The envelope from the urząd wojewódzki is thinner than you hoped. You open it standing in the hallway, find the word odmowa — refusal — and your stomach drops. Your karta pobytu (Polish residence permit, often called TRC) was not granted. Now the questions come all at once. Do you appeal? Do you apply again? Are you still legal in Poland tonight?
Breathe. A refusal is not the end of the road, and the letter alone does not mean you must pack today. But one number in it matters more than any other: 14 days. This guide shows what to do first, when a second application beats an appeal, and what each choice costs you in złoty.
So, what does a karta pobytu refusal letter actually say?
The decision comes from the voivode — the regional office that handled your file. In Warsaw that is the Mazowieckie urząd. The letter has two parts that matter. The first is the verdict: refusal. The second is the justification, usually a page or two explaining which condition the office says you did not meet. Read the justification slowly, twice. Everything you do next depends on it.
Then find the day you received the letter. The appeal clock runs from delivery, not from the date printed at the top. If a postal notice sat in your mailbox for a week, keep the notice and the envelope. Also check whether the letter sets a deadline to leave Poland. Some refusals do, and if yours does, get advice the same day.
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Appeal or apply again — which road comes first?
You have two roads, and they are not the same thing. Most people pick one out of panic. Pick by reading the justification instead.
The appeal (odwołanie) goes to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, but you file it through the voivode who issued the decision. You have 14 days from delivery and it must be in writing. According to the MOS appeal page, it cannot be sent through the MOS portal — the portal only helps you draft the form. General guidance for foreigners is published by the Office for Foreigners.
- Where to file: by post, in person at the voivode's registry office, or electronically to the voivode's e-Delivery address.
- How long it takes: MOS says an appeal should be decided within 90 days, and that clock restarts if your appeal has gaps you must fix.
- What can happen: the Head of the Office can overturn the refusal and grant the permit, or uphold the voivode's decision.
The second road is a new application. Official guidance is plain that a temporary stay is never 'extended' — you file a fresh application each time — and a refusal does not close the way to a permit. The catch: a new application is only worth the fee if something in it is different.
Here is the rule of thumb we use when we read a letter:
- Appeal first when the office seems to have misread your file — a document was there but ignored, or a rule was applied wrongly.
- Apply again when the reason is a real gap you can now close — a missing paper, a corrected employer certificate, a contract or income that has changed.
- Not sure? Don't guess, and don't file both blindly. Two tracks at once can tangle your case. Send us the letter and we will tell you which road fits.
If the Head of the Office upholds the refusal, there is a third step: a complaint to the Voivodeship Administrative Court, normally within 30 days of delivery. A court complaint does not by itself give you the right to stay, so your status needs a plan alongside it. And if your appeal or new application simply sits in the queue, here is how a ponaglenie and a skarga work.
Am I still legal in Poland while I decide?
This is the question people ask at 11pm, so here is the straight version. Under art. 108 of the Act on Foreigners, your stay counts as legal from the day you filed your application until the decision becomes final. A decision becomes final when the appeal period runs out with no appeal, or when the appeal is decided against you.
That is why the 14 days are the whole game. An appeal filed on time means the decision is not final yet. Let the days slip, and the refusal becomes final on its own.
After a final refusal, if you have no other legal basis to stay, you generally have 30 days to leave Poland. The Poznań voivodeship office and MOS say the same. Your letter may state its own deadline, so check it.
One trap to know about: the stamp's protection does not apply if proceedings are suspended at your own request. Never ask the office to suspend your case without advice first.
What must change in a second karta pobytu application?
A second application that repeats the first will usually get the same answer. The point is to change what the office sees.
- Write down every reason from the justification, one line each. This is your checklist.
- Answer each reason with a document, not a promise: a new contract, a corrected employer certificate, a fresh proof of address.
- Check that the basis still fits. If your job or family situation changed since the first filing, the route may need to change too. Our guide to cards not tied to one employer shows the options.
- Keep your status covered. The protective stamp exists only while an application is pending, so do not leave a gap. Talk to us before the 30-day window runs out.
- File complete, pay the right fee into the right account, and then track the case in MOS.
If the refusal came from the work side — for example, the employer's paperwork was wrong — the employer or the relevant authority fixes that part. We handle the karta pobytu side: reading the decision, preparing the appeal or the new filing, and walking you through it.
One honest limit: refusals linked to security or public-order concerns are different from ordinary document refusals. If that is in your letter, bring it to us before you do anything else.
An illustrative example (a composite, not a real client): Imran, a warehouse supervisor from Dhaka, was refused because one employer document was missing from the file. The justification named exactly one gap, and that gap could be filled. So the plan was a complete new application with the document attached, filed before the legal-stay window closed, instead of an argument with the office. Reading the reasons first decided the route.
Waiting times after you re-file depend heavily on the city. Our voivodeship-by-voivodeship comparison shows how big the gap can be.
What does it cost to apply again?
Voivodeship offices list PLN 440 for a temporary residence and work permit and PLN 340 for other purposes. Check the exact amount and account on your own voivode's page before you pay, because a wrong payment can get the application returned. The MOS fee page explains the structure.
Here is the part that surprises people. For applications filed from 5 March 2026, the fee for a temporary residence permit is not refunded after a refusal or a discontinuation — see the Poznań office notice. So the fee from your first application is gone, and a second application means paying again. The card fee is separate and comes only after a positive decision.
That is the real reason to read the justification before you file anything. A rushed second application with the same gaps costs you the fee, months of waiting, and sometimes your protected stay. An appeal does not need a new application fee. A well-prepared new application, when the facts have changed, is often the faster way to a card.
Practical tip: Photograph the whole refusal letter and the envelope today, write the delivery date on the first page, and mark day 14 in your calendar. Everything else can wait a day. The deadline cannot.
Refused is not the same as finished — send us the letter and we will tell you which road fits. Legal Solutions — 98% approval rate. Drop us a WhatsApp — we read every message.