It’s Tuesday morning. You open the envelope from the urząd wojewódzki (the voivodeship immigration office) or see the notice in MOS, and the summary is short: karta pobytu refused. Your stomach drops. You think about your job, your lease, your family back in Bogotá, Caracas or Lima. Breathe. A refused karta pobytu (the Polish temporary residence permit, also called a TRC) is not the end of the road, but it does start a clock: you normally have 14 days to react. This guide is for Latin Americans living in Poland, and it walks you through the first days.
How many days do I have to appeal a refused karta pobytu?
According to the MOS portal of the Office for Foreigners, the appeal (odwołanie) is filed in writing to the Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców (the Head of the Office for Foreigners), but through the voivode who issued the decision. The deadline is 14 days from delivery of the decision (doręczenie). The Poznań voivodeship office confirms the same in its FAQ.
Look at the word “delivery”: the clock runs from the day the decision reaches you, not from the day you sit down and read it calmly. If the deadline passes with no appeal, the decision becomes final (ostateczna) and that door closes.
The appeal must be signed by you or your representative. According to official information, the appeal authority should decide within 90 days; if your appeal has formal defects, that period is counted from the day you fix them. That is the period the portal states, not a promise of how long your own case will take.
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Karta pobytu refused: what to do step by step in the first 14 days
On day one you don’t need a perfect letter. You need to keep the date and understand why they said no.
- Write down the delivery date of the decision and count 14 days. Keep the envelope, the MOS notice or a screenshot: that date is your proof.
- Read the uzasadnienie (the reasoning of the decision). The key is almost always there: a missing document, a contract that doesn’t match what you declared, doubts about your address or income.
- Separate two situations: “a paper is missing” (you can try to fix it) and “I don’t meet a requirement” (the strategy changes completely). This is where a second opinion helps most.
- Prepare the odwołanie in writing, in Polish, signed and addressed to the Szef UdSC, and submit it through the urząd that issued the decision. The instructions at the end of the decision (pouczenie) tell you how.
- Keep the proof of submission and a full copy of your file. Keep your address and phone number up to date so you don’t miss any notification.
One reassuring detail: a negative decision does not close the road to a karta pobytu forever. Sometimes appealing is the sensible move; other times it is fixing the problem and filing a new application. We cover that second route calmly in Karta Pobytu Refused? 14 Days to Appeal — Or Apply Again (2026).
Colombians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Venezuelans: the 90 visa-free days and your TRC
Many Latin Americans enter Poland without a visa. Under Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, nationals of the countries on that list may stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a Schengen visa, and the exemption applies to holders of biometric passports. This is what we could confirm in the official text:
- Visa-free (confirmed in Annex II): Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.
- Venezuela, Uruguay and El Salvador: we could not confirm them line by line in the version we checked; verify them in the current consolidated text on EUR-Lex before taking it for granted.
- Visa required: according to February 2025 reports, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic still need one, and the list can change. We don’t arrange visas; if you are already in Poland on another basis, what we handle is the karta pobytu.
What does this have to do with your refusal? A lot. The law requires the temporary residence application to be filed no later than the last day of your legal stay in Poland (art. 105 of the Act on Foreigners, as stated by the Ministry of the Interior). If you entered visa-free, your 90 days are that margin; if it is already used up, you have less room to move. We go deeper in 90 Days Are Up in Poland? 3 Steps to Stay Legally With a TRC (2026) and, if you are Mexican, in Poland TRC for Mexicans: 90 Days, Then What? (2026).
Careful here: what happens to your stay while the appeal is pending depends on your case (entry date, type of application, timing of the decision). Don’t assume. Before leaving Poland or booking a flight, read Can I Travel While Waiting for a Karta Pobytu? 4 Checks Before You Book (2026) and ask.
Apostille, sworn translation and expired passports: documents from home
Documents from your country (birth certificate, marriage certificate, police clearance) usually need two things. First, the apostille: the Hague Convention stamp that certifies the document is authentic, issued by an authority in your country. Second, the sworn translation into Polish by a tłumacz przysięgły (a sworn translator registered in Poland). Note that, according to a Polish legal explainer, an apostille often does not exempt you from the sworn translation, and in some cases the apostille must also appear on the translation.
Which exact documents your case needs is stated in the decision and by the urząd, so don’t pay for translations blindly. Polish embassies explain the apostille process on their pages; see, for example, the Polish embassy in Colombia. If your refusal came from a document that didn’t meet the format, fixing it on time can be the most important part of the appeal.
Venezuela: expired passports and hard-to-get papers. We know renewing a passport or getting a certificate from abroad is a maze. We found no verified Polish rule saying the urząd accepts an expired passport in a karta pobytu application, so we won’t promise that. The realistic approach is not to file or appeal blindly: tell us which document is missing and why you can’t obtain it, and we look at the real options for your case. If you are renewing your passport mid-process, see Passport Renewal During Your TRC Application: 5 Steps.
A note on international protection. It is a separate procedure, meant for people with a well-founded fear of persecution if they return to their country. It is not a shortcut to stay in Poland, it does not replace the karta pobytu, and it is not something you choose to make up for a refusal. If you believe your situation genuinely fits, talk to a specialised lawyer before deciding anything.
Appeal or file a new application? How to decide without losing months
Illustrative case (a composite, not a real client): Camila, a nurse from Medellín, received a refusal because a translated certificate was missing. She understood she had 14 days, gathered the document with its sworn translation and filed the appeal on time instead of letting it slide. Her case stayed open instead of closing: that is the value of reacting on day one.
- Appealing usually makes sense when you believe the urząd misread your documents or something was missing that you can still provide in time.
- A new application usually makes sense when the underlying problem is a different requirement (for example, the type of permit you chose) and you can correct it.
- In both cases, count the dates of your legal stay first. That count decides how much room you have.
If the appeal also comes back negative, the next step is a skarga (complaint) to the WSA, the voivodeship administrative court. It is only available after the appeal decision, and its deadline is written in the pouczenie of that decision. If you don’t appeal and no legal basis to stay remains, official guidance says to leave Poland within 30 days of the decision becoming final; confirm this in your own decision. And if the wait drags on, tools like the ponaglenie exist: see Day 61 and No Answer? Poland TRC Decision Time in 2026. For the general picture of procedures and offices, also check gov.pl/web/cudzoziemcy.
Practical tip: the same day you receive the decision, photograph every page and the envelope, write down the delivery date and message a professional before drafting anything. An appeal filed on time can be completed; one filed late cannot.
A 14-day deadline feels endless until day 13. Legal Solutions — 98% approval rate. Message or call us on WhatsApp at +48 735 248 525: we read every message.