Karta Pobytu Decision in Poland: What to Do After a Positive Decision or a Refusal

In short. A karta pobytu decision (decyzja) is the voivode’s written ruling on your residence card application. After a positive decision the office makes the card, and you collect it in person. You have 14 days to appeal a refusal to the Office for Foreigners, through the voivode. The clock starts on delivery, even if the letter stayed at the post office.

Expats usually call the residence card (karta pobytu) a TRC, short for temporary residence card, so a TRC decision in Poland is the same document. Two rules are worth knowing before you choose what to do with a negative decision. A complaint to the court does not make your stay legal. And a new application filed during the 30 days you are given to leave will not be examined by the voivode.

Deadlines and fees were checked on 1 October 2026 against the current texts of the laws and the MOS portal (Moduł Obsługi Spraw, the Office for Foreigners’ online case system).

What a karta pobytu decision is and how it reaches you

The decision is issued by the voivode (wojewoda), the government’s representative in a region. Foreigners’ cases are handled by the voivodeship office (urząd wojewódzki). The document names the authority and the date, your details, the legal basis and the ruling itself. A refusal always includes the reasons and the instructions on appeal (pouczenie), which say where and by when you can challenge it.

The decision does not appear in MOS. In its answers about the portal, the Office for Foreigners (Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, UdSC) says the voivode sends the decision to the delivery address given in the application, yours or your representative’s. MOS does not show the status of your case either.

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There are three ways a decision can be delivered.

• Electronically. If you have an e-Doręczenia address (the state electronic delivery system), the letter goes there. If you do not open it, it counts as delivered on the day after 14 days have passed since it arrived.
• By post. Poczta Polska, the national post, delivers the letter against a signature. It can be handed to an adult member of your household, and that is delivery too. If nobody is home, the postman leaves a notice (awizo), and a second one after 7 days. The letter waits at the post office for 14 days and counts as delivered on the last of them, even if nobody collected it.
• At the office. You can collect the decision in person against a signature.

Refusing to accept the letter also counts as delivery, and the date is the day you refused. If you have a representative with a power of attorney (pełnomocnik), letters go to that person, and the deadline runs from delivery to them.

A change of address is reported to the voivode by a letter on paper or to the voivode’s e-Doręczenia address. You cannot do it through MOS. If you do not report it, a letter sent to the old address counts as delivered, and the appeal deadline will run without you.

You check the status of a case at the office itself, and each office has its own channel. The Poznań office has a page on its website. The Kraków office runs the InfoOPT line (phone and e-mail), and the Warsaw office uses the Migrant Contact Center phone line.

Important. Keep the envelope and the post office notice. The date on them is the start of your deadline, and you are the one who will have to prove it.

What came from the office: six documents and the deadline for each

The office sends different papers, and not every one of them is a decision. The type of document determines whether you can challenge it and how many days you have.

For applications filed on paper before 27 April 2026 some of the rules differ, so follow the instructions on appeal in your own decision.

By law your stay is legal during the proceedings only if you applied on time and without formal defects, or fixed them by the deadline. An application left unexamined gives no such protection. The overall process is described in our guide to the residence permit process.

Positive decision: from the ruling to the card in your hands

A positive decision is not the card yet. The office orders the card once two conditions are met: the decision has become final and the 100 zł fee is paid. Then you collect the card in person, with your passport. The law sets no production time. The Poznań office gives a guideline on its website of about a month after payment and address details.

When the decision becomes final

If the voivode granted your application in full and issued the decision without a statement of reasons, it is final at once. If there are reasons, for example because the permit was granted for a shorter period, the decision can be appealed for 14 days and becomes final only after that.

Before the deadline ends you can give the voivode a waiver of the right to appeal (zrzeczenie się prawa do wniesienia odwołania). The decision becomes final on the day the office receives it. The Rzeszów office publishes the form in Russian and Ukrainian. The step cannot be undone, and you will not be able to appeal afterwards. If you are not happy with the permit period, do not sign the waiver.

Paying for the card and your address

If you applied through MOS, you already attached the proof of payment for the card to your application. If you applied on paper before 27 April 2026, you pay after the decision to your office’s account and hand in the confirmation. This is how the Lublin and Poznań offices describe the procedure. The card costs 100 zł. Half of that, 50 zł, is paid by children under 16, school pupils and students, and people in a difficult financial situation.

Sources differ on whether paper cases need a separate application for the first card. The MOS portal says it is needed when you applied outside MOS. The Lublin and Poznań offices say the first card is issued without an application. Ask your office right after the decision.

An address is printed on the card only if you have registered residence (zameldowanie) for more than 2 months. In Poznań you are asked to bring proof of registration within 14 days of receiving the decision, otherwise the card is made without an address.

Collecting and checking the card

The office tells you the card is ready in whatever way it normally uses: a text message, an e-mail or a message in its own system. In Lublin and Poznań you book the collection in advance.

For a child under 13 the card is collected by a parent or guardian. If the child was already 6 on the day the application was filed, the child has to come along with the parent.

At the desk you are given an electronic reader to check the data. Look at your first name and surname, date and place of birth, address and the expiry date, which must match the period in the decision. Check that the annotation “dostęp do rynku pracy” (access to the labour market) is there if you are entitled to it. Report any mistake straight away, on the spot. If the card has a technical defect, the replacement is free. A clerical error in the decision itself is corrected by the voivode on your written request.

A card issued with a temporary permit is valid for as long as the permit, from 3 months to 3 years. A permanent residence card is valid for 10 years and an EU long-term resident card for 5 years. We explain how those two statuses differ in our article on permanent residence.

While you do not have the card yet

The law ties the right to enter Poland without a visa to the card and your passport. A decision alone is not enough at the border. Until you have the card, you travel on a valid visa, your previous card or visa-free.

Work raises the most questions at this stage. For a temporary residence and work permit, the conditions (employer, position, salary) are written into the decision itself, and the law ties the right to work to the permit. But we found no official clarification on whether you can start work before you collect the card and before the decision becomes final. Other grounds have their own rules. Before you start work, check with your voivodeship office or a lawyer.

Your duties once you have the card

• Your ground is gone. If you lose your job, close or suspend your company, or leave the management board, you notify the voivode in writing within 15 working days. An application to change a temporary residence and work permit filed within that time replaces the notification.
• Your details have changed. You apply to replace the card within 14 days, in writing, on the official form. The replacement costs 100 zł.
• The card is lost. You report it to the office within 3 days. If the card was lost through your own fault, the replacement costs 200 zł, and 300 zł the next time.
• The next card. You file the application for a new temporary permit no later than the last day your current one is valid.

If you did not notify the voivode that your ground was gone, your next permit can be refused when the new application is filed within a year of the end of the previous permit. The conditions for a card based on your own company are covered in our guide to a residence card based on business.

Negative decision on a karta pobytu: reasons and the first 14 days

A refusal is appealed to the Office for Foreigners. You file the appeal (odwołanie) through the voivode who issued the decision, within 14 days of delivery. The appeal itself is free of charge. It cannot be filed through MOS or by ordinary e-mail.

The reasons are set out in the decision. The typical ones are these.

• The conditions of your ground (work, company or family) are not met.
• Income, health insurance or accommodation is not proven.
• Your data is in the list of undesirable foreigners or in the Schengen Information System.
• The application or documents contain false information.
• The application was filed during an illegal stay.

For the steps after a refusal, see our guide on refusal of legalisation. If the refusal is linked to the interview at the office, our breakdown of the residence card interview will help.

How to count the 14 days

The day of delivery is not counted. If the last day falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday, the deadline ends on the next working day. A letter received on Monday 5 October 2026 can be appealed up to and including Monday 19 October. If delivery fell on Saturday 3 October, the fourteenth day is Saturday 17 October, and the deadline moves to the same Monday 19 October.

The deadline is met if the appeal is handed in at a Poczta Polska office before it ends. If you send it to the voivode’s e-Doręczenia address, the confirmation of receipt must arrive before the deadline ends. For a letter sent by a courier company, the filing date is the day it reaches the office.

Warning. The date printed on the decision does not start the clock. The count runs from the day of delivery, and for a letter left at the post office that is the last day of storage.

How to file the appeal

1. Addressee. The appeal is addressed to the Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców) and filed with the voivode.
2. Form. In writing, in Polish. A paper appeal is signed by hand. The MOS portal has a form that helps you draft the text.
3. Content. It is enough to state that you disagree with the decision. In practice the outcome depends on your arguments and documents, and you can attach new evidence. Foreign documents are filed with a sworn translation.
4. Method. By registered letter through Poczta Polska, in person or through another person at the voivode’s filing desk (biuro podawcze), or to the voivode’s e-Doręczenia address.
5. Costs. If a representative files the appeal, the power of attorney carries a stamp duty of 17 zł. No duty is charged when the representative is a close relative (spouse, parent, child, brother or sister).

The Office can uphold the refusal, overturn it and grant the permit itself, or send the case back to the voivode for a new examination. The law gives it 90 days. The exception is the Blue Card (the EU Blue Card for highly qualified workers) and the permit for the holder’s family, where the time limit is 60 days. In practice the time depends on the Office’s workload, and nobody can promise it.

If you missed the deadline through no fault of your own, you ask for it to be restored. You have 7 days from the day the reason for missing it ceased, and you file the appeal itself together with the request. Whether to restore the deadline is finally decided by the Office.

A mistake in counting the days can cost you the right to an ordinary appeal. If the delivery date is disputed or the refusal gives several reasons, a legalisation expert will help you review the decision and prepare the appeal.

Can you stay and work while the appeal is pending

You can stay if your residence card application was filed on time and without formal defects. Your stay is then legal from the filing date until the day the decision becomes final. The voivode’s decision is not final while the 14 days are running and while the Office is examining an appeal filed on time. This rule alone does not give you the right to work.

The proof of legal stay is the confirmation of filing from MOS. For those who applied on paper before 27 April 2026, the stamp in the passport plays that role. The rule does not apply if the proceedings were suspended at your request.

The Office’s decision is final, and it cannot be challenged further in administrative proceedings. If no appeal is filed, the voivode’s decision becomes final when the 14 days have passed.

Work

Legal stay and the right to work are two separate questions. The law on admitting foreigners to work allows work during the waiting period only in listed cases. There are two main ones.

• You hold a valid work permit or a registered employer’s declaration (oświadczenie), and you had the right to work immediately before you applied for the card.
• Immediately before applying you held a temporary permit on a ground the law names separately. One example is the permit for the spouse of a Polish citizen.

There are also narrow exceptions for particular permit types, among them the Blue Card and the intra-company transfer.

If only your previous card gave you the right to work and it has expired, the confirmation of filing alone may not give you that right. Work without a legal basis is a separate reason for a return decision (decyzja o zobowiązaniu do powrotu). Before you start work, check your situation with your voivodeship office or a lawyer.

Travel

The confirmation of filing does not let you travel around the Schengen area. With it you can leave for your country of citizenship or permanent residence. You are let back in on a visa or visa-free, if that regime applies to you. Once you have returned without a visa, you can stay until the final decision, even if more than 90 days have passed.

The main risk of leaving is the post. A letter counts as delivered without you, and the next deadline will run while you are abroad. Before you go, tell the authority handling your case in writing who in Poland will receive your letters. This is not needed if letters come to an e-Doręczenia address.

After a final refusal or discontinuation

If you have no other ground to stay, you must leave Poland within 30 days of a final refusal or a final discontinuation (umorzenie) of the proceedings. The period runs from the day the decision became final. When the decision was issued by the Office, the count starts on the day it was delivered. During these 30 days your stay is legal, provided the application was filed during a legal stay.

A person who left in time is not given a return decision or an entry ban, as the Lublin office explains in its instructions for foreigners. A person who stayed can be given one. For staying without a document, the entry ban for Poland and the other Schengen countries is set for 6 months to 3 years.

Important. The duty to leave does not apply to people who hold another valid document: a visa, another card or UKR status. Check this before you buy a ticket.

If the Office upholds the refusal: court or a new application

A decision of the Office can be challenged with a complaint (skarga) to the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw (WSA w Warszawie). The deadline is 30 days from delivery of the decision, and the complaint is filed through the Office. The court fee (wpis) in foreigners’ cases is 300 zł. The court checks whether the decision is lawful. A complaint like this does not make your stay legal.

It does not stop the decision from being enforced either. You ask the Office or the court for that separately.

If you cannot afford the fee, you ask the court for legal aid (prawo pomocy), and the request itself is free. If the Office overturned the refusal and sent the case back to the voivode, you file an objection (sprzeciw) with the same court instead of a complaint, and the deadline is 14 days.

The second route is a new application, once a ground has appeared or changed. There are two traps here. The stamp duty is paid again and is not refunded after a refusal. And an application filed during the 30 days given to leave will not be examined by the voivode, who will issue a refusal to open proceedings. You can apply again while another ground for your stay is still valid, such as a visa or your previous card.

Poland TRC processing time and the suspension until 4 March 2027

By law the voivode decides a temporary permit case in 60 days, and a permanent residence or EU long-term resident case in 6 months. The time runs from the moment a defect-free application is filed and the documents requested in the summons are handed in. But until 4 March 2027 these time limits do not run for the voivode.

The suspension was introduced by the special act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens, but it is written for all temporary residence, permanent residence and EU long-term resident cases handled by the voivode. For the same period the law switched off the rules on an authority’s inaction. That is why a ponaglenie cannot currently rely on the missed 60 days.

The rule covers only cases handled by the voivode. It does not directly change the Office’s time limits, and we found no official clarification on appeals.

The actual time depends on the voivodeship and its current workload. Neither an agency nor a lawyer can guarantee it.

Ukrainian citizens: the CUKR card and UKR status

The CUKR card, a residence card for Ukrainian citizens with UKR status (temporary protection), works differently, and no decision to grant it is issued. The permit arises by law on the day you receive the card. A refusal or a discontinuation is issued as a decision and appealed to the Office for Foreigners under the general rules. Applications are accepted until 4 March 2027.

Two rules cost people their card or their case here.

• A finished CUKR card must be collected within 60 days of the office’s message. Otherwise it is cancelled, and the 340 zł stamp duty and the 100 zł card fee are not refunded.
• A CUKR application automatically ends a pending case for an ordinary temporary permit.

The CUKR card is valid for 3 years. With UKR status you can also apply for an ordinary permit based on work or your own company, and the decision then follows the general rules in this article.

Temporary protection and UKR status have been extended until 4 March 2028. The validity of Ukrainians’ visas and residence cards is extended by law only until 4 March 2027. The special act has changed several times, so check the version in force on your filing date. Details are in our articles on the CUKR card and on UKR status.

Frequently asked questions

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Uniconsulting Group has been operating since 2015 and supports legalisation based on business, work and family. The company’s founder Stanislav Tsys has himself obtained a residence card on the basis of his own business three times. Order a decision review: we help you review the decision, count the deadline from the delivery date and prepare the appeal. If you already have the card, we support the notification to the voivode and the card replacement.

This material is for information only and does not replace advice from an immigration lawyer. It covers immigration law, administrative and court procedure, foreigners’ right to work and fees. The data is current as of 1 October 2026. Deadlines and fees change, so before you file, check the instructions on appeal in your decision, the MOS portal and your voivodeship office’s website. The decision is made by the voivode and the Office for Foreigners.