Staying legally in Poland: visa, residence permit and applying on time

Your right to be in Poland always rests on something specific: a visa, a visa-free period or a residence permit. Each of them ends on a fixed date. This guide is about keeping a valid basis without a gap: how you entered, how to apply in time, and what to do when something changes. It describes the rules in force since 27 April 2026, when residence applications moved fully online.

How you entered

Türkiye is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, the EU list of countries whose citizens need a visa to cross the external borders of the Schengen area. In practice, Turkish citizens normally need a visa to come to Poland. EU law has exceptions for some travellers; if you think one applies to you, ask the Polish embassy in Türkiye before you travel, not at the border.

There are two kinds of visa:

• Schengen visa (type C): valid in the whole Schengen area, for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
• National visa (type D): lets you enter Poland and stay, in one stay or several, for a total of more than 90 days, up to one year.

In Türkiye, C visa applications go through VFS Global centres. The Polish embassy in Türkiye explains both types, and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a general page on visas. For Turkish citizens who live in Türkiye and apply there, the EU has adopted a cascade rule: after lawful use of earlier visas, a new Schengen visa can be valid for longer.

The 90/180-day rule. For a short stay, count back 180 days from each day of your stay: the total must not be more than 90 days. Days spent on an EU residence permit or a long-stay (D) visa are not counted. The EU short-stay calculator does the counting for you.

Applying while you are legally in Poland

If you want to stay longer than your visa, visa-free period or permit allows, you apply for a temporary residence permit to the voivode (urząd wojewódzki, the voivodeship office) for the place where you live.

The deadline. The Act on Foreigners says you file the application no later than the last day of your legal stay in Poland (Art. 105(1), as amended from 27 April 2026). Do not plan for the last day: the Mazowiecki Voivodeship Office advises against it, because gathering the documents can take longer than a day.

Legal stay while your case is pending. If you applied on time, your stay is treated as legal from the day you filed until the decision on your permit becomes final (Art. 108(1)(2)). Two conditions and one exception apply:

• the application was filed within the deadline;
• it has no formal defects, or you corrected them within the time the office gave you;
• the rule does not apply if the proceedings are suspended at your own request (Art. 108(2)).

Your confirmation of filing. The voivode issues a certificate confirming that you filed the application (Art. 108(1)(1)); MOS generates it electronically. It carries a number and quotes the legal-stay rule and its exception. Keep it safe, with a copy you can show. This certificate replaced the passport stamp that older guides describe.

Sources, in Polish: the consolidated Act on Foreigners and the amending act in force from 27 April 2026.

MOS

MOS (Moduł Obsługi Spraw) is the online system run by the Head of the Office for Foreigners for residence applications. Since 27 April 2026, applications for a temporary residence permit, a permanent residence permit and EU long-term resident status are filed only electronically, through MOS (Art. 225a(1)). Paper is not a fallback: the Mazowiecki office announced that paper applications arriving after the switch were left unconsidered.

You sign the application electronically, with one of:

• a trusted profile (profil zaufany),
• a qualified electronic signature, or
• a personal signature (podpis osobisty).

The Office for Foreigners lists a few cases that are still filed on paper: a temporary permit for an intra-corporate transfer; long-term mobility of managers, specialists or trainees; family reunification when the applicant is outside Poland; and certain family members of Polish, EU or UK citizens who are outside Poland. If you think one of these applies to you, check with your voivodeship office.

• Start here: MOS
• Official explanation: MOS at the Office for Foreigners

Before your permit expires

A temporary residence permit is valid until the date in the decision. The Act describes applying for a new permit rather than extending the one you have: to keep staying, you file a new application in MOS before your current permit ends, under the same deadline as above. For the temporary residence and work permit, the Act says its validity period cannot be changed (Art. 120(3)). MOS lists these applications under continuing your stay. Confirm with your voivodeship office which application fits your situation.

Travelling while your case is pending. The Office for Foreigners states that once the short-stay period on a C visa or visa-free travel is used up, a foreigner is no longer entitled to move around other Schengen countries or to cross the border to enter the Schengen area, including Poland. It also states that re-entry into Poland while a residence case is still running in Poland can be on a D visa issued by the Polish authorities. A pending application is not a travel document: do not assume your confirmation of filing will get you across a border. Before any trip abroad while your case is pending, check with your voivodeship office. Details: stay during the procedure and re-entry.

Changing employer or purpose

The rules below apply to the temporary residence and work permit (the single permit). Permits for other purposes, such as study, family or business, have their own rules: ask your voivodeship office before you change anything.

• Changing employer, position, pay or hours. You apply for a change of the permit. The Office for Foreigners says to file it within 15 working days of the circumstances that make the change necessary. A change does not require a new residence card. MOS notes one case where no application is needed: your hours changed and your pay rose proportionally at the same time. The Mazowiecki office says that when you change employer, you can file either a change application or a new application for a temporary residence and work permit.
• Losing your job. You notify the voivode who granted the permit, in writing, within 15 working days (Art. 121(1)). If the permit was granted on appeal by the Head of the Office for Foreigners, you notify the voivode who decided the case first. Filing a change application for work with a new employer within that period also meets the duty. Your employer has its own duty to notify the voivode.
• If nothing is done. The voivode revokes the permit if, for example, your position changed or your pay was reduced and the permit was not changed, or your employer is no longer operating (Art. 122).

The Act says 15 working days; the MOS page says “15 days”. Act as early as you can, and before the period runs out check the instructions in your decision or ask your voivodeship office. The Act also gives a one-time protection period after a job loss that was properly notified (Art. 123); it is technical, so ask the office whether it applies to you.

Official pages: changing a temporary residence and work permit, the single permit on MOS.

The Decision 1/80 permit for Turkish citizens

Polish law has a temporary residence permit for Turkish citizens who have the right to work in Poland under Decision No 1/80 of the EEC–Turkey Association Council (Art. 186(1)(5) of the Act on Foreigners). According to MOS, those rights build up with legal employment: after one year you can continue with the same employer; after three years, work in the same occupation for any employer; after four years, take any job in Poland without a work permit. MOS says the permit can be granted for up to three years, is applied for in MOS, and needs a personal visit for fingerprints. The voivode decides.

If you have worked legally in Poland for a long time, ask your voivodeship office whether this permit fits your case. It is not granted automatically. Official page: the permit for Turkish citizens on MOS.

If you are refused

• Appeal. Appeals in residence cases go in writing to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, through the voivode who issued the decision. MOS gives the deadline as 14 days from the day the decision was delivered, and says an appeal can be filed through MOS or on paper to the voivodeship office. The instructions at the end of your own decision (pouczenie) are what count: read them the day the decision arrives, and get help at once. MOS also describes how to ask for a missed deadline to be restored when the delay was not your fault.
• Your stay during the appeal. If you applied on time, your stay remains legal until the decision becomes final, whether it is positive or negative (Art. 108(1)(2)).
• After a final refusal. The Office for Foreigners says you should leave promptly, within 30 days of the day the refusal became final. MOS warns that a new residence application filed during that period will not be considered.

Official pages: appeals on MOS, legal stay and crossing borders.

Where to get help

• Your voivodeship office. Residence permits are decided by the voivode for the region where you live; outside Mazowieckie, contact your own voivodeship office. In Warsaw and the Mazowieckie region it is the Foreigners' Department of the Mazowiecki Voivodeship Office: Marszałkowska 3/5, 00-624 Warszawa; phone 22 695 65 65; e-mail wsc@mazowieckie.pl.
• Office for Foreigners (UdSC). For proceedings conducted by the Office for Foreigners, such as appeals, its infoline is 47 721 76 75, on working days. All infolines: infolines for foreigners.
• PESEL, address registration and the residence card. Our guide to PESEL, address registration and the residence card covers the steps around your permit.

How TURKPOL can help

We can explain how the procedure works, help you find your own way around MOS, and point you to the right office. We do not file applications on anyone's behalf, we cannot speak for you at an office, and we cannot promise any outcome. We are not lawyers: for advice on your own case, especially a refusal or an appeal, speak to a qualified lawyer, and act quickly, because the deadlines are short.

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