Free checklist
Every document a Karta Pobytu application asks for
Grouped by when to do it rather than by what it is, because the items differ by weeks. Two tracks — employed and self-employed — because the two packets share half their contents and nothing else.
You are applying on the basis of work for an employer — umowa o pracę, zlecenie or dzieło. Your employer fills one of the attachments, which is the item most often waited on.
Baselinemarks the set an office needs before it will open a case at all. Everything else can follow by post, with the case number on the envelope.
Start today
Nothing here expires, and everything here takes longer than you expect. Scan once, keep the file, and reprint from it — you will need these again for the next application.
Passport — a copy of every page that carries anythingBaseline
Some voivodeships want every page, some only the ones with a stamp, a visa or a mark. Bring the original on the day fingerprints are taken so the copies can be certified. Add one or two spare copies of the photo page.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
The visa you entered on, if you have since changed passports
Only when your current stay rests on that visa. The old passport is otherwise of no interest to the office.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
The previous decyzja and karta pobytu, both sides
For a repeat application: whichever document your current stay rests on. Each family member has their own basis and therefore their own copy — one spouse's card does not belong in the other's folder.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
PESEL confirmation
Not required to apply, but it fills a box on several of the forms and saves a correction later. One per person, including each child.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Proof of somewhere to liveBaseline
A lease, proof of ownership, an umowa użyczenia from whoever is housing you, or a long-stay hotel confirmation. A lease must name every family member applying, and it must still be in force on the day the decision is signed — send the renewal to the inspector the moment you have it.
- Main applicant
Address registration confirmation, where your office asks for one
Practice differs: some offices want a meldunek and print the address on the card, others increasingly print the card without one. Ask before you chase it.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Marriage certificate
Copy filed, original brought for verification. Goes in both spouses' folders.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Birth certificate for each childBaseline
Copy filed, original brought for verification. A child's folder also needs a copy of the photo page from each parent's passport.
- Each child
Employment contractBaseline
The one you are working under now, not the one you signed two employers ago. It supplies the employer, the position, the salary and both contract dates.
- Main applicant
Ordered from somebody else
You are waiting on a translator, an accountant or a school office. Order these as soon as you know you are applying; none of them can be produced on the day.
Sworn translation of the marriage certificate
Unless the certificate is already in Polish. A tłumacz przysięgły, not a translation agency's stamp.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Sworn translation of each birth certificate
One per child, on the same terms as the marriage certificate.
- Each child
Confirmation of enrolment for each child
From the nursery, school or university. Copy filed, original brought for verification.
- Each child
Written by you
Declarations and statements nobody can produce for you. They are short, and they are the ones people leave until the morning of the appointment.
Oświadczenie cudzoziemcaBaseline
The foreigner's own declaration, filed with the application. Short, and required.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Oświadczenie o liczbie osób na utrzymaniu
Who depends on whom. If one spouse supports the family, that spouse declares everyone and the other declares that they support nobody — two statements, so the office is never left guessing who supports each child.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Oświadczenie o wydruku karty bez adresu
Asks for the card to be printed without an address, so a move does not mean a new card. Practice differs by office and some hand you the form at the counter.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Załącznik nr 1, completed and stamped by your employerBaseline
The employer's attachment. It is the item outside your control, so ask for it the week you decide to apply rather than the week you file.
- Main applicant
Dated close to filing
These carry a validity window — typically 30 days — so ordering them early means ordering them twice. Ten to fourteen days before you file is about right.
Tax no-debt certificate (ZAS-W)
Ordered through e-Urząd Skarbowy. It is an electronic document: send it to the inspector electronically, or print it together with an EPW verification certificate. Valid 30 days.
- Main applicant
ZUS no-debt certificate (RWN), with its UPO
Ordered through zus.pl. The UPO is a separate download from the certificate itself and is the half people miss. Valid 30 days.
- Main applicant
Proof of incomeBaseline
Payslips or an employer's letter covering the period the office asks for — not the last month alone.
- Main applicant
PIT-11 for the last completed year
Issued by the employer. It is the independent statement of what you actually earned.
- Main applicant
Private health or life policy, if you hold one
An addition rather than a substitute while you are covered by ZUS. Where there is no ZUS cover, it stops being optional.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Done last
The application form enumerates what is attached to it, so it is filled once everything else exists. The fee receipts and photographs belong with it.
Health insurance confirmationBaseline
Either the ZUS registration forms — ZZA or ZUA, plus a ZCNA for each dependent — or a single Potwierdzenie ubezpieczenia from ZUS, which covers the whole family in one document and is ordered online.
- Main applicant
Receipt for the application feeBaseline
Per person, everyone in the family included. Pay from a Polish bank account and wait for the payment to actually settle before printing the confirmation.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Receipt for the card production fee
Reduced for a child under 16 on the day of filing. Some offices will not start printing the card until they have it, others ask for it only when the card is collected — and it is refundable on request if the answer is no.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Four photographs, 35 × 45 mm, taken within the last six monthsBaseline
Loose, not glued to the application. A photo from an old application is the commonest silent rejection.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Wniosek o pobyt czasowy, signedBaseline
One to three copies depending on the office. Filled last, because it lists what is attached to it — and one per person, children included.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
You are applying on the basis of your own registered activity. The office is deciding whether the business is real and the income is stable, so most of this packet is evidence of trading rather than paperwork about you.
Baselinemarks the set an office needs before it will open a case at all. Everything else can follow by post, with the case number on the envelope.
Start today
Nothing here expires, and everything here takes longer than you expect. Scan once, keep the file, and reprint from it — you will need these again for the next application.
Passport — a copy of every page that carries anythingBaseline
Some voivodeships want every page, some only the ones with a stamp, a visa or a mark. Bring the original on the day fingerprints are taken so the copies can be certified. Add one or two spare copies of the photo page.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
The visa you entered on, if you have since changed passports
Only when your current stay rests on that visa. The old passport is otherwise of no interest to the office.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
The previous decyzja and karta pobytu, both sides
For a repeat application: whichever document your current stay rests on. Each family member has their own basis and therefore their own copy — one spouse's card does not belong in the other's folder.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
PESEL confirmation
Not required to apply, but it fills a box on several of the forms and saves a correction later. One per person, including each child.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Proof of somewhere to liveBaseline
A lease, proof of ownership, an umowa użyczenia from whoever is housing you, or a long-stay hotel confirmation. A lease must name every family member applying, and it must still be in force on the day the decision is signed — send the renewal to the inspector the moment you have it.
- Main applicant
Address registration confirmation, where your office asks for one
Practice differs: some offices want a meldunek and print the address on the card, others increasingly print the card without one. Ask before you chase it.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Marriage certificate
Copy filed, original brought for verification. Goes in both spouses' folders.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Birth certificate for each childBaseline
Copy filed, original brought for verification. A child's folder also needs a copy of the photo page from each parent's passport.
- Each child
CEIDG registration extractBaseline
Printed from the register. It is the document that says the activity exists, so nothing else in the packet substitutes for it.
- Main applicant
Contracts with your clientsBaseline
Copies filed, originals brought for verification. In Polish, or with a sworn translation attached — this is the evidence that the activity has customers.
- Main applicant
Ordered from somebody else
You are waiting on a translator, an accountant or a school office. Order these as soon as you know you are applying; none of them can be produced on the day.
Sworn translation of the marriage certificate
Unless the certificate is already in Polish. A tłumacz przysięgły, not a translation agency's stamp.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Sworn translation of each birth certificate
One per child, on the same terms as the marriage certificate.
- Each child
Confirmation of enrolment for each child
From the nursery, school or university. Copy filed, original brought for verification.
- Each child
Sworn translation of your client contracts
Only for the ones not written in Polish. Order these early — a stack of contracts is not a same-week job.
- Main applicant
Ewidencja przychodów or KPiR from your accountant
The current year only; the annual return covers the year before it. Some accounting systems export one month at a time — a set of monthly sheets is accepted, you do not have to total them by hand.
- Main applicant
Written by you
Declarations and statements nobody can produce for you. They are short, and they are the ones people leave until the morning of the appointment.
Oświadczenie cudzoziemcaBaseline
The foreigner's own declaration, filed with the application. Short, and required.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Oświadczenie o liczbie osób na utrzymaniu
Who depends on whom. If one spouse supports the family, that spouse declares everyone and the other declares that they support nobody — two statements, so the office is never left guessing who supports each child.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Oświadczenie o wydruku karty bez adresu
Asks for the card to be printed without an address, so a move does not mean a new card. Practice differs by office and some hand you the form at the counter.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Załącznik nr 1 — only if your voivodeship still asks a sole trader for it
Designed for employers, and since 2023 most offices stopped requiring it from the self-employed. Where it is still asked for, it is completed as though the business had hired you.
- Main applicant
Entrepreneur questionnaire
Prepare everything except the attachment checklist at the back — that is filled last, once you know what is actually in the folder.
- Main applicant
Statement of last year's work and tax
The table the office asks a sole trader to fill in about the previous year's activity and settlements.
- Main applicant
Business plan
Not needed when your annual return already shows income at the level the office asks for. Write it when it does not — it is the argument that the activity will keep earning.
- Main applicant
Opis działalności
A short description of what the business does — in practice a condensed version of a few chapters of the business plan.
- Main applicant
Dated close to filing
These carry a validity window — typically 30 days — so ordering them early means ordering them twice. Ten to fourteen days before you file is about right.
Tax no-debt certificate (ZAS-W)
Ordered through e-Urząd Skarbowy. It is an electronic document: send it to the inspector electronically, or print it together with an EPW verification certificate. Valid 30 days.
- Main applicant
ZUS no-debt certificate (RWN), with its UPO
Ordered through zus.pl. The UPO is a separate download from the certificate itself and is the half people miss. Valid 30 days.
- Main applicant
Annual tax return, with its UPO
PIT-28 on a lump-sum settlement, another form on a different one. It is the strongest evidence of stable income there is — and where it shows enough, it excuses the business plan and the current-year invoices for the year it covers.
- Main applicant
ZUS DRA for each month, with its UPP
The current year only, and in practice the last three months of it. Without the UPP the declaration is an unsigned printout — if your accountant files for you, ask for both together.
- Main applicant
Private health or life policy, if you hold one
An addition rather than a substitute while you are covered by ZUS. Where there is no ZUS cover, it stops being optional.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Done last
The application form enumerates what is attached to it, so it is filled once everything else exists. The fee receipts and photographs belong with it.
Health insurance confirmationBaseline
Either the ZUS registration forms — ZZA or ZUA, plus a ZCNA for each dependent — or a single Potwierdzenie ubezpieczenia from ZUS, which covers the whole family in one document and is ordered online.
- Main applicant
Receipt for the application feeBaseline
Per person, everyone in the family included. Pay from a Polish bank account and wait for the payment to actually settle before printing the confirmation.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Receipt for the card production fee
Reduced for a child under 16 on the day of filing. Some offices will not start printing the card until they have it, others ask for it only when the card is collected — and it is refundable on request if the answer is no.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Four photographs, 35 × 45 mm, taken within the last six monthsBaseline
Loose, not glued to the application. A photo from an old application is the commonest silent rejection.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
Signed invoices, with the incoming payment on the back
The current year only, and in practice the last three months. Where a client paid less than the invoice, attach their re-invoice for the difference so nobody has to ask why the amounts disagree.
- Main applicant
Business account statement
Printed for the months the invoices cover, so the payments on the back of each invoice can be found. If you trade through a personal account, print that instead.
- Main applicant
Personal account statement, as evidence of actually being here
Optional, and occasionally asked for. Everyday transactions in Polish shops are the easiest form it takes.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
Wniosek o pobyt czasowy, signedBaseline
One to three copies depending on the office. Filled last, because it lists what is attached to it — and one per person, children included.
- Main applicant
- Spouse
- Each child
The order to put it in
A caseworker reads a packet in this sequence. One that jumps around is one that gets a clarification request before it gets a decision.
See each form, field by field →- 01Application form, signed
- 02Passport copies
- 03Photographs
- 04Employer annex
- 05Employment contract and proof of income
- 06Housing, and address registration if you have it
- 07Family certificates and their translations
- 08Insurance confirmation
- 09No-debt certificates
- 10Fee confirmations
- 01Application form, signed
- 02Passport copies
- 03Photographs
- 04Entrepreneur questionnaire and business plan
- 05CEIDG extract, client contracts and the ledger
- 06Invoices and account statements
- 07Housing, and address registration if you have it
- 08Family certificates and their translations
- 09Insurance confirmation
- 10No-debt certificates
- 11Fee confirmations
This is a working checklist, not legal advice. Requirements differ by voivodeship and change without notice — the office you file at has the last word, and we update this page when somebody tells us it has moved.
Keep it
Have the link, and a note when the rules move
Requirements change by voivodeship and without notice. Leave an address and we send this page's link plus a short note whenever something on it stops being true.
- The link, so it is in your inbox when you need it
- A note when a requirement moves
- Nothing else — unsubscribe in one click
Fill the packet from the documents on the list
Upload the passport, the lease and the contract once. The forms in the packet are filled from one profile, so a name cannot be spelled two ways across them.