CUKR residence card in Poland: who gets it and by when?
The CUKR residence card is a karta pobytu carrying the annotation "Poprzednio posiadacz ochrony czasowej", and it confirms a temporary residence permit valid for three years. It is meant for people currently living in Poland under UKR status. Applications opened on 4 May 2026 and close on 4 March 2027, and they are accepted online only, through the MOS portal.
How CUKR differs from UKR status
Temporary protection was never a residence permit. Poland extended it several times, and each extension bought people more time without giving them a document. The CUKR card ends that cycle: a voivode grants a temporary residence permit on special terms, and the card proves it for three years ahead.
This is not stały pobyt, and it is not a shortcut to it. CUKR puts you in the same system every other foreigner with a residence card lives in, with the same duties and the same clock. For what a karta pobytu is and which types exist, see the overview of Polish residence cards.
Who can apply
Two groups qualify:
- Ukrainian citizens and certain family members, meaning a spouse, minor children and closest family holding a Karta Polaka, who came to Poland after 23 February 2022 because of the war and want to stay;
- children born in Poland after 23 February 2022 whose mothers arrived here and hold a CUKR card. The child's card runs for the same period as the mother's.
The four conditions that must hold together
UDSC lists them with no alternatives. All four at the same time:
- An active PESEL UKR on the day you file.
- An active PESEL UKR on 4 June 2025.
- An active PESEL UKR on the day the voivode issues the card.
- UKR status held continuously for at least 365 days.
The second one catches the most people, because 4 June 2025 is a separate date in the statute rather than a typo for 4 March or 4 May. Three different dates live in this topic and mixing them up is expensive.
UKR status is lost by anyone who leaves Poland for more than 30 days. Trips like that are why so many records show a gap, and a gap breaks both the 365-day continuity condition and the 4 June 2025 one. Your PESEL with UKR status also has to rest on a valid travel document registered in any gmina, so replace an expired passport before you file.
A worked example
Oksana arrived in Poland on 5 March 2022, got her PESEL UKR on 10 March and never left for long after that. On 4 June 2025 her status was active, continuity is now in its fourth year, and her PESEL was valid on filing day. All four conditions hold, and she filed through MOS on 12 May 2026. Her daughter, born in Wrocław in 2023, gets a card running for the same period as her mother's.
Her brother Andrii was given his PESEL UKR in September 2022, but spent two months in Germany in spring 2025. He lost UKR status and only restored it on 1 July 2025. On 4 June 2025 he had no active PESEL UKR, so the second condition fails. His status being active again today changes nothing: the CUKR card is closed to him, and he needs a different basis to legalise his stay.
The two dates that bound the window
Filing opened on 4 May 2026 and closes on 4 March 2027, the same day the current temporary protection expires. Anyone who has not applied by then stays on UKR status, which ends at that exact moment.
Processing is not instant either. The card should be issued within 180 days of filing, so up to half a year can pass between the application and the card, and anyone who waits for the final weeks risks running out of time.
How to file: MOS only, no queues
Applications go through the MOS portal (Moduł Obsługi Spraw) at mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl and nowhere else. You need a new account: if you registered in MOS before, the old access does not carry over. You sign in via login.gov.pl.
There is no visit to the voivodeship office and no slot to book. Access is free and you can file on your own, without a paid intermediary. This sits inside a wider change: since 27 April 2026 applications for temporary residence, permanent residence and EU long-term resident status are accepted electronically only, and paper ones are left unexamined. The rest of this year's changes are in the 2026 residence card changes guide.
Fees and what you need
Two payments, going to two different accounts:
- 340 PLN in stamp duty for the temporary residence permit itself;
- 100 PLN for producing the card.
Besides proof of both payments you need a current photograph in digital format and an electronic signature: a trusted profile (profil zaufany), a qualified electronic signature, or a personal signature (podpis osobisty).
What changes once the card is issued
What the CUKR card gives you:
- full access to the Polish labour market with no separate work permit, and your employer no longer has to notify the county labour office;
- the right to run a business on the same terms as Polish citizens;
- travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, with a valid travel document;
- time that counts toward the residence record when you apply for long-term EU resident status.
There are losses too. On issue, UKR status automatically becomes CUKR status, and the benefits that rested on UKR go with it. The big one is free housing and meals in collective accommodation centres. If you still live in one, plan for that before you file.
The duties afterwards are simple but not optional: collect the card within 60 days or it is invalidated, notify the voivode of a change of address within 15 working days, and remember that leaving Poland for six months or more can cost you the permit.
Where you can travel on a CUKR card
The residence card plus a valid passport lets you move around the other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Days lived in Poland do not count against that limit, because there you stay on a permit rather than as a tourist. How to count them is covered in the guide on residence permits and the 90/180 rule.
Doing it by hand is a bad idea, since the window shifts every day. The free 90/180 calculator keeps your trip history on your own device and shows how many days are left.
Does CUKR bring permanent status closer?
It does, though not as fast as people hope. UDSC states that time on a CUKR card counts when you apply for long-term EU resident status, and that status needs five years of lawful continuous residence. Three years on the card covers most of that, but not all of it.
The word carrying the weight is "continuous". Long trips abroad can reset what you have built up: no single absence may exceed 6 months, and all of them together over the qualifying period may not exceed 10 months. The stały pobyt and 6/10 absences guide shows how that plays out. Looking further ahead, the timelines and grounds for a passport are in the Polish citizenship residence days guide.
Verified: August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. The conditions for the CUKR card and their official interpretation can change; for your own case, ask UDSC (Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców) or an immigration lawyer in Poland.