3503 чел.
18.05.2026
4 min
Checked in May 2026. Long-term EU resident (pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE) is no longer just another temporary card that you renew every couple of years, but a separate status. From 27 April 2026 the application is accepted only through MOS. We first look at whether you have accumulated five years of stay, income and the language, and only then assemble the pack and take the case the EU resident card through to the decision.
In character this is a stable EU status: you live in Poland, travel around the Union under the common rules and work here without a separate work permit. It is still not citizenship and not free access to the labour market of any other EU country — those have their own procedures. The card is ‘tied’ to Poland as the country of issue, even if you travel around the Union.
People take it so they do not have to renew a temporary card every few years: it is easier with a loan, housing and family, and travel in Schengen is calmer than on a visa. For many it is a step before citizenship, but citizenship itself is not filed through MOS — that is already another portal and other conditions.
Usually you need about five years of lawful continuous stay, a stable income, housing, insurance and Polish at B1 — a certificate from the official list. Some grounds are counted differently: we check UKR, CUKR and studies separately, because ‘years in the passport’ and ‘years that count’ are not always the same thing. Gaps between cards and long trips abroad are a common reason why the consultation comes out as ‘too early’, not ‘we file tomorrow’.
Filing goes into mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl, the signature is through login.gov.pl, and without a UPO for the voivode there is no application. The stamp duty on this type is higher than the typical 340 PLN: the UDSC guide is up to 640 PLN plus 100 PLN for the plastic, on two different accounts. We take the exact payment details from your voivode.
First we count the five years from the decisions and from the UPO, not ‘by eye from the visas’. Then we gather income, housing, the B1 certificate and translations, pay the two fees and only after that sign MOS. Next — the UPO and a visit for fingerprints. Paper is not taken to the secretariat after 26 April 2026: that track is not accepted.
They refuse when the five years on the count are not yet there, the trips abroad turned out too long, the income exists ‘in words’ but not in the documents, there is no B1, the application went to the wrong voivodeship or there is no UPO in MOS. These are not ‘nitpicks’, but what the voivode is obliged to check. We would rather say this before you sign than after a refusal.
First we count whether there is a basis at all. If there is — we assemble MOS. If not — we say so at the consultation, not after a refusal. The consultation is free: that is where it becomes clear whether this is resident status, another temporary card, or still too early.
EU resident in 2026 is MOS, five years of stay and B1, not a booking at the office as before. The official base: UDSC on MOS. If you send the history of your cards and trips abroad, we will work out whether the term adds up.
18.05.2026
4 min
29.04.2026
6 min
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