EU long-term resident permit in Poland: conditions and how to apply

What the permit gives you

The permit has no end date (art. 211 ust. 1 of the Foreigners Act). Its residence card (karta pobytu) is valid for 5 years each time (art. 243 ust. 1 pkt 3 and ust. 2 pkt 2) and costs 100 zł; children under 16 and some others pay half (§ 2 of regulation Dz.U. 2022 poz. 1583; art. 237). You may work without a work permit (art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 7 of the act on employing foreigners). Another EU country can give you a permit for work or study on easier terms (MOS); if it gives you its own EU long-term resident permit, Poland withdraws yours (art. 215 ust. 1 pkt 5). It is also withdrawn if you leave Poland for more than 6 years, or the EU for 12 months in a row (art. 215 ust. 1 pkt 3–4).

The 5 years

You need at least 5 years of legal and unbroken stay in Poland right before you apply (art. 211 ust. 1).

Trips abroad: none longer than 6 months, and no more than 10 months in all over the 5 years (art. 212 ust. 3 pkt 1). These limits do not count work abroad for an employer based in Poland, a spouse or minor child going with you, a special personal situation that kept you abroad for up to 6 months, or a placement or classes abroad that are part of studies at a Polish university (art. 212 ust. 4).

Half counts: time on a visa or permit for university studies or vocational training, and time while your application for international protection was decided; all of it, if that took more than 18 months (art. 212 ust. 1 pkt 2–3).

Does not count (art. 212 ust. 2): time as a posted worker or a diplomat; at school (nauka) in Poland; on a Schengen visa valid only for Poland, issued for humanitarian reasons, state interest or international obligations; on a local border traffic permit, or a permit for an intra-company transfer or a short stay (art. 139a, 139o or 181); after a return decision, until the date set for leaving; in protection proceedings that ended in refusal.

EU Blue Card holders can add time in other EU countries (art. 212 ust. 1 pkt 1–1c).

UKR status. The Office for Foreigners says time with UKR status (temporary protection) does not count: with a CUKR card, the 5 years start on the day you collect it (UdSC questions and answers). The Act’s list of periods that do not count does not name temporary protection. If your 5 years depend on it, ask free legal help.

Income, insurance and Polish

Income: steady and regular, enough for you and the family members you support (art. 211 ust. 1 pkt 1). Each month it must be above the social assistance income limit for you and for each of them (art. 211 ust. 2; art. 140 ust. 2). Since 1 January 2025 the limit is 1010 zł for a person living alone and 823 zł for each person in a family (§ 1 pkt 1 of regulation Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1044): for you, a spouse and a child you support, more than 2469 zł. You need such an income for the 3 years before you apply, or 2 years in the EU Blue Card case (art. 211 ust. 2 pkt 1–2). MOS says the office counts net income, and uses the lower limits of the time for months before 2025.

Health insurance: with the NFZ, or an insurer’s confirmation that it covers your treatment in Poland (art. 211 ust. 1 pkt 2).

Polish at level B1, proved only by (art. 211 ust. 3):

• a certificate at B1 or higher from the official list: the state certificate of Polish, ECL, TELC, a university certificate after a course of Polish as a foreign language, or a sworn translator’s certificate (regulation Dz.U. 2023 poz. 1076);
• a certificate from a school taught in Polish, in Poland or abroad, except a post-secondary school (szkoła policealna);
• a diploma from university studies taught in Polish, in Poland or abroad.

Children under 16 are exempt (art. 211 ust. 4).

Who cannot apply

You cannot apply if, on that day (art. 213 ust. 1), you are: outside Poland or here illegally; here to study, for vocational training or for school; here on humanitarian or tolerated stay, asylum or temporary protection (UKR status), or applying for international protection; on a visa or permit whose time does not count (above); a posted worker; detained or in prison; here after a return decision, or obliged to leave after a refusal (art. 299 ust. 6). A CUKR card is a temporary residence permit (art. 42r ust. 1 of the Ukraine special act) and is not on this list. The voivode then refuses to open the case; you can challenge that with a zażalenie within 7 days of delivery (art. 61a § 2 and art. 141 § 2 k.p.a.).

How to apply

From 27 April 2026 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1794; M.P. 2026 poz. 370; a case opened earlier keeps the old rules, art. 12 of that act):

1. Apply while your stay is legal, at the latest on its last day, from Poland (art. 218a ust. 1; art. 213 ust. 1 pkt 7), to the voivode where you stay (art. 218 ust. 1).
2. Only online, through MOS (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl); sent any other way, the application is left unexamined (art. 219c ust. 1 and 3). Log in through login.gov.pl, for example with a trusted profile (profil zaufany), and fill in the form in Polish (MOS).
3. Attach a photo and scans of every page of your passport and of your right to the flat, such as a rental contract; a free loan of a flat (użyczenie) counts only from close family (art. 219a; art. 219d ust. 1). You may add proof of the conditions (art. 219d ust. 2).
4. Sign with a trusted signature (podpis zaufany) or a qualified electronic signature. The application is filed when you get the official receipt (UPO); keep it (art. 219d ust. 3–5).
5. Pay 640 zł stamp duty when you apply, to the city office of the city where the voivode has its seat (annex, part III ust. 4, and art. 6, 8 and 12 of the stamp duty act). It is not refunded after a refusal or a closed case (art. 223a).
6. Come when called, on a date at least 7 days after the summons reaches you: show your passport and your right to the flat, and give fingerprints and a sample signature (art. 219e ust. 1). If you do not, the case is closed (art. 219i ust. 1). Children under 6 do not come (art. 219h ust. 1).
7. Send the documents the voivode asks for in the time it sets, at least 14 days (art. 219f), with a sworn translation into Polish if they are in another language (MOS).

The voivode must help you with the MOS account and the application (art. 219d ust. 6; art. 225b ust. 4).

While you wait

If you applied during legal stay and the application had no formal gaps, or you filled them in time, your stay is legal until the decision is final, and the voivode gives you a certificate (zaświadczenie) through MOS (art. 222a ust. 1 and 6), unless the case is suspended at your request (art. 222a ust. 2). The certificate does not let you travel to other Schengen countries (MOS). For applications before 27 April 2026, a stamp in the passport does the same (art. 206 ust. 1, applied by the old art. 223).

How long it takes

The voivode has 6 months (art. 222d ust. 1) from the later of two days: the day your application is complete, and the day you send the documents asked for or the time for them ends (art. 222d ust. 2). Under the old rules (applications before 27 April 2026) it is also 6 months, which could also start from your visit in person (art. 210 ust. 1–2, applied by the old art. 223).

Until 4 March 2027 these 6 months do not run in the voivode’s case, whatever your citizenship (art. 100d ust. 1 of the Ukraine special act). They start or go on after that day, and until then the voivode does not have to act on a ponaglenie (art. 100d ust. 3–4). On appeal, the Head of the Office for Foreigners has 90 days (art. 222d ust. 3); the pause does not cover this.

If the decision is late: ponaglenie

After the 6 months, send a ponaglenie (a formal complaint about delay) to the Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców), through the voivode (art. 37 § 1 and § 3 pkt 1 k.p.a.; art. 22 ust. 2 of the Foreigners Act); one sent earlier is left unexamined (art. 37 § 3a k.p.a.). During the pause it still counts: you need it before a complaint to an administrative court about the delay (art. 53 § 2b p.p.s.a.). Ask free legal help about that complaint.

Send it by post, at the office, or to the voivode’s e-Doręczenia address, and keep the proof of receipt (dowód otrzymania); not by email (art. 63 § 1 k.p.a.). Respubliko writes it in Polish from your answers; you check it, sign it and send it yourself.

If you are refused: 14 days to appeal

The voivode refuses if you do not meet the conditions in art. 211 ust. 1, or for reasons of defence, state security or public order (art. 214 ust. 1). You can appeal (odwołanie) within 14 days of delivery (art. 129 § 2 k.p.a.) to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, through the voivode who decided (art. 129 § 1 k.p.a.; art. 22 ust. 1 pkt 1 of the Foreigners Act): by post, at the office or to the voivode’s e-Doręczenia address, not through MOS (MOS). It is on time if, by the last day, you post it at Poczta Polska, or send it to that address and get the proof of receipt (dowód otrzymania) (art. 57 § 5 k.p.a.). Say which conditions you meet, with proof. If the refusal becomes final and you have no other right to stay, you must leave Poland within 30 days (art. 299 ust. 6 pkt 1). Respubliko writes this appeal too (start here).