Karta pobytu 2026: what changed and how do you apply now?
Since 27 April 2026 you cannot file a Polish residence permit application on paper. Applications for pobyt czasowy, pobyt stały and EU long-term resident status go through the MOS portal at mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl only, and a paper file that reached a voivodeship office later is left without examination. The postmark does not save it. Two more dates landed the same year: on 4 May applications opened for the CUKR residence card, and from 1 June employer notifications about work permits moved to praca.gov.pl.
Which law did this
All of it comes from the Act of 21 November 2025 amending the Act on Foreigners, signed by the President on 12 December 2025 and published as Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1794. It moved residence legalisation online and opened a three-year CUKR residence card to Ukrainians holding PESEL UKR. The permits themselves were not rewritten; only the route to the voivode changed.
What happened on 27 April 2026
That day the rebuilt MOS portal (Moduł Obsługi Spraw) went live, and three permit types became electronic only:
- zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy,
- zezwolenie na pobyt stały,
- zezwolenie na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE.
Paper applications on those three grounds that had not reached voivodeship offices before 27 April 2026 are not examined, and the date you posted the letter is irrelevant. A few categories still run on paper, among them intra-corporate transfers, family reunification when the foreigner is outside Poland, and family-life cases filed from abroad.
Anything that arrived earlier is safe: applications that reached the office before 27 April 2026 are examined as before, and the Office for Foreigners confirms you need not file again.
What MOS asks of you
- An account in the new MOS: an old one does not carry over, so register again. Access is free.
- Login through login.gov.pl and an electronic signature: profil zaufany, a qualified electronic signature or podpis osobisty.
- A digital photograph in JPG, at least 684 by 883 pixels, up to 2.5 MB.
- Scans of every page of your valid passport, and proof of payment.
- Your employer's e-mail address if you apply for a single permit (pobyt czasowy i praca). The system sends it a link, valid 30 days, to the attachment your employer fills in and signs electronically.
No intermediary is needed: the Office for Foreigners says you file on your own, without paid middlemen. What remains is the statutory money, 340-640 PLN for the application depending on the ground and 100 PLN for the card.
What happens after you file
The system issues a UPO, the official receipt, and once the office checks your file a certificate of filing appears there, replacing the old stamp in the passport. Then the voivode sends a letter summoning you on a set date for fingerprints, a signature sample and the originals; that visit did not disappear. The decision arrives in writing, and the card follows it. The permit and the card are two different things, covered in what a karta pobytu is.
4 May 2026: the CUKR residence card
From 4 May 2026 Ukrainians with active PESEL UKR can apply for a residence card annotated "Poprzednio posiadacz ochrony czasowej", commonly called the CUKR card. It runs for three years, goes through MOS only, needs no appointment, and the window closes on 4 March 2027. An old MOS account does not work here either, and the conditions and PESEL UKR dates are in the CUKR residence card.
1 June 2026: work notifications on praca.gov.pl
From 1 June 2026 an employer files work-permit information notices only through praca.gov.pl. Under the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for entrusting work to foreigners, the notice is due when the foreigner did not start work within two months of the permit's initial validity date, broke off for over two months, or finished more than two months early. The electronic route covers applications filed after 1 January 2026. That duty sits with the employer, not with you; your own obligations when you change jobs are covered in changing employer on a karta pobytu.
Warsaw: no queue left, but the voivode still decides
People searched for the Warsaw office for years because of the live queue at the Mazowieckie voivodeship office and the hunt for a ticket. Since 27 April 2026 there is nothing to queue for: you file from any city at any hour, and appointment booking for filing has been withdrawn. The voivode for your place of stay still runs the case and still summons you for fingerprints, and filing online does not move your case elsewhere or make that office faster.
We give no processing times here: the Office for Foreigners publishes none per office, and numbers traded in chats cannot be checked.
A worked example
Serhii lives in Kraków on a temporary residence permit valid until 14 October 2026. He posted his file on 23 April 2026, but the envelope reached the Małopolska office on 29 April, after the cut-off, so the application was left without examination and the early posting date changed nothing.
He started over on 6 May: a new MOS account, the application signed with profil zaufany, photo, passport scans, proof of payment, and his employer's e-mail in the form. The employer got the link and finished his part the same day, so the filing date became 6 May 2026.
Keep counting your days
Years on a karta pobytu later feed the qualifying period for pobyt stały and EU long-term resident status, where the 6/10 absence rule applies. Schengen travel on a residence permit follows its own logic, explained in residence permits and the 90/180 rule, and the days are easiest to keep in the free 90/180 calculator.
Verified: August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and filing procedures change; for your own case ask the Office for Foreigners (Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, UDSC) or an immigration lawyer in Poland.