3107 чел.
29.04.2026
6 min
Checked: end of April 2026. From 27 April 2026, applications for a residence permit — temporary, permanent and EU long-term resident — are accepted only through the MOS portal. Paper filed with the office after that date is left without consideration. We help gather the pack, go through MOS and take the case through to the card.
This is officially confirmed by UDSC on MOS. The portal itself: mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl. The cost of our support is paid separately from the government fee.
A residence card (karta pobytu) is a plastic document that confirms a foreigner's residence permit and identity in Poland. It is issued after after a positive decision. The replacement or issue of the card form itself may still go on paper — that is not the same as the permit application.
The card gives legal stay for the term of the decision, travel in the Schengen area within the rules and — if the decision includes access to the labour market — work without a separate zezwolenie.
Temporary residence permit (pobyt czasowy) — work, business, study, family, humanitarian grounds.
Permanent residence permit (pobyt stały) — ancestry, Karta Polaka, marriage and other grounds in the law.
EU long-term residence permit — after 5 years of lawful stay, income and usually B1.
For Ukrainians with PESEL UKR there is a separate window for the CUKR card (4 May 2026 — 4 March 2027). Citizenship and Karta Polaka itself are not filed through MOS.
An application may be filed by a foreigner who is lawfully in Poland (visa, visa-free stay, a valid card, UKR) and has grounds to live here longer. The MOS application is signed by the applicant themselves through login.gov.pl: with a Profil Zaufany or a qualified signature. A trusted person may prepare the pack, but the login and signature are yours.
Common grounds: umowa o pracę / zlecenie plus the employer's annex, your own company or JDG, full-time university study, family reunification, permanent residence on ancestry or Karta Polaka. You need to apply by until the last day of legal stay — not after.
In MOS: a completed form, a digital photo, a passport scan, proof of grounds, insurance or ZUS, housing, income. Separately — proof of two payments: stamp duty for the permit (usually 340–640 PLN depending on the type) and 100 PLN for issuing the card. You do not pay the fee through MOS: you transfer it to the office accounts and attach a scan or electronic confirmation to the application.
Documents not in Polish — a sworn translation. For work, the employer signs the annex with an electronic signature. Until there is a UPO (urządowe poświadczenie odbioru), the application is not treated as filed.
1) Open a new account in the current MOS — an old one from the previous version will not do. 2) Gather the scans and photo. 3) Pay the stamp duty and 100 PLN to the correct accounts. 4) Sign in through login.gov.pl, fill in the form, attach the files, sign and submit. 5) Save the UPO.
You no longer need an appointment in the office queue to file the permit. A personal visit will still happen: fingerprints, passport, sometimes bringing in documents. An application for issuing the blank of the card (wymiana karty) remains, according to UDSC guidance, on paper.
The State: stamp duty 340–640 PLN + 100 PLN for the card. Translations, insurance, photos — separately. Our support starts from 1500 PLN / netto for a typical card, CUKR — 700 PLN / netto; the government fee is not included in that amount. Current packages are on the prices page.
Statutory time limits run from a complete application. In practice, in Warsaw and the large voivodeships you wait for months. An incomplete MOS, the wrong voivode, a mistake in the employer's annex — typical reasons the clock is started again. We check the pack before it is sent so that you are not asked to send documents round in circles.
If the application for residence and work is filed on time and complete, stay is legal until the decision. The right to work depends on the grounds: for work it is usually necessary that the employer's annex is on the file and that access to the labour market follows from the law. A stamp in the passport is no longer the main document: the reference is the UPO and the voivode's zaświadczenie through MOS or at the visit.
There are no grounds, income does not match the contract, insurance is shorter than the term, you filed after the visa ended, a paper filing after 26 April 2026, no signature in MOS. After a refusal there are 14 days to appeal to Szefowi UDSC — it is better not to miss that deadline.
We work out the grounds, put the MOS pack together, check the payments and the employer's annex, and take the case through to the card. We do not promise the voivodeship's decision time: we make sure the application goes off as a complete set.
UDSC on MOS; the portal mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl; temporary residence and a residence card for work on our website.
In 2026 a residence card starts with MOS and UPO, not with a queue at the office. The fee for the card form is 100 PLN. If you need to go through this with us — call us for a free consultation, we will be glad to help.
18.05.2026
4 min
29.04.2026
6 min
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