How long do I have to tell the voivode I lost my job?

The foreigner has 15 working days from the loss of work (art. 121(1) of the Act on Foreigners). The duty counts as fulfilled if an application to change the permit is filed within the same 15 working days. The employer has a different deadline of 15 calendar days.

What happens if I miss the deadline?

The voivode starts withdrawing the permit because the purpose of stay has ended (art. 101(1)). Missing the deadline is also a ground to refuse the change itself, and to refuse the next temporary residence permit if you apply within a year.

When is a change of permit enough instead of a new one?

A change covers a new employer and new conditions of employment: position, pay, working time, contract type. It costs 220 PLN instead of 440, but it does not extend the permit. Replacing a civil-law contract with an employment contract needs nothing at all.

Can I work for the new employer while the case is pending?

Not on the old decision, because it names the previous company. During the procedure you need a separate work document, a type A work permit or a registered oświadczenie if your nationality qualifies for it.

How do I file in 2026?

Since 27 April 2026 applications for temporary residence, permanent residence and EU long-term resident status are accepted only through the MOS portal. Paper reaching a voivodeship office after that date is left unexamined. A change of employer is filed the same way.

Karta pobytu with no employer tie: changing jobs in Poland

Is there a karta pobytu with no employer tie?

Q: Is there a karta pobytu with no employer tie?

No permit goes by that name. The single permit for residence and work always names one employer. Free labour market access comes with permanent residence, EU long-term resident status, the CUKR card and permits granted on family grounds.

Polish law has no permit under that name. The ordinary single permit (zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy i pracę) always names one employer, and the decision fixes the company, position, minimum salary, working time and contract type. Free labour market access belongs to other statuses: permanent residence, EU long-term resident status, the CUKR card and permits granted on family grounds. If you already hold a single permit and want to move jobs, the law gives you a separate procedure with a 15 working day deadline.

What your decision actually says

A single permit staples two rights together: living in Poland, and working for the company named in it. Lose the company and half the legal basis goes with it. The annotation "dostęp do rynku pracy" on the card (art. 244) says only that the holder may work in Poland, not how far the right reaches. Behind it a permanent resident takes any job; a single permit holder works for one.

Which statuses carry no employer tie

Permanent residence, zezwolenie na pobyt stały.
EU long-term resident status.
The karta pobytu CUKR, open for applications since 4 May 2026: full labour market access with no separate work permit, and business on the same terms as Polish citizens (CUKR guide).
Permits on family grounds: as a family member of a Polish citizen, and family reunification.
Refugee status and subsidiary protection.

None of these writes an employer into the basis of your stay, so losing a job does not break your status. The karta pobytu overview sets out how they relate.

Changing employer: the clock runs in working days

Two duties live here, and mixing them up is expensive. The foreigner notifies the voivode who issued the permit, in writing, about the loss of work with any employer listed in the decision. The deadline is 15 working days (art. 121(1)). That duty counts as fulfilled if you file an application to change the permit, wniosek o zmianę zezwolenia, within the same 15 working days (art. 121(3)).

The former employer notifies the voivode separately, on a different clock: 15 days from the event, calendar days (art. 121(4)). Their notification does not discharge yours.

A general rule covers every temporary permit: when the reason it was granted ceases, you tell the voivode within 15 working days (art. 113). Working days exclude weekends and Polish public holidays, which buys about a week over calendar days. I would not lean on that week; the office looks at the date it received the document.

What happens if you say nothing

The permit is withdrawn when the purpose of stay has ceased (art. 101(1)), and losing the job named in the decision is exactly that. The law softens it: for 30 days from the loss of work the voivode does not apply those grounds (art. 123), but only if you met the duty under art. 121, or proved the notification failed to arrive through no fault of yours. That relief works once per permit.

A missed deadline hurts twice. It is a stated ground to refuse the change itself, and under art. 100(2) an unfulfilled art. 113 duty lets the office refuse your next temporary residence permit if you apply within a year of the old one expiring.

Change of permit or a new one

A change (art. 120(1)) covers a new employer, a new user undertaking, new conditions of employment (position, minimum pay, working time, contract type), and becoming exempt from the work permit requirement. It costs 220 PLN against 440 for a fresh permit, but extends nothing: the validity period does not change (art. 120(3)). A refusal can be appealed to the Head of UDSC within 14 days. One case needs nothing at all, replacing a civil-law contract with an employment contract at the same employer.

While the change is pending you still cannot work for the new employer on the old decision. You need a type A work permit, or a registered oświadczenie if your nationality qualifies for one.

A worked example

Martin works for a Warsaw company on a single permit valid until 30 September 2027, and his last working day is Tuesday, 30 June 2026. The 15 working days run from 1 July, which has no Polish public holidays, so only weekends drop out and the fifteenth lands on Tuesday, 21 July. By then Martin either notifies the Mazovian voivode of the loss of work or files the change application through MOS. The second closes the duty by itself.

His former employer counts differently: 15 calendar days from 30 June, so 15 July. Martin should not plan around the HR deadline. He found a new job on 6 July, inside the 30 day shield of art. 123, so the change goes in for the new company and he works there on a type A permit until the voivode decides.

How this is filed in 2026

Since 27 April 2026, applications for temporary residence, permanent residence and EU long-term resident status are accepted only through the MOS portal (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl), which is free and needs no intermediary. Paper reaching a voivodeship office after that date is left unexamined. A few categories stayed on paper, including intra-corporate transfer and family cases where the foreigner is outside Poland, but a change of employer is not one of them.

Separately, since 1 June 2026 the employer files its work permit notices through praca.gov.pl: that the foreigner did not start within two months of the permit taking effect, broke off work for more than two months, or finished more than two months early. That route covers applications filed after 1 January 2026; older permits keep the previous channel. It is the employer's paperwork, and yours still goes to the voivode. The rest of this year's changes sit in the 2026 rules guide.

While the case is pending

The stamp confirming your application keeps your stay lawful until the voivode decides. That protection is Polish, not Schengen: days in other Schengen countries still count under the 90/180 rule, and the free 90/180 calculator keeps your trip history on your own device.

A gap in lawful residence also breaks the continuity behind permanent residence and EU long-term resident status, where the count runs in years. Those absence rules have their own guide.

Verified: August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines and their official interpretation can change; for your own case ask UDSC (Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców), your voivodeship office, or an immigration lawyer in Poland.