How much does a Polish residence card cost in 2026 — fees, bank account numbers, transfer title and refunds

Residence card fees in 2026 are several items, not one — the stamp duty for the permit, the card issuance fee and extra costs that are easy to overlook. A mistake here can freeze your application for weeks before the office even starts reviewing it. Below is the full 2026 price list — the whole procedure is covered in our guide residence card in Warsaw.

Stamp duty for the permit — PLN 340, 440 or 640

The amount of the stamp duty depends on the type of permit you apply for:

• 340 zł — temporary residence permit (studies, family and other grounds),
• 440 zł — temporary residence and work permit (the "single permit"),
• 640 zł — permanent residence and EU long-term resident permit.

The fee is paid when filing the application. A missing payment confirmation is a formal defect: the office will summon you to correct it, and your case will stand still before it even reaches review.

PLN 100 for issuing the card — who pays PLN 50

The second fee — PLN 100 for issuing the card itself — is also paid before the application is filed in MOS (the confirmation is attached to it), but to the account of the voivodeship office, not the municipality. Half, i.e. PLN 50, is paid by three groups: children who had not turned 16 on the day the application was filed, foreigners whose purpose of stay is secondary school or university studies, and people in a difficult financial situation, which has to be proven. Replacing a card lost or damaged through the holder’s fault costs PLN 200, and every further replacement PLN 300. The card goes into production only once the payment is booked, so delaying the transfer prolongs your own case.

Extra costs that are easy to forget

• PLN 17 — stamp duty on a power of attorney, if a representative acts for you,
• sworn translations of foreign-language documents — every document in the file must be translated,
• certified copies and attestations (e.g. civil status records) which the office requires in the original.

In practice these are the items that surprise applicants most — and missing them triggers summonses that add weeks to the case.

Bank account number — where you pay the stamp duty and where the card fee

The stamp duty for the permit (PLN 340, 440 or 640) is paid to the account of the municipality where the voivodeship office handling the case has its seat — not the municipality where you live. The card fee (PLN 100) is paid to the account of the voivodeship office itself. These are always two different accounts. The accounts in the cities where we most often handle cases (according to the offices’ websites, as of 2 October 2026):

• Warsaw — stamp duty: Centrum Obsługi Podatnika Urzędu m.st. Warszawy, 21 1030 1508 0000 0005 5000 0070; card: Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki, 83 1010 1010 0137 1022 3100 0000
• Wrocław — stamp duty: Gmina Wrocław, 82 1020 5226 0000 6102 0417 7895; card: Dolnośląski Urząd Wojewódzki, 41 1010 1674 0005 9222 3100 0000
• Łódź — stamp duty: Urząd Miasta Łodzi, 50 1240 1037 1111 0011 0925 0073; card: Łódzki Urząd Wojewódzki, 88 1010 1371 0097 0022 3100 0000
• Gdańsk — stamp duty: Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku, 31 1240 1268 1111 0010 3877 3935; card: Pomorski Urząd Wojewódzki, 07 1010 1140 0169 1322 3100 0000
• Poznań — stamp duty: Urząd Miasta Poznania, 94 1020 4027 0000 1602 1262 0763; card: Wielkopolski Urząd Wojewódzki, 70 1010 1469 0000 3922 3100 0000
• Katowice — stamp duty: Urząd Miasta Katowice, 52 1020 2313 2672 0211 1111 1111; card: Śląski Urząd Wojewódzki, 67 1010 1212 0053 4022 3100 0000
• Opole — stamp duty: Urząd Miasta Opola, 03 1160 2202 0000 0002 1515 3249; card: Opolski Urząd Wojewódzki, 22 1010 1401 0006 9322 3100 0000

The transfer title must say what you pay for and for whom, e.g. „opłata skarbowa za udzielenie zezwolenia na pobyt czasowy i pracę dla Jana Kowalskiego” or „wydanie karty pobytu — Jan Kowalski” (titles are written in Polish). For a payment from abroad, add the PL prefix and the recipient bank’s SWIFT code to the account number (CITIPLPX for the City of Warsaw account). The stamp duty confirmation is attached to the application in MOS — without it the application has a formal defect.

Fee mistakes that stall a case for months

• Stamp duty paid to the municipality where you live instead of the municipality of the office’s seat — the office will treat it as unpaid, and the money has to be recovered with a separate request.
• Swapped accounts: PLN 440 sent to the voivodeship office or PLN 100 sent to the city.
• A title without the foreigner’s name, or with the name of the person who made the transfer — with several applications in one family the office will not match the payment to the right case.
• The PLN 17 power of attorney fee added to the permit transfer. It is a separate fee, and for a power of attorney filed electronically, which includes MOS, it is paid to the municipality where the principal lives (Art. 12(2)(3) of the Stamp Duty Act); if the principal does not live in Poland — to the City of Warsaw.

Each of these mistakes ends the same way: a summons to remedy the defect within 7 days and, once that passes, the application is left unexamined and everything has to be filed again. In the cases we handle, the client gets the account number, amount and transfer title for their office ready in the client panel, and we check the confirmation before the application goes to MOS.

Refunds — since 5 March 2026 a refusal means losing the money

Until recently the stamp duty could be recovered on request after a refusal. The Act of 23 January 2026 added provisions to the Act on Foreigners that rule this out: for applications filed from 5 March 2026 the fee is not refunded after a refusal to grant the permit or after the proceedings are discontinued — including when the discontinuation results from withdrawing the application. A refund remains only in technical situations such as an overpayment or a double payment, and only on request.

In practice, a wrongly chosen residence basis now costs not only months but the whole fee: PLN 440 is lost and a new application means another PLN 440. With MOS applications the PLN 100 card fee is also paid up front, together with the application — so a refusal puts PLN 540 in total at stake. If a refusal has already arrived, you have 14 days to appeal — see what to do after a residence card refusal.

The most expensive thing is not the fees — it is the mistakes

The real cost of a case rarely comes down to PLN 340 or 640. What costs most is a wrongly chosen residence basis or an incomplete application: months of waiting — at the Masovian Voivodeship Office realistically 6–12 months — then end in summonses, and sometimes in a refusal and refiling everything from scratch, often with a gap in legal stay. Saving on the preparation of the application is the most expensive item on this price list.

How our law firm helps

We choose the right type of permit, prepare a complete application in MOS and keep track of fees, deadlines and summonses — foreigners’ cases are our daily work and we know where cases really get stuck. We provide consultations in eight languages, also online, usually within 1–2 business days.

If you would rather not run it yourself, the Bartosz Krajewski Law Firm handles residence legalisation entirely online for 1900 PLN instead of 2200 PLN: you upload photos of your documents, we do the rest.

Useful links

• Residence card in Warsaw 2026 — step by step
• Residence card application 2026 — MOS step by step
• Documents for the residence card 2026 — full list
• How long the residence card takes in Warsaw — real timelines

A fee paid in the wrong amount or to the wrong authority’s account does not count at all — the application waits while the deadline keeps running. We handle foreigners' cases across Poland, also fully remotely: no visits to the office, with document photos taken on your phone. Book a consultation and start with a diagnosis, not with an application.