Polish temporary residence permit - general information

If you are not EU or EFTA citizen and plan to stay in Poland for a longer time, you should consider, what way of legalisation of your further stay would be most appropriate for you.

If your visa is about to expire, or the period of time you can stay without visa is about to finish, you have two possibilities. The first one is to leave our country and try to legalize abroad your further stay in Poland. The second possibility is to apply for Polish temporary residence permit. Some people call this document "Polish visa", but it is something completely different:

POLISH VISA	POLISH TEMPORARY RESIDENCE PERMIT
Can be obtained outside the territory of Poland (in Polish consulate) and, in some very specific situations, when you cross the border. You can extend it in Poland, but it is possible only in very rare, special cases - for example, when you stay in hospital. Valid for not more than one year	Can be obtained only in Poland - in relevant Voivodship Office. Can be extended in Poland  ("extension" means in practice applying for the next residence permit) Can be valid for up to 3 years (or longer, but only in some specific cases)

To successfully apply for temporary residence permit, you should have an appropriate reason for staying in our country. It can be, for example:

- marriage with Polish citizen

- running here a company

- studying

- family reunion

There is a special procedure for people, that plan to be employed in Poland - they can apply jointly for work permit and residence permit. 

Where can I apply?

You should apply in relevant Voivodship Office (in Polish: Urząd Wojewódzki). For example, if you live in Warsaw, you should apply in Mazovia Voivodship Office (Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki) on Marszałkowska 3/5 St.

It is impossible to apply for the residence permit abroad.

How long before the expiry date of my visa should I apply?

You can submit the application in every moment, provided that you stay here legally. In this case, even if your visa/residence card expires, you can stay in Poland legally until the end of the residence permit procedure. This rule applies also to foreigners, that stay in Poland without visa.

How long will the whole procedure take?

The procedure of applying for residence permit is long and difficult. By law, it should take not more than 2 months, or - in the most complicated cases - not more than 3 months. Be prepared, that you will wait not less than 3 months.

What documents should I submit?

You will have to submit a huge pile of documents, that depend on your reason to stay in Poland. I plan to describe every case (marriage, work, studies etc) more exactly, here I present only basic list of documents, that should be submitted by everybody, no matter what is their reason to stay in Poland:

- the completed application for the temporary residence permit;

- travel document;

- 4 up-to-date (not older than 6 months), color, undestroyed photographs, dimensions: 4,5 cmx3,,5 cm, taken in the last 6 months on a single light background with good focus and clearly showing the eyes and face from the top of the head to the top of the shoulders, so as the face occupies 70%-80% of the photographs; photographs presenting a person without head covering and dark glasses, looking straight ahead with eyes open and natural expression of the face and mouth closed, face cannot be covered with hair;

- confirmation of payment of stamp duty (340 PLN)


You can leave the copies of documents, but all originals should be shown for retrospect 
It is also possible to show transcripts of the documents, attested by a notary.
If you have documents written in foreign language (except passport), you should also deliver their sworn translations.
At the beginning of the procedure there will be taken your fingerprints.

Submitting the documents usually takes not less than 20-30 minutes - be prepared, that the official will study them very carefully. To avoid problems, it is good to do your best to prepare all the papers in an acceptable form. Treat seriously the requirements concerning photographs. They should be professional - printed scans, pictures taken by the machine etc will not be accepted.

If you are in hurry with applying for the residence permit (majority of my clients "wake up" in the last moment:) you don't need to submit all the documents at the very beginning, majority of them can be completed later, during the procedure.

What document will I get, if the whole procedure finishes positively? Residence card?

You will get the "decision" with the information for how long you have received your temporary residence permit. The residence card - your Polish ID document - will be issued after the next 3-4 weeks.
To collect the residence card, you should visit Voivodship Office personally with:

- valid travel document
- the confirmation of stamp duty payment (50 PLN)

Remember, that you can get the "decision" by your authorised proxy, but the residence card must be collected personally! 
The "decision" is a prove, that you stay in Poland legally, but (in contrast to residence card) it doesn't allow you to enter the territory of Poland without visa.

What should I do, if the decision is negative...?

You can make an appeal to the Chief of the Office for Foreigners within the next 14 days after you get the negative decision. Sometimes it happens, that the foreigner just forgot to submit some documents - in this case attaching them to the appeal can be enough to make the decision changed.
If the Chief of the Office for Foreigners sustains the decision, the next step is an appeal to the Administrative Court. You can do it not later than 30 days after you collected the negative decision.

During the procedure be careful, remember to deliver all the documents, don't hesitate to ask questions if something is not clear for you. GOOD LUCK!

Legal basis:  

• The Act of 30 December 2013 on foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2013., item 1650)