The envelope is thick. It says Urząd Wojewódzki on the corner, and the whole letter is in Polish. Maria, a care worker from Cebu, stands in the hallway of her shared flat in Łódź and does not open it. Her phone is already out. She types into Google: how to read a Polish decision letter. If that is you right now, breathe. A decyzja looks scary, but it follows the same four-part pattern every time. Once you know where to look, you can find the answer in about two minutes, and you will know exactly how many days you have.
What exactly is a decyzja, and why does the date matter more than the verdict?
A decyzja is the formal written decision of a Polish office on your case. For foreigners, this usually comes from the voivode (wojewoda) after you applied for a Karta Pobytu (Polish residence permit). It can say yes. It can say no. It can also say the office will not look at your case at all. In every version, one thing is the same: the law starts counting your deadlines from the day the letter is delivered to you, not from the day you open it and not from the date printed at the top.
That is why delivery is the first thing to understand. If the postman left a notice and you did not collect the letter, Polish procedure can treat it as delivered anyway after 14 days. We explain that rule in Missed Awizo in Poland: The Letter Counts as Delivered After 14 Days. Pick up every yellow slip. Today.
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Which 4 parts of a Polish decision letter should you read first?
Ignore the long paragraphs on page one. Look for four blocks, in this order. Most decisions have them, even if the layout differs a little between offices.
- The header. It shows the office that issued the decision, the date, and the case number. Copy the case number into your phone notes now. You will need it for every call and every email.
- The sentencja (the operative part). This is the verdict. It usually starts with a word like orzeka or postanawia, which means decides. This is the part that tells you what happened.
- The uzasadnienie (the reasoning). Here the office explains what documents it looked at, what facts it found, and which articles of law it used. If the answer is a refusal, the reason lives here.
- The pouczenie (the instruction). Usually at the bottom, in smaller print. It tells you whether you can appeal, to whom, how, and how many days you have. Read this before anything else if you are in a hurry.
What do the key words in the sentencja actually mean?
You do not need to speak Polish. You need to recognise a handful of words. They sit right after the word that means the office has decided.
- udziela zezwolenia / zezwala: the permit is granted. Good news. Check that your name, passport number and the permit period are spelled and dated correctly.
- odmawia: the permit is refused. This is the one that starts the appeal clock. Do not panic, and do not throw the letter away.
- umarza postępowanie: the office closes the case without deciding it. This can happen for formal reasons, for example when the case no longer has a purpose. The reasoning section tells you why.
- pozostawia bez rozpoznania: the office did not examine your application at all, often because of a formal defect that was not fixed. This is different from a refusal, and the next step is different too.
If you see a word you do not know, do not guess. Take a clear photo of the whole sentencja and send it to someone who can read it with you. A wrong guess here costs days.
I disagree with the decision. How many days do I have to appeal?
For a negative decision from the voivode, the standard rule is 14 days from the date of delivery to file an appeal. The Poznań voivodeship's own migrant guidance says the same, and confirms that you can send the appeal by post, bring it to the office's submission point, or send it through ePUAP (migrant.poznan.uw.gov.pl). The appeal is addressed to the Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców) in Warsaw, but you normally file it through the office that issued the decision. Always check the pouczenie in your own letter for the exact route and wording.
The appeal must be signed by you or by an authorised representative. An unsigned appeal is a formal defect, and formal defects are exactly how people lose cases they could have won. You do not have to write a legal essay. Even a short appeal that says clearly you disagree with the decision and want it reviewed can protect your deadline, and arguments can be strengthened afterwards.
We walk through the first 14 days in detail in Karta Pobytu Refused: What to Do in the 14-Day Window. The example there is a Zimbabwean applicant, but the clock is the same for every nationality.
Maria's story is a composite and illustrative, not a real client. A care worker from the Philippines opened her refusal on day nine because she was afraid of it. She still had five days. She sent a photo to a friend, they found the pouczenie together, and the appeal went out on day twelve. The lesson is not that nine days of fear is fine. The lesson is that panic is the most expensive part of the process.
Practical tip: the day the letter arrives, photograph the envelope, every page of the letter, and the postal slip. Write the delivery date at the top of your notes and count 14 days forward on your phone calendar, then set an alarm for day 10. If you cannot prove when it arrived, you cannot prove when your deadline ends.
What if the letter is not a decyzja but a request to fix something?
Not every official letter is a verdict. A wezwanie is a call to supply a missing document or explanation, and it carries its own short deadline. If your letter starts with wezwanie, it is not a decision yet, and you should read Wezwanie Letter from the Urząd: 7 Days to Answer instead. Answering a wezwanie properly is often what stops a refusal from ever happening.
Also check how the office reaches you. Since applications moved online, many letters arrive electronically, so make sure your electronic delivery address works. Our guide for Filipino applicants covers that setup: e-Doręczenia and MOS: What Filipino Applicants Must Set Up. A letter you never see can still start a deadline.
What should you do in the first hour, the first day and the first week?
Here is a simple order that works for most people, whatever the verdict says.
- First hour: photograph every page. Find the sentencja and the pouczenie. Write down the delivery date and the case number.
- First day: calendar the deadline from the pouczenie. If the decision is negative or confusing, send us the photos on WhatsApp so we can read it with you.
- First week: if you appeal, gather what the reasoning says was missing. Often it is one specific document, such as proof of income, an employer paper, or an accommodation document.
Keep your employer in the loop too. They hold documents you may need, and they have their own obligations. If you want the full picture of what a complete file looks like, see Karta Pobytu for Work 2026: 9 Documents, PLN 440 + 100. Fees in the standard flow are PLN 440 for the application and PLN 100 for the card, as confirmed on the voivodeship fee pages, so a refusal is not only stressful but expensive, and it is worth getting the next step right.
Where can you check official information yourself?
For general rules on stay and procedures, the official portal for foreigners is gov.pl/web/cudzoziemcy. For the office that issued your decision, use the website of your voivodeship office, for example the Mazowiecki Voivodeship Office in Warsaw. Use them to confirm addresses and filing points. Do not rely on a friend's memory of what "usually works". Rules and forms change, and what worked last year may not apply to your case.
One honest note: this article explains how to read a decision and what the usual deadlines look like. It is not a replacement for the pouczenie in your own letter, which is the document that governs your case. If anything in your letter differs from what you read here, follow your letter and call us.
A decyzja is a document, not a verdict on you, and reading it calmly is the first win. Legal Solutions — 98% approval. Drop us a WhatsApp — we read every message.