Monday, 8:15. The warehouse manager asks HR whether Rahul from the second shift is staying, because his legal stay ends in three weeks and the karta pobytu application “hasn’t started yet.” You, as an owner or the person running HR, have one question: how long does a karta pobytu take for a foreign employee, and will it be done before you lose someone from the rota? The honest answer is not one number. The law says 60 days. Practice can run longer. And what you do inside the company before filing often decides which version you get. Here is what matters: the deadline, when the clock starts, which cases the office handles first, and the moves you control.
How long does a karta pobytu take for a foreign employee under the law?
The voivode should issue a decision on a temporary residence and work permit within 60 days, according to the government portal Zielona Linia. The same term applies to changing such a permit. If the worker or company appeals, the Head of the Office for Foreigners handles the case and has 90 days.
Note the word “should.” 60 days is a statutory term, not a guarantee of the date the card lands in your employee’s hand. We will not promise you a number of weeks, and you should not trust anyone who does. What we can show you is what you control: when the clock starts, what stops it, and which cases are handled first.
On official costs, two items are worth knowing: the fee for a temporary residence permit application is PLN 440, and issuing the card itself is a further PLN 100, paid at a later stage. Always check current amounts and payment details on the website of the relevant voivodeship office, because that is the final source.
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When does the 60-day clock start, and what stops it?
The term does not start on the day someone clicked “submit.” According to official information, it runs from the last of several events, and each of them depends on you and your employee, not on the office.
- filing the application and, where required, the foreigner’s personal appearance at the voivodeship office (fingerprints, showing the original passport);
- filing without formal defects, or fixing the defects within the deadline set by the office;
- presenting the documents the voivode asked for to confirm the data in the application, or the expiry of the deadline set for that.
Today most of these applications travel electronically, through the MOS system. For a company this means one thing: the office’s clock starts only when the case is complete. Every request to supplement documents that your employee answers two weeks late adds two weeks to the whole wait. That is why two applications filed on the same day can end on very different dates.
The electronic route is described on the official MOS Cudzoziemcy site and in the materials of the Office for Foreigners at gov.pl/web/udsc.
What can speed up a worker’s karta pobytu, and what slows it down?
The office handles applications for a temporary residence and work permit in a set order. Official information says these cases come first:
- employers of significant importance to the national economy;
- continuation of work with the same employer, with unchanged pay and working hours;
- work in shortage occupations;
- all other cases.
There is a practical lesson in this list. If a worker extends their stay and keeps working for you on the same terms, the case sits in the second group. A change of role, pay or hours just before filing can push it out, so plan HR decisions together with the residence calendar.
What usually helps shorten the wait, though nothing is guaranteed:
- filing well ahead of time, not on the last day of legal stay;
- consistent data across the contract, the employer’s information and the application (position, salary, working time, workplace address);
- all attachments complete the first time, including insurance documents and proof of the fee;
- an available worker: current contact details, collecting correspondence, appearing quickly when summoned.
What usually drags it out? Formal defects, mismatches between documents, requests nobody answers on time, changes to employment terms mid-case, and failing to tell the office about a new address. The most expensive mistake is an application filed after legal stay has already ended.
If the employee is switching companies, extra deadlines hit both sides. We covered them in Foreigner changing employer in Poland: what the company must do.
While the worker waits, can they stay in Poland and keep working?
Every employer asks this, because the rota depends on it. An application for a temporary residence permit must be filed no later than the last day of legal stay. If it was filed correctly and on time, and any formal defects were fixed within the set deadline, the foreigner’s stay is legal from the moment of effective filing until the decision becomes final. One piece of evidence is the stamp in the passport.
Work is a separate question, because it depends on how the employment is legalized. According to official information, a foreigner may work while waiting if the employer obtained the required work permit or filed a statement on entrusting work (available for citizens of certain countries). The details are in Employing foreigners and the passport stamp, and the difference between a statement and a permit is explained in Oświadczenie vs work permit: only four countries qualify.
Our advice: before filing, list every worker with a stamp and write next to each name the legal basis on which they work. In an inspection, “the case is at the office” is not enough.
What if 60 days pass and nothing happens?
Before reaching for sharper tools, check whether the clock was running at all. If the office asked for supplements or was waiting for an appearance, the 60 days have not passed yet, even if six months went by since filing.
If the term was really exceeded and the cause is not on your side, a ponaglenie (a formal reminder) is possible. Under Article 37 of the Code of Administrative Procedure it is filed with the higher authority, through the authority handling the case. Only after filing it can you take a complaint about inaction or excessive length of proceedings to the administrative court. A ponaglenie does not speed up a decision by magic, but it creates a formal record and opens the way to court.
How it works in practice is covered in what a ponaglenie does when a karta pobytu decision takes too long. If you want the letter drafted correctly and sent to the right place, we can prepare it.
How should a company plan the residence calendar for each employee?
- Put each foreigner’s legal-stay end date in the calendar and set a reminder well in advance, not in the last weeks.
- Check that the basis of employment (permit or statement) covers the whole period you want to continue.
- Collect company documents before personal ones: the contract, the employer’s information, position details, confirmation of insurance registration.
- Ask the employee for a valid passport, a mailing address and a phone number they actually answer.
- File electronically with time to spare, keep the filing confirmation, and record the date of the stamp and of the appearance at the office.
- Answer every office request within the deadline and do not change employment terms in the meantime without advice.
- After the decision, check that the card data matches the contract and put a copy in the personnel file.
If you would rather not run this yourself, see the cost logic of handing it off in outsourcing foreign worker legalization in Poland.
An illustrative example, built from several typical situations rather than a real client: an HR manager at a logistics company near Poznań had three drivers with expiring stays. Two applications were filed early and complete. The third got a request to supplement because the pay rate in the contract differed from the one in the application. All three worked on identical terms, yet the last case took visibly longer, because the office’s clock started later. One inconsistent number made the difference.
Practical tip: before you click “submit,” lay the contract, the employer’s information and the form data side by side. Position, pay, working time and workplace address must match exactly. It is the cheapest way to avoid a request that stops the clock.
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