Residence card for a child in Poland 2026 — foreigner's child born in Poland, documents, MOS

A foreigner's child born in Poland does not have legal stay simply by being born here — it has to be granted by a separate decision of the voivode. Parents usually find out on the first holiday trip abroad or when filing their own next application. We run the child's case from preparing the application to collecting the card, and if you are legalising your own stay as well, see online residence legalisation for the whole family.

Birth in Poland gives neither citizenship nor residence

Poland does not follow the rule of the soil: a child of two foreigners born in a Warsaw hospital is a citizen of the parents' country, not a Pole. The birth certificate drawn up by a Polish civil registry office only confirms the birth — it is not a residence document and does not replace a residence card.

The law sets no deadline for filing the child's application, and that is exactly what lulls parents. The Office for Foreigners says plainly not to delay: the simplest route is only available if, on the day of the decision, the parent is still in Poland on the same visa or the same permit they held on the day of the birth. A few months' delay can close that route.

Which route your child takes — the parent's status decides

The child's application always follows from the basis on which the parent is in Poland. In practice there are four situations:

• the parent holds a national (D) visa or a temporary residence permit and the child was born while it was valid — a temporary residence permit under art. 160 point 2 of the Act on Foreigners, stamp duty 340 zł
• the parent holds a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status — the child applies for permanent residence under art. 195 of the Act on Foreigners, stamp duty 640 zł
• the child was born abroad and is joining a parent living in Poland — this is a temporary residence permit for family reunification, with different requirements
• the parent no longer holds the visa or permit they had on the day of the birth — what remains is the harder route under art. 187 point 6 or 7 of the Act, which requires an analysis of the whole family's situation before anything is filed

A wrongly chosen legal basis is the most common reason for refusals in children's cases — the office will not change it for the applicant. The rules for adult family members are covered in our article on residence with a foreign family member in Poland.

The art. 160 point 2 permit — only once and only until the parent's date

The permit for a child born in Poland is granted until the same day as the parent's visa or permit. If the parent's card expires in six months, so does the child's. This basis cannot be renewed: art. 160 point 2 works once in the child's life, so before it expires an application on another basis must be filed — usually together with the parent's next application, as residence with a family member.

That is why we plan a child's case in two steps from the start: the first card now, the second in step with the parent's card. When the parent approaches five years of residence, it is worth checking whether the whole family can move to permanent residence — we explain the differences in our article EU long-term resident or permanent residence.

Who files the application in MOS — and what the law firm does for you

Since 27 April 2026 residence applications are filed only electronically, in the case handling module (MOS). For a child the parent does it: they log in via login.gov.pl with their own trusted profile, create a sub-account for the child in their account and sign the application with their own signature. The rules do not allow a proxy to send it — submitting the application requires the parent to act in person.

That is the only thing we cannot do for you. Everything else we can: we gather the documents, fill in the application with you so that only one signature is left for you, and after filing we take over the case as your representative — correspondence from the office goes to the law firm's address, we answer summonses on time and make sure the case does not stall. No letter gets lost at an old address, and 14-day deadlines do not run out during parental leave.

Documents: what goes with the application and what only on summons

Four things are needed to file the application at all — without them MOS will not accept it or the office will return it by order:

• the application form completed in MOS and signed with the parent's trusted profile
• a scan of all pages of the child's valid passport in one PDF file — a passport from the consulate is the precondition without which the case will not move
• a digital biometric photo of the child: a 684×883 px file, up to 2.5 MB, taken no earlier than 6 months before filing — an ordinary phone photo will be rejected
• proof of payment of the stamp duty: 340 zł for temporary residence or 640 zł for permanent residence

The voivode asks for the rest in a summons, usually with a 14-day deadline: a copy of the birth certificate issued no earlier than 3 months before filing (do not order it too early), a copy of the parent's decision and card, the child's health insurance, proof of income and the right to the flat. A wrong document in reply to a summons is the shortest road to refusal — which is why we answer summonses for our clients.

Fingerprints, the visit, income and the card fee

A child who has not turned 6 on the day of filing does not give fingerprints and does not have to appear at the office. The parent comes to the appointment with the original of the child's passport. The means-of-support requirement is met by the parent living in Poland: MOS uses a threshold of 1010 zł a month for a single person and 823 zł for each person in a family, so with three people the parent must show at least 2469 zł net.

After a positive decision you pay for issuing the residence card. For a child under 16 it is 50 zł instead of 100 zł — art. 237 of the Act provides a 50% reduction, based on the birth certificate. The stamp duty for the application has no reduction.

What handling a child's case costs and how we start

We handle a child's case alongside the parent end to end — from analysing which route is right, through the MOS application, to collecting the card. If you are legalising your own stay too, we run both cases in step; for the parent there is online legalisation for 1900 zł instead of 2200 zł. We start with a short conversation about the parent's status and the date of birth — those two dates decide everything that follows.

The full scope of our help with residence legalisation for foreigners and their families is described on the page foreigners' cases in Warsaw.