Residence card in Poland taking too long? Send a ponaglenie

Which cases this covers

You applied to the voivode (wojewoda) for one of these permits, and the decision has not come:

• temporary residence (pobyt czasowy);
• permanent residence (pobyt stały);
• EU long-term resident (rezydent długoterminowy UE).

The voivode for the place where you stay decides (art. 104 ust. 1, art. 201 ust. 1 and art. 218 ust. 1 of the Foreigners Act). The card you get at the end is the karta pobytu.

This is not for the CUKR card for Ukrainians with UKR status: it has its own term, 180 days (art. 42l of the act on help for citizens of Ukraine), and our delay letter does not cover it. If you got a refusal, you need an appeal (odwołanie, art. 127 § 1 k.p.a.), not this letter.

How long the voivode has

• 60 days for temporary residence (art. 112a ust. 1 of the Foreigners Act);
• 6 months for permanent residence (art. 210 ust. 1);
• 6 months for EU long-term resident (art. 222d ust. 1, added by Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1794). For applications filed before 27 April 2026, the same 6 months apply through art. 223.

These terms replace the month, or two months, of the administrative code (art. 35 § 3–4 k.p.a.).

When the clock starts

Not on the day you applied. Many people count from that day, and get it wrong.

The term runs from the day of the last of these events (art. 112a ust. 2, art. 210 ust. 2 and art. 222d ust. 2):

1. your application has no formal gaps, or you filled them when the office asked;
2. you handed in the documents the voivode asked for in writing, or the deadline it set for them passed.

So if the voivode asked for a document and you brought it in September, the count starts in September. If you still owe the office a document, send it: until then, the term has not even started.

If your application was filed before 27 April 2026, the old rules apply to your case (art. 12 of Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1794). They add a third event: the day you filed in person, or came to the office in person after filing. From 27 April 2026 you apply online, through MOS, and that event is gone (M.P. 2026 poz. 370).

The pause until 4 March 2027

A special law stops these terms: art. 100d of the act on help for citizens of Ukraine (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1293). It covers every foreigner, whatever their citizenship: the law says “a foreigner”, and the Supreme Administrative Court reads it so (II OSK 1375/25). Until 4 March 2027:

• the voivode’s terms to decide on temporary residence, permanent residence and EU long-term resident permits do not start, and terms already running are suspended (ust. 1);
• the office can still work on your case and decide it, and what it does is valid (ust. 2);
• the rules on inaction do not apply, and the voivode does not have to tell you that it is late (ust. 3 pkt 1). Outside the pause, an office that misses its term must tell you why, give a new date and say that you can send a ponaglenie (art. 36 k.p.a.);
• the office cannot be fined, or made to pay you a sum of money, for missing the terms (ust. 3 pkt 2);
• the office stopping work, or working late, cannot be the ground of a remedy for inaction or delay (ust. 4).

The pause covers only the voivode. An appeal at the Office for Foreigners is not paused (see the last section).

Why send a ponaglenie anyway

A ponaglenie is a formal complaint about delay: the office missed its term (bezczynność) or drags the case out (przewlekłość) (art. 37 § 1 k.p.a.). Sent before the term has run out, it is left unexamined (art. 37 § 3a). While the terms are paused, a voivode may treat every ponaglenie that way and not pass it on.

It still matters:

• It opens the way to court. You can complain to an administrative court about inaction or delay only after a ponaglenie (art. 52 § 2 and art. 53 § 2b p.p.s.a.).
• Courts have pushed back. The Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) has held that the pause cannot be applied to time after 30 June 2024, because it plainly breaks the right to a court (art. 45 ust. 1 of the Constitution), for example on 17 February 2026 (II OSK 1375/25). In 2026 regional courts ordered voivodes to decide anyway. In one case the voivode had not passed on the ponaglenie, and the court still gave it 30 days to decide (WSA Gliwice, 2 June 2026, II SAB/Gl 93/26).

This is not a promise for your case: the law still says the terms are paused.

Where it goes

The ponaglenie is addressed to the Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców), the higher body over voivodes in residence cases (art. 22 ust. 2 of the Foreigners Act). But you do not send it to the Head. You file it through the voivode who has your case (art. 37 § 3 pkt 1 k.p.a.). Outside the pause, the voivode must pass it on within 7 days, with the file and its comments, and the Head must deal with it within 7 days (art. 37 § 4–5).

How to send it

The law accepts these ways (art. 63 § 1 k.p.a.):

• On paper: by post (registered, so you have proof) or at the registry desk of the voivodeship office (urząd wojewódzki). You can ask the office to confirm that it received it (art. 63 § 4).
• Online: to the office’s e-Doręczenia address, signed with Profil Zaufany or a qualified e-signature (art. 14 § 1a and 1d). Keep the proof of receipt (dowód otrzymania) that the system issues when your letter arrives (art. 41 ust. 1 pkt 2 of the act on electronic delivery).

Not by email: an office leaves a letter sent by email unexamined (art. 63 § 1). Not through ePUAP: since 1 January 2026 a letter you send there no longer counts as delivered (art. 147 ust. 2 of the act on electronic delivery). Not through MOS: MOS is for the application itself (art. 106c, 203c and 219c of the Foreigners Act), and its help pages say it does not handle the case after that (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl).

What the letter says

The law asks for one thing: reasons (art. 37 § 2 k.p.a.). Our letter gives:

• your name and address, and the case number (znak sprawy) if you have one;
• the kind of permit and the date you applied;
• the term as the law words it, without counting days or saying that it has run out;
• the request: decide the case without more delay, say whether the voivode is inactive or dragging the case out, and tell you where the case stands and whether anything is still needed from you;
• that you may complain to the administrative court.

Respubliko writes the letter in Polish from your answers, whatever language you read this in. You check it, sign it and send it yourself.

What happens next

The Head answers with a postanowienie (art. 37 § 6 k.p.a.). It says whether the voivode was inactive or dragged the case out, and whether that was a flagrant breach of the law. If it was, the Head orders the voivode to decide by a set date and to find out why. The Head may later move that date if new facts need more time (art. 37 § 7).

If nothing changes, or your ponaglenie was left unexamined, the next step is a complaint about inaction or delay (skarga na bezczynność or na przewlekłość) to the voivodeship administrative court (WSA) (art. 3 § 2 pkt 8 p.p.s.a.):

• you can file it at any time after the ponaglenie (art. 53 § 2b);
• the court is the WSA for the place where the voivode’s office is, and you file the complaint through the voivode (art. 13 § 2 and art. 54 § 1);
• if the court agrees, it orders the voivode to decide within a set time, and it may fine the office or award you a sum of money (art. 149). Until 4 March 2027 art. 100d ust. 3–4 rules this out, unless the court refuses to apply it (see above);
• the court charges a fee. If you cannot pay, you can ask for prawo pomocy: relief from costs and a lawyer (art. 243–246 p.p.s.a.).

We do not write this complaint yet. Free legal help can: ask before you file.

If your case is on appeal

If the voivode refused and you appealed (odwołanie), the Head of the Office for Foreigners has 90 days to end the appeal (art. 112a ust. 4, art. 210 ust. 3 and art. 222d ust. 3 of the Foreigners Act). If your appeal had gaps, the 90 days run from the day you filled them (art. 112a ust. 5). The pause does not apply here: art. 100d covers only the voivode. The Head must tell you if it will be late, with a new date (art. 36 k.p.a.).

If the Head is late, the ponaglenie goes to the minister of internal affairs, who supervises the Head (art. 16 ust. 2 of the Foreigners Act; art. 17 pkt 3 k.p.a.). You file it through the Head (art. 37 § 3 pkt 1). Respubliko writes this letter too.