for many people that is the main reason to switch.

Leaving Poland for 6 months or longer — a risk of the permit being withdrawn. On UKR protection more often burns already after an absence of about 30 days. So CUKR is more convenient if you visit family, but not if you plan to live outside Poland for months.

How a CUKR card differs from UKR status

In short, how UKR differs from CUKR:

Term. UKR — until 4 March 2027. CUKR — three years of a temporary permit from the date the card is issued.
Work. UKR: you may work; the employer often has to notify PUP. CUKR: a separate work permit is not needed, and a PUP notification on hiring is usually not required either.
Travel. UKR is easy to lose if you are away for more than about 30 days. CUKR lasts longer, but six months outside Poland is already a ground for withdrawal.
Qualifying period «for later». UKR, as a rule, does not count towards EU long-term resident time. CUKR does. This is not Polish permanent residence and not a passport.
Reception centre. On receiving the card the right to a free place disappears. School and 800+ are counted under other rules.

CUKR may be too early if you live in a reception centre and are not ready to lose it yet; you fail the 4 June 2025 date; or you soon expect a decision on a work-based card — then a CUKR application will discontinue that case. We discuss this before payment, not after sending to MOS.

If a work-based residence card is already in progress

By law: you sent a CUKR application — the temporary-stay case for work ends on its own. You may not even see a separate «discontinuation» decision. If CUKR is refused, the work case is already gone.

CUKR makes sense if all four conditions are met and the work card is still far off. It does not make sense if a work decision is already close and the 4 June 2025 date is not closed for CUKR.

An ordinary work-based residence permit that has already been issued, CUKR does not replace it: UKR status on issue of that card has as a rule already ended. Switching «to CUKR because an acquaintance did» often ends in a refusal.

At the consultation we compare the work case and the four UKR conditions. We choose one basis, not both at once.

A CUKR card without UKR status: is it possible?

Without valid UKR there is no CUKR card. A long trip, no status on 4 June 2025, an incomplete year in a row or an ordinary work-based residence permit already issued (then PESEL UKR usually goes out) — this path is closed. A humanitarian basis does not replace it.

Then we look at work, business, studies or family. That is already MOS with a purpose of stay, income and insurance — a different document pack, but a working path.

Term and renewal of a CUKR card

CUKR is issued once, for three years. You cannot renew it like UKR. When the card expires, the next permit is on general grounds: work, a company, family reunification, studies. The application is again in MOS, already without the four UKR conditions.

Six months before the card ends it is worth knowing what will cover the next period. Otherwise you can be left without UKR and without a new basis.

The term of the card does not shift because you collected it later. The date on the card counts.

Frequent mistakes when filing for CUKR

What most often stops the application from sending or leads to a refusal:

separate UKR periods across trips are added up and treated as 365 days;
the passport is changed, and the old number stays in the register;
440 PLN is paid as one transfer. You need two: 340 and 100 PLN, to different accounts;
the login.gov.pl login is given to someone else;
CUKR is filed while a work-card case is still running;
the card is not collected within 60 days of the notice;
a child born in Poland is filed while the mother has no CUKR of her own;
CUKR is confused with permanent residence and people wait for citizenship «in three years».

We check this before sending the application. The CUKR card term is three years anyway — there is nothing here to «ask for longer».

A CUKR card for Ukrainian citizens and family members

Most applications are Ukrainian citizens who arrived after 23 February 2022 and did not drop out of UKR. Family — a spouse, minor children, sometimes relatives with Karta Polaka. We check each person separately: the child has their own PESEL, year and trips.

The window 4 May 2026 — 4 March 2027 is shared. Towards the deadline MOS will not get easier. If the four conditions are already met, it is better not to leave filing to the last month in the hope that the law will be extended.

Frequent questions about the CUKR card

Do I need a job on the day of filing? No. For CUKR they do not collect an «employment» purpose. The card is about UKR status, not about umowa o pracę.

Do I need Polish B1? No. The exam is for the EU long-term resident card and citizenship, not for this card.

Can I file from abroad? In practice almost never: on the filing date and the issue date you need valid UKR, and a long trip is exactly what lifts it. Close the register in Poland first, then MOS.

How much are the stamp duties? 340 + 100 PLN, 440 PLN in total. Our support is 700 PLN / netto (a promotion until 30 September — 500 PLN / netto). According to UDSC there is no CUKR exemption from 340/100.

When to set up Profil Zaufany? In advance. Without an electronic signature the application will not send in MOS.

Where is the primary source? the procedure and UDSC FAQ, plus MOS. We do not replace the law — we help you not to err on the four conditions and on overlap with other cases.

Help obtaining a CUKR card

Support for a CUKR card — 700 PLN / netto (until 30 September — 500 PLN / netto).

What we do: we check PESEL and trips, we look at whether the application would discontinue a temporary-stay case already in progress, we prepare MOS, we say whether the gmina is needed, we remind you to collect the card within 60 days. What we do not do: we do not enter your login.gov.pl, we do not promise permanent residence «as a gift with CUKR», we do not invent employment that this card does not require.

The state's primary source: UDSC questions and answers. We are needed when the situation is not from a textbook: a gap in the register, a child born in Poland, a parallel work case, a reception centre.

Full support — in Warsaw, the Tri-City, Kraków, Łódź and Wrocław. Partial — online across Poland. Leave a request, we will call back in working hours.

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