Foreign nationals applying for a temporary-residence permit in Poland no longer receive a rectangular immigration stamp in their passport. Since 27 April 2026, all standard applications must be filed through the government’s Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-filing portal. When a voivodeship officer has carried out an initial completeness check, the applicant can download an automatically generated PDF confirming that the application was submitted on time. The document is digitally sealed and contains a QR code that border-guard officers can scan. The change flows from the amendment of Article 108 of the Act on Foreigners (Dz.U. 2025 item 1794) and a Ministry of Interior regulation that entered into force this spring. The certificate has the same legal effect as the old stamp: the applicant’s stay is deemed lawful from the date of filing until the residence decision becomes final. However, it does not in itself confer a right to work or to leave and re-enter the Schengen Area—conditions that depend on the applicant’s previous status or on possessing a valid visa or residence card from another member state. Corporate mobility managers need to update their compliance check-lists. HR staff can no longer ask for a stamped passport as proof that an extension was filed; they should request the MOS acknowledgement together with the downloadable certificate. Organisations that rely on third-country nationals for project work must warn employees that international travel during the pending-permit period may still jeopardise re-entry if the employee lacks another status granting return rights. Best practice is to obtain written confirmation from the competent voivodeship office before booking any trip. The digitalisation also has operational implications. A residence-permit submission now requires the foreign national to authenticate via Poland’s trusted-profile system or a qualified e-signature. Employers that must co-sign attachments receive a one-time link valid for 30 days; late signature blocks electronic filing. Because MOS cannot currently be used to amend an already-submitted file, applicants must verify every data point before hitting “send” and must notify any subsequent change (for example, a new address or new employer) on paper or via the official electronic mailbox. Finally, the reform delivers a political message. The government has been under pressure to shorten processing times that can still run well beyond the statutory 60-day target. By eliminating manual passport endorsements and centralising data capture, the Interior Ministry hopes to free up staff to concentrate on substantive reviews. Whether the shift will translate into quicker decisions remains to be seen, but the move brings Poland into line with other EU states that have already abolished physical filing artefacts in favour of machine-readable confirmation documents.
Source: TRC-Ranking.pl
