Polish office late with your case? Send a ponaglenie (art. 37 k.p.a.)

Who this is for

You are waiting for a decision from a Polish public office: a town hall, a district office (starostwo), a voivode’s office or another. The Code of Administrative Procedure (k.p.a.) gives it a time limit. When it misses it, you can send a ponaglenie: a formal letter asking the higher authority to make the office act (art. 37 k.p.a.).

How long the office has

The office must deal with your case without undue delay (art. 35 § 1). At the latest:

• at once (niezwłocznie), when the documents you gave, facts everyone knows, or the office’s own records are enough (art. 35 § 2);
• one month when the office has to look into the case, and two months when the case is particularly complicated, from the day the case started (art. 35 § 3);
• one month for an appeal, from the day it reached the authority that decides it (art. 35 § 3);
• one month in the simplified procedure (postępowanie uproszczone) (art. 35 § 3a).

The case starts on the day your application reaches the office (art. 61 § 3); online, on the day of the proof of receipt (art. 61 § 3a). A month ends on the same date of the next month: if the office got your application on 10 March, one month ends on 10 April (art. 57 § 3).

Some time is not counted (art. 35 § 5): time the law gives for particular steps, delivery through the public hybrid mail service, any suspension of the case, mediation, and delays caused by you or by things the office could not control.

Send the ponaglenie only after the time limit has passed. If you send it earlier, the office leaves it unexamined (art. 37 § 3a). The law does not say when “at once” runs out; the limits in § 3 are the clear ones. After that, there is no last day for sending it.

If the office wrote to you with a new date

Each time the office does not decide in time, it must write to you with the reason, a new date, and a note that you can send a ponaglenie (art. 36 § 1). It must do this even when the delay is not its fault (art. 36 § 2).

The law names two problems (art. 37 § 1):

• inaction (bezczynność): the case was not decided within the time limit, nor by the new date;
• dragging out (przewlekłość): the case is taking longer than it needs to.

So once the office’s own time limit has passed, you can send a ponaglenie before the new date, if that date is later than your case needs. When the new date passes too, the office is inactive.

Where it goes

Address it to the higher authority (organ wyższego stopnia), but send or bring it to the office that handles your case (art. 37 § 3 pkt 1). For a town or district office, that is usually the SKO (samorządowe kolegium odwoławcze), unless a special act names another body (art. 17 pkt 1). For a voivode, it is the minister for the matter (art. 17 pkt 2); in foreigners’ cases, the Head of the Office for Foreigners (art. 22 ust. 2 of the Foreigners Act). If you are not sure, write “to the higher authority, through [the office]”. If there is no higher authority, the ponaglenie goes to the office itself (art. 37 § 3 pkt 2).

What happens to it

1. The office must pass it to the higher authority within 7 days, with copies of the files and its own comments (art. 37 § 4).
2. The higher authority must deal with it within 7 days of getting it (art. 37 § 5).
3. It decides in a postanowienie whether the office was inactive or dragging out, and whether that was a flagrant breach of the law (rażące naruszenie prawa). If so, it orders the office to decide by a set date, if the case is still open, and orders the causes explained, those responsible named and, if needed, steps against it happening again (art. 37 § 6). It can later give more time if new facts come up (art. 37 § 7).

When the ponaglenie went to the office itself and it finds inaction or dragging out, it must decide the case without delay (art. 37 § 8). An official who delayed without good reason can face disciplinary or other action (art. 38).

What to write

The ponaglenie must give its reasons, the uzasadnienie (art. 37 § 2). Put in:

• the higher authority, and the office “za pośrednictwem” (through) which you send it;
• your name and address (art. 63 § 2). If there is no address and the office cannot find one, the letter is left unexamined (art. 64 § 1);
• what you asked for, when the office got it, and the case number (znak sprawy), if you have one;
• the reasons: which time limit applied, when it ended, and what the office has done since, such as a letter with a new date;
• your request: that the authority find inaction (or dragging out) and order the office to decide by a set date (art. 37 § 6);
• your signature (art. 63 § 3).

There is no fee. Stamp duty is charged only for what the stamp duty act lists, and a ponaglenie is not on the list (art. 1 and 4 of the stamp duty act).

Respubliko writes this letter in Polish from your answers. You check it, sign it and send it yourself.

How to send it

• By post: a registered letter (list polecony) from Poczta Polska. Keep the receipt: it shows that you sent the letter, and when. When your case has a deadline, a letter posted at Poczta Polska by the last day is on time (art. 57 § 5 pkt 2).
• In person: at the office’s registry desk (kancelaria). Bring a copy and ask the office to confirm on it that it got your letter: it must, if you ask (art. 63 § 4). You can also say it at the office and have it written down in a record (protokół), or send it by fax (art. 63 § 1).
• Online, through e-Doręczenia: to the office’s e-Doręczenia address, signed with Profil Zaufany (trusted signature), an e-ID card (personal signature) or a qualified signature (art. 63 § 1; art. 14 § 1a and 1d). You need your own e-Doręczenia address, free to set up at gov.pl. Save the proof of receipt (dowód otrzymania): your letter is delivered when it reaches the office’s address (art. 41 ust. 1 pkt 2 and 42 ust. 1 pkt 2 of the act on electronic delivery). Offices will then send their letters to your address (art. 39 § 1 k.p.a.); one you do not open counts as delivered the day after 14 days (art. 42 ust. 2 of that act).
• Through your account in the office’s own online system, if it has one (art. 63 § 1). Some acts allow nothing else: for 800+, letters to ZUS go only through your ZUS profile (art. 13a ust. 7 of the 800+ act).

Not through ePUAP. The law treated a letter sent through ePUAP as delivered only until 31 December 2025 (art. 147 ust. 2 of the act on electronic delivery). Not by ordinary email: the office leaves it unexamined, unless a special act says otherwise (art. 63 § 1 k.p.a.).

If nothing changes: the administrative court

The ponaglenie is the step you must take before you can go to court (art. 52 § 1–2 of the act on proceedings before administrative courts, p.p.s.a.). After it, you can complain about inaction or dragging out to the voivodeship administrative court (WSA) at any time, without waiting for the answer (art. 3 § 2 pkt 8–9 and 53 § 2b p.p.s.a.).

• The court is the WSA where the office has its seat (art. 13 § 2).
• You file the complaint through the office it is about (art. 54 § 1). The office must send it to the court with the files and its answer within 30 days, and in that time it can also grant it itself (art. 54 § 2–3).
• The court can order the office to decide within a set time, find that it was inactive or dragging out, and say whether that was a flagrant breach of the law (art. 149 § 1–1a). It can also fine the office or award you a sum of money (art. 149 § 2).
• The court fee (wpis) for a complaint about inaction is 100 zł (§ 2 ust. 1 pkt 6 of the regulation on court entry fees). You pay no court costs in some matters, such as social assistance, social insurance and protection for foreigners (art. 239 § 1 pkt 1 p.p.s.a.). If you cannot pay, ask the court for prawo pomocy (no costs, and a lawyer); asking is free (art. 243–246 p.p.s.a.).

Respubliko does not write this complaint yet. Free legal help can.

Different rules: residence permits and taxes

Other acts can set other time limits (art. 35 § 4 k.p.a.). Residence permits at the voivode have their own, in the Foreigners Act (art. 112a for a temporary residence permit). Until 4 March 2027, a special act also pauses them, for all foreigners (art. 100d of the act on help for citizens of Ukraine). A separate guide explains what you can still do.

Tax cases follow the Tax Ordinance, not the k.p.a. (art. 3 § 1 pkt 2 k.p.a.). It has its own time limits (art. 139 of the Tax Ordinance) and its own ponaglenie, to the higher tax authority (art. 141 § 1). The details in this guide are the k.p.a.’s.

When to get help

Respubliko writes the letter; it cannot make the office decide. Ask free legal help (nieodpłatna pomoc prawna) if your stay, work or income depends on the decision, if the office says your ponaglenie came too early, or before you go to court.