A letter from the voivodeship office after you apply: what to do
Updated 24.10.2026
Once you send your application, MOS doesn't show how your case is going and doesn't tell you anything about it. From then on the voivodeship office writes to you. It invites you to an appointment, asks for documents or corrections, and sets a deadline in every such letter (wezwanie). Miss it, and the office may discontinue your case or leave the application unexamined.
How letters arrive
The office itself tells you when to come and which documents to send. You can't write to it through MOS (opens in a new window). The office sends its decision to the correspondence address you gave in the application, yours or your representative's.
If your correspondence address, employer or working conditions change after you apply, inform the office by letter on paper or to the office's e-Doręczenia electronic address.
MOS also advises (opens in a new window) appointing a representative (pełnomocnik) to handle your case every time you leave Poland.
Appointment letter
The office will invite you in person to:
- give your fingerprints;
- give a specimen signature;
- show your original passport.
The office sets the date itself (opens in a new window), no earlier than 7 days after you receive the letter. You don't need to book. If you don't come or don't do what you were called for, the office will discontinue the case. Children under 6 don't have to come, and a parent shows the child's passport.
Request for documents
You didn't have to attach documents about the purpose of your stay, such as a contract or certificates, to the application. If they are missing, the office will ask for them in a letter that lists the documents and the deadline and says how to deliver them. For a residence and work permit, MOS states a deadline of at least 14 days (opens in a new window).
You can deliver documents in several ways:
- take them to the office's registry (biuro podawcze);
- send them by post to its address;
- bring them to your appointment, if the office allowed it.
Bring originals or copies certified by a notary, or by an advocate or legal adviser (radca prawny) if they represent you, and a member of the registry staff can also certify a copy when you show them the original. Documents in a foreign language must come with a sworn translation into Polish. All documents must be up to date on the day of the decision.
Formal defects in the application
If the application has formal defects (braki formalne), the office will call on you to fix them by a deadline, and your application in MOS may show the status “Zatwierdzony z brakami formalnymi” (opens in a new window). If you don't fix them in time, the office will leave the application unexamined.
A submitted application can only be corrected on a printout (opens in a new window). Every change is made by hand with your signature and the date next to it, and the corrected printout is brought to the appointment, sent by post or taken to the registry, as the letter says.
If you submitted the application on time and without formal defects, or fixed them by the deadline, your stay in Poland is legal until the final decision (opens in a new window).
Request to pay the stamp duty
Without a stamp duty confirmation, the office will give you 7 to 14 days to pay, and if you don't pay by then, it will return the application. For how to pay and what to attach, see the guide to residence card fees.
Decision and appeal
The decision arrives at the address from your application. If it is a refusal, you can appeal (odwołanie) within 14 days (opens in a new window) of the day you received it. You can't appeal through MOS. The appeal is sent by letter through the office that issued the decision, on paper or to its e-Doręczenia address. It is decided by the Head of the Office for Foreigners.
How EXPAT helps
The office may ask for more documents, and the EXPAT dashboard tells you what to send and by when.
