Law / Help with confusing requirements for emigration from UK to Poland [22]

Hi,

A little about me first - I'm an Englishman married to a Polish lady for 6 years (together for 12) and we were planning to go and live in Poland next week to be resident in Poland before the end of the transition agreement so she can be closer to her family after her young brother died of cancer suddenly last year. My wife will give up her job in the uk and not be seeking work in Poland.

I have work in the UK which I will keep (working remotely with the bkessing of my employers) and will pay UK tax and national insurance. Both and English and polish accountant have told me this is fine.

I also have a house in the UK which I will keep for at least a few years (but not rent out).

So it's the week before the move and my inlaws suddenly say "you need an s1 form you can't register to live here without it" - an S1 form is apparently a mechanism for my uk NI contributions to pay for Polish healthcare that I have to apply through via hmrc here. Apparently the office in Rzeszow said this was the case.

It's not a guaranteed thing to get and the lead time is 6 weeks because hmrc messed up my records and I have to apply by post!

My research indicated I just needed my passport and official translated copies of my marriage certificates so what's going on?

Please can someone help me quickly with a definitive answer to this, I've already spent a lot of time and money setting up the move and working things out with my employer and have flights booked for late next week!

If I had to I could pay voluntary contributions to the NFZ fund (I think that's around £230 a month) but I got blank looks from the inlaws when I mentioned that so I don't know if that's really possible either.

Many thanks and possibly much alcohol to someone who can help. My main aim is to register to live in Poland quickly and the health stuff can be sorted out after - I do have emergency travel insurance available if needed :-)

Rob.