Poland - Temporary Residence card - Karta pobytu - required documents

I would like to mention some important documents needed to apply for karta pobytu:

All Documents has to be translated in polish by a sworn translator and form has to be filled in polish language.
Karta pobytu has to be applied atleast 45 days before the expiry of your visa
Meldunek (Registration of house address in poland)
Health Insurance (specially in case of students it is a must)
Bank Account statment (Balance depends cant say in particular how much)
Letter from college that you are student
4 colour photographs 4,5cm x 3,5cm
PLN 380 has to be paid when submitting application (Fees can be different of different cities)
PLN 50 has to be paid when collecting karta pobytu (Fees can be different of different cities)

One application is made applicant recieves decision stating that he or she has been issuded karta pobytu for specified time limit and after that arround 15-20 days karta pobytu can be collected. This is general procedure. Documents can be needed more for different purpose of stay.

I hope this information is usefull and if you have some query please post here and I hope some or the other person can reply and help with queries :)

Bank balance is only needed in some cases. They want to know you have a way to pay your bills so if you are getting a job and have a contract with your salary you don't need to provide the bank balance. You can also show income from another country etc.

I can't be sure it is fact as you get different info from different people but they told me the minimum amount per month you need is 477pln...I asked again as this isnt even enough for food let alone rent and they said for sure its the number.

You know it depends like I was applying first time when i came to poland for Karta Pobytu and they asked me to show bank balance didnt say exactly how much. Many students showed balance some showed 4000 pln some more so depends :)

Again I applied coz my wife is polish so they didnt ask me as when i took my balance certificate they said they dont need it. I can say one thing different city has different documents.

hallo i am new here
so i am foreigner and my visa will finich in end of december we will get married me and my wife in november so i ask about that i must go now to office of foreigner to make application of karta pobytu or i wait after married and we go because you said 45 day before finch visa .thanks to replay

What Kind of visa are you? What is your status here? What nationality are you? Regarding marriage There are lot of things to be done before you get married and it is true you have to apply for karta pobytu which is residence card for living in poland before 45 days. I have gone through all this process so I am aware of it :)

Its 5 colored photos now
And your applicatin form must be photocopied 3 times!
the hassel of it all!

You are supposed to apply before 45 days however I didnt, I applied much later only thing is that I have now leave the shengen area for like a day or 2 and then come back in

Dont know why but thats the case

I believe you are from australia. Being an australian citizen you have opportunity to come to schengen zone for upto 3 months. To apply for karta pobytu u need to apply 45 days before and if they see that you have applied later so they advice to leave the country and re-enter again. My friend had a same problem and he is from india and for him he had to go to india apply for polish visa again and come back. For you it is good u dont have to apply for visa all u have to do is leave schengen country to any other country or to australia and re enter again so u again get 3 months time to live in country and same time u can apply for karta pobytu and you will be fine. Best of luck with your applications :)

A bit late to the party ;) She is getting it sorted.

Woo!, got back into shengen ith no problems!
Take that office for foriegners

Well done! I am off to Lwów next weekend for the same reason

So you got a new stamp with no trouble? I am curious if they will see it as 90 new days or notice it was just a couple days break in what you had left. Unless it is the first option I really don't understand how it helps you as it doesn't change the 45 day issue.

And don't get too cocky yet...they have plenty of opportunity to shaft you ;)

Oh you are full of cheer :)

Just a realist. Celebrate once you have that card in your hot little hands I say ;)

I hope you enjoy you trip to L'wow - it was a real eye-opener for me. I will never complain about Krakow's public transportation again!!!

I am confused. I read on a website that as a UK National I can work and live here as long as I like. Do I need this Karta Pobytu? I know I need to get my NIP and PESEL (in 3 months) numbers. Also is there any lovely chap or chapette on here that wouldn't mind giving me a wee help with some of the forms. If so please send me a PM.

You can come to poland with no problems but about working in poland you need to apply for karta pobytu as you allowed to live in the country 3 months and if u stay longer then 3 months you need to show the reason for stay and simultaneously apply for temporary residence card.

A few people in the immigration office told me that after the first of the year EU members no longer need a Karta Pobytu as it is now. Now to be fair others have said this is not true or they haven't heard it. If it IS true it might be easier to wait and avoid the hassle. Of course you will likely still register in some way just not the whole current application mess. All the NIP and PESEl etc is supposed to stay the same from what they are saying.

Hi Everybody,

I'm new on this forum, found out, due to the fact that the company I'm working for will send me to Poland, Warsaw for 4 years. I'm wondering what I have to do as I am Italian and Poland, now is in EU Member.Do I need to apply,before coming, for the Karta Pobytu?I will go to Warsaw for a week to do a first check (accomodations, bank , documents)the Nov. 24th. thanks for answering and thinking on further questions...

dear friends
iam egyptan , i married polish girl and i have residence card for 1 year
can i work in any other schengen country ??
if you are sure of ur reply post
regards

If you are married you can only work in poland. You can travel all schengen countries upto 3 months but you cant work. If your wife moves and live in another schengen country you can follow or join her. There are some schengen countries where company should sponsor to work, so once your wife has sponsor from employee you can work too.

hay ....
can you tel me ..
where is the immegration office in warsaw.
right now i am a student under university of warsaw.
i`ve visa for study and i want to apply for immigration card for student.

hi
my name is jamal sedeeq mohammed i have karta pobytu in poland,i need to go to irland do i need a visa to irland or not? thank you

Jamal, for Ireland you have no legal rights. What passport do you have? Karta pobytu has nothing to do with anything but Poland. How did you get this?

in which city you were, i mean immigration. did you have any interview? did they speak English? how it was? i believe they asked you to get your own translator, if they don't speak English?

Forget about anyone speaking English in this type of situation, it simply won't happen. Even if they can speak English, they more than likely won't - and I'm not so sure that I can blame them.

In fact they are not allowed to speak English during the interview. When I had my karta pobytu interview he asked if I was OK to conduct it in Polish. I half-joked that his English was probably better than my Polish so I don't mind if he wants to talk in English. He said that he is required to conduct the interview and all formalities in Polish anyway and that if necessary a translator is required and it's my responsibility.

What is a karta pobytu interview? I (EU citizen, Polish spouse) have had a karta pobytu for about 18 months now, but I never went through any interview. I had two police officers show up unannounced at the door one day with a few questions, but never any interview.

Why should any government representative conduct an interview (about granting residency in a country) in a language other than the official language of the country in question?

Because failing to offer an interview which is required in order to settle as a worker in an EU member state in the language spoken by a citizen of an EU member state would constitute a barrier to the free movement of labour which is supposedly guaranteed to all EU citizens.

Personally I agree. I think the UK has gone too far in publishing council leaflets in 20 different languages...


I don't think there is normally an interview, but I had an extra complication in that I also have (currently still unconfirmed) Polish citizenship. I was summoned to Krakow for an interview about it.