Who can sponsor a family member under Article 159 in 2026?

A foreigner holding pobyt stały, EU long-term resident status, refugee status or subsidiary protection, or one who has lived in Poland for at least two years on successive temporary residence permits, with the most recent permit issued for a year or longer.

How much income does the sponsor need?

The law asks for a stable and regular source of income covering the sponsor and their dependants. Voivodeship offices use the social assistance income criterion as the floor: 823 PLN net per month per person in the family, so 3,292 PLN net a month for a family of four.

How do I apply after 27 April 2026?

It depends where the family member is. If they are already in Poland, only through the MOS portal (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl), signed with a profil zaufany or a qualified electronic signature. If they are still abroad, family reunification is on the UDSC list of exceptions and the application is filed on paper as before.

Does time on this permit count toward EU long-term resident status?

Yes. It is lawful residence and counts toward the five years required for EU long-term resident status, subject to the absence rule: no single trip longer than 6 months and no more than 10 months in total.

Poland family reunification residence permit 2026

Poland family reunification residence permit: how it works in 2026

Q: Can the family member work on this permit?

Yes. A temporary residence permit granted for family reunification allows work without a separate work permit, and the residence card carries the annotation dostęp do rynku pracy (access to the labour market).

The family reunification permit (zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy w celu połączenia się z rodziną) is a temporary residence permit under Article 159 of Poland's Act on Foreigners. It goes to the spouse and minor children of a foreigner who already lives in Poland on pobyt stały, EU long-term resident status, refugee status, subsidiary protection, or at least two years of successive temporary permits. The conditions are tested against the sponsor, not the arriving relative: stable income, health insurance and secured accommodation. Since 27 April 2026 the application goes through the MOS portal when the relative is already in Poland, and stays on paper when they are still abroad.

Article 159 lists the statuses that let someone bring family to Poland:

pobyt stały (permanent residence permit);
EU long-term resident status (rezydent długoterminowy UE);
refugee status;
subsidiary protection (ochrona uzupełniająca);
at least two years of residence in Poland on successive temporary residence permits, where the most recent permit was issued for a year or longer.

Most people trip over the fifth item: one year on a combined residence-and-work permit is not enough, and the last permit has to run for a year or more. For the wider picture, see the karta pobytu overview.

Who counts as a family member

The circle is narrow: a spouse in a marriage recognised under Polish law, the sponsor's minor children including adopted ones, and the spouse's minor children in their care. Age is judged on the day of filing, so turning eighteen mid-procedure does not spoil the case. Parents, adult children and siblings fall outside the rule, except in refugee and subsidiary-protection families, where the parents of an unaccompanied minor can join.

All three have to hold together.

Income. A stable and regular source of income sufficient to maintain the sponsor and their dependants.

Health insurance. Cover under the Polish healthcare benefits act, or proof that an insurer will pay treatment costs in Poland. Voivodeship offices ask for the arriving relative's documents too.

Accommodation. Evidence that housing is secured: a tenancy agreement, a notarial deed, the owner's written consent, or a registered address valid on the day of the decision.

If the application is filed within six months of the sponsor obtaining refugee status or subsidiary protection, the income and accommodation conditions do not apply at all.

How much income is enough

The Act on Foreigners names no figure, which is what confuses applicants. The threshold comes from the act on social assistance, and voivodeship offices require income above the criterion set there: 823 PLN net per month for each person in the family, or 1,010 PLN net for a single-person household.

Those amounts come from the Council of Ministers regulation of 12 July 2024 (Dz.U. 2024, poz. 1044), in force since 1 January 2025 and reviewed every three years, the next review due in 2027. Check the current figure with your voivodeship office before filing.

The count runs across the household: a sponsor supporting a spouse and two children is supporting four people, so the floor is 3,292 PLN net a month, take-home rather than gross.

Duration, and what the permit lets you do

Article 98 caps a temporary residence permit at three years, with a floor of more than three months. Renewal is a fresh application, filed by the last day of your legal stay.

You can work without a separate work permit, and the residence card carries the annotation dostęp do rynku pracy. The ground for the permit is family rather than a named job, so changing employer does not put it at risk. The combined residence-and-work permit behaves differently, with a reporting deadline on any change of job, covered in the changing employer guide.

What changed in 2026

The conditions did not change, but the filing route did, and for family reunification it now depends on where the relative is. The general rule since 27 April 2026 is that applications for temporary residence, pobyt stały and EU long-term resident status go through MOS (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl), and paper ones that had not reached a voivodeship office before that date are left without examination, whatever the postmark says.

UDSC publishes a list of exceptions, and family reunification is on it. Where the foreigner the application concerns is outside Poland, it is still filed on paper under the old rules, as are family-life cases and applications by family members of Polish, EU and UK citizens when the applicant is abroad. So a spouse and children already in Poland switching to this ground go through MOS, while a family that has not arrived yet assembles a paper set. Check the UDSC MOS questions and answers before filing, since that is where the list is kept.

Electronic filing needs a profil zaufany, a qualified electronic signature or a podpis osobisty. Access is free and no intermediary is required, though fingerprints are still given in person once the voivode summons you. Payments stay outside MOS: stamp duty is 340 PLN and the card costs 100 PLN, on separate accounts published by the voivodeship offices. The rest of this year's changes sit in the 2026 rules guide.

A worked example

Andrii received EU long-term resident status in March 2024. He works in Katowice and takes home 6,800 PLN a month. In September 2026 he brings over his wife Maryna and their children, aged seven and twelve, all three still in Ukraine.

His status qualifies, since Article 159 names EU long-term residents directly, and so do the relatives. Four people in the household puts the income floor at 3,292 PLN net against his 6,800 PLN. The flat is on a two-year tenancy and insurance comes through ZUS. Because the three are abroad, the applications go in on paper: Maryna files her own, Andrii files for each child as their parent, at 340 PLN stamp duty and 100 PLN per card. Had Maryna already been in Poland on a student permit and simply changing ground, the same set would have gone through MOS. The permits cannot run past the three-year cap in Article 98, and Maryna can work from the first day her card is valid.

Where this time leads

Residence on this permit is lawful, so it accumulates. After five years Maryna can apply for EU long-term resident status in her own right under Article 211. Pobyt stały is harder: Article 195 has no general "five years on any permit" ground, though children born after a parent obtained that status, or during that parent's temporary permit, apply directly.

The trap is absences. Across the five-year period no single trip abroad may exceed six months and all absences together must stay under ten, worked through in the guide to absences for pobyt stały and EU resident status. Schengen days count separately: the 90/180 limit does not apply while you live in Poland on a valid permit, but travel to other member states follows its own logic, explained in residence permits and the 90/180 rule. The free 90/180 calculator keeps that history on your device.

Verified: August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Family reunification conditions, income thresholds and filing procedures change. For your own case, ask the Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców (UDSC), your voivodeship office, or a qualified immigration lawyer in Poland.