You must submit your application for a temporary residence permit via MOS, no later than on the last day of your legal stay in Poland. If you submit your application on time and it contains no formal deficiencies, or if you correct the deficiencies within the deadline indicated by us, your stay will remain legal from the date of submission until the day the decision in your case becomes final.
Temporary residence permits are granted, refused, or withdrawn by the voivode competent for your place of residence.
We grant temporary residence permits for the period necessary to achieve the purpose of your stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland, but for no longer than 3 years.
Information for educational institutions – please review the information materials prepared by the Office for Foreigners
In the new MOS portal, it will be necessary to create a new user account. User accounts from the previous version of MOS will not be transferred to the new MOS portal.
- Please make sure that you have an active Trusted Profile, qualified electronic signature, or personal signature required to sign the application in the system.
- We would also like to remind you not to wait until the last day of your legal stay to submit your application after the new MOS portal is launched. It may turn out that one day is not enough to attach all the required documents.
- Never share your Trusted Profile (login.gov.pl) login details with anyone – keep your personal data safe!
- If you use the services of a representative and need support while completing your application, you may ask them to assist you during this process. However, the application must be electronically signed by the foreign national. All other letters, requests, and documents at later stages of the proceedings may be submitted independently by the representative within the scope of the granted power of attorney.
Please remember that if your application requires an appendix signed by another person (e.g. an educational institution), obtaining this signature may take a considerable amount of time.
Attaching all required documents to your application in MOS when submitting it may reduce the amount of official correspondence and shorten the processing time. If clarification or additional explanation of evidence is needed during the proceedings, you may be asked to provide additional documents or statements confirming the circumstances described in your application.
A Trusted Profile will also be needed to create an electronic e-Delivery mailbox, necessary for receiving correspondence from the Office and supplementing documents in your case.
Information for educational institutions regarding the obligation to electronically sign appendices to applications for temporary residence permits for studies:
https://www.gov.pl/web/udsc/informacje-dla-jednostek-prowadzacych-studia
Q&A for educational institutions:
https://www.gov.pl/web/udsc/qa-dla-uczelni
More information about the MOS ICT system – the portal for submitting electronic residence permit applications in Poland – can be found at::
https://www.gov.pl/web/udsc/info-mos
MOS – questions and answers:
https://www.gov.pl/web/udsc/mos-qa
Representative/correspondence
We recommend creating an e-Delivery mailbox – find out how to do it.
If you leave Poland and do not appoint a representative to handle your case, you should at least appoint a representative for service of correspondence in Poland. If you do not appoint such a representative, correspondence intended for you will be left in the case file and considered effectively delivered.
Please inform us of any change of your correspondence address – this will help speed up the procedure.
You can find a template declaration regarding your place of residence on our website – it includes all information that should be provided, such as who provides the accommodation, to whom it is provided, for what period, and at which address
If you have appointed a representative, attach the original power of attorney to your documents. If you have more than one representative, remember to indicate which one should receive correspondence.
Originals/translations
Submit documents as electronic attachments together with the application, or provide them later in paper form, either as originals (for inspection) or as certified copies. If you send documents by post, send the originals together with a request for their return after official use – once the proceedings are completed, we will return the originals to you.
If you submit documents prepared in a foreign language, you must also provide a Polish translation prepared by a sworn translator.
You can find a sworn translator on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
Your university
In order for a residence permit for full-time studies to be granted, the institution where you are studying must be approved for admitting foreign nationals and included on the list maintained by the competent minister. If your institution is an academic university, vocational university, military academy, public service academy, or an institution run by churches or religious associations, such approval and registration on the list will not be required. If you are unsure whether the university you have been admitted to meets these requirements, contact a university representative (e.g. rector’s office or dean’s office). We strongly advise against studying at institutions that are not authorized to admit international students.
Lists of approved institutions admitting foreign nationals and information on submitting applications in this regard can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (see: Materials – at the bottom of the page)
Repeating a year
If you are repeating a year of studies, the voivode may refuse to grant the permit due to a lack of academic progress. During the proceedings, we will examine the reasons for repeating the year, for example whether you regularly attended classes and took exams. Each case is assessed individually.
Working while studying
If you are a full-time student, you may work legally. However, when applying for a residence permit based on studies, please remember that we may refuse the permit if there are doubts regarding the actual purpose of your stay in Poland.
The residence card issued in connection with a temporary residence permit will contain the annotation “student”.
Academic progress
The authority will verify your academic progress every semester, even after the temporary residence permit has been granted. If no academic progress is found, the permit will be withdrawn.
If you have been granted a temporary residence permit, you are obliged to notify the voivode who granted the permit within 15 working days of the cessation of the reason for granting the permit, for example if you discontinue your studies. If the temporary residence permit was granted by the Head of the Office for Foreigners at the second instance stage, the notification should be submitted to the voivode who issued the first-instance decision. If you fail to do this, we may refuse to grant you another temporary residence permit.
If you submit another application (either for your first permit or for a subsequent one), the authority may refuse to grant you a temporary residence permit for studies if it determines that you used your previous permit for a purpose other than the one for which it was granted (for example, you did not study but worked or engaged in activities unrelated to your studies, and you were removed from the student list or were on academic leave).
