How long does UKR status last? Protection until 4 March 2028

For hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens living in Poland, 2026 brings two key messages: temporary protection has been extended to 4 March 2028, while at the same time the rules governing UKR status changed on 5 March 2026. This guide explains exactly what changed, who must act and by when, and how to secure your stay for the longer term.

Temporary protection extended to 4 March 2028

Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1912 of 30 July 2026, in force since 5 August 2026, extended temporary protection for people fleeing the war in Ukraine by another year — until 4 March 2028. UKR status is extended by operation of law: if you showed a valid passport when your PESEL number was assigned, you do not file anything and your stay remains legal under art. 106(1) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners.

The decision introduced a new condition: temporary protection is now granted only to people who have fulfilled their military obligations under Ukrainian law. It does not apply to those who already enjoyed protection in Poland before it was introduced and have kept it without interruption. It does apply to new arrivals and to anyone who lost protection and would like to obtain it again.

The date of 4 March 2027 has not disappeared from the law, though. Until that day — under art. 42 of the Act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens — residence cards, national visas and visa-free stay of Ukrainian citizens who do not enjoy temporary protection are extended. As of 2 October 2026 the legislator has not moved this deadline, so anyone whose stay rests on such a card or visa should apply for a new permit before 4 March 2027.

The end of the “special act” — what changed on 5 March 2026

As of 5 March 2026, the so-called Ukrainian special act (the act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens) was wound down. Some of the previous solutions disappeared, and temporary protection itself was moved into the Act on granting protection to foreigners within the territory of Poland. For most people this means a change of legal basis and new formal obligations.

The identity-confirmation deadline passed on 31 August 2026

If you received a PESEL UKR number on the basis of a declaration alone, without showing a passport (this applies to many people who arrived shortly after 24 February 2022), your identity had to be confirmed with a valid travel document at a municipal (gmina) office no later than 31 August 2026.

If that did not happen, on 1 September your UKR status was changed to NUE status and temporary protection expired — to stay in Poland legally you now need a new basis of stay. The sooner you apply for one, the lower the risk of a return procedure.

Entering Poland after 5 March 2026

People who entered Poland after 5 March 2026 and wish to be covered by temporary protection must file an application for a PESEL UKR number within 30 days of entry. A delay may mean no protection and the need to legalise your stay under the general rules.

Diia.pl instead of a paper certificate

Beneficiaries of temporary protection are no longer issued a paper certificate. The document confirming protection is the Diia.pl app — make sure it is active and up to date.

UKR status changed to NUE — what it means in practice

The change happened automatically, with no decision and no summons. On 1 September 2026 the minister for digital affairs changed UKR status to NUE for people whose PESEL number had been granted on the basis of a declaration and who did not confirm their identity by 31 August (art. 25(2) of the Act of 23 January 2026). The PESEL number stayed, but with the status went the entitlement under art. 106(1) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners — the recognition of the stay as legal.

• Temporary protection stops being your basis of stay — the entitlement under art. 106(1) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners disappears; if you have no other title (residence card, visa, visa-free travel), your stay becomes illegal, with the risk of a return decision in the background; how to defend against one is covered in our guide to an order to leave Poland.
• A Schengen entry ban — a return decision is often combined with an entry in the SIS system, which blocks entry for years (see entry ban and SIS alert.
• Work loses its basis — the notification of entrusting work rests on legal stay, and losing it hits the employer as well.
• Diia.pl stops being a residence document — and it is what Schengen travel and roadside checks rely on; benefits tied to temporary protection, including 800+, go with the status.
• The simplified route to a residence card closes — art. 45 of the phase-out act opens it ONLY to people holding UKR status: residence and work, highly qualified employment, business activity, family of a Polish citizen and family reunification. Without the status only the general, much harder rules remain.

Waiting is now the worst possible strategy: every further month of stay without legal title weakens your position in any return proceedings and closes off some routes. We will review your situation and point to the one that is realistic in your case. If a return decision has already arrived, the count is in days — order the decision analysis and a lawyer will point to the grounds of appeal.

You missed the deadline — what can still be done

The Act does not provide for restoring UKR status after the deadline: confirming your identity at a municipal office after 31 August will register your document data, but it does not by itself turn NUE back into UKR. Your stay therefore has to rest on a different basis — and soon.

• Check whether art. 25 really applied to you — the obligation covered only people whose PESEL number was granted on the basis of a declaration alone. Anyone whose PESEL came from a Karta Polaka, another photo document, a birth document or an expired passport falls under art. 26: confirmation within 60 days of a new travel document being issued, with no 1 September sanction.
• A temporary residence permit under the general rules — work, business activity, studies, family of a Polish citizen or family reunification. The preferences in art. 45 of the phase-out act apply to people with UKR status, so without it the application has to be prepared exactly like any other foreigner's — with no margin for formal gaps.
• International protection and humanitarian grounds — these are separate routes, justified only in some situations; the choice between them and a residence application determines what happens to your stay while the case runs, which is why it is not a decision to make alone.

If you receive a return decision, the appeal deadline is short and runs from service — our separate guide describes what that defence looks like. It is not the end of the road, but every week of delay narrows the room for manoeuvre.

Mixed situations — work in progress, a child in a Polish school, a permit application filed while you still had UKR status — require setting the order of steps, because that order decides whether your stay remains unbroken. This is the moment for a conversation with a lawyer, not for testing at the counter.

Do not wait until March 2028 — temporary protection is not a permanent basis

The date 4 March 2028 is a horizon, not a guarantee. Temporary protection lasts as long as the Council of the European Union keeps extending the mechanism — each extension is a political decision, not an acquired right. Anyone planning a future in Poland should build their stay on their own legal title.

Moving to a residence card is possible today if you work, run a business, study or live in Poland with your family. After a sufficiently long, uninterrupted stay, the path to permanent residence and EU long-term resident status opens up. The application is filed exclusively online through the MOS portal, and the real waiting time is far longer than the statutory month — we show it in our overview of processing times at the Masovian Voivodeship Office.

That is why sequence matters: the closer March 2028 gets, the more people will file at the same time and the longer everyone will wait. We handle such cases from start to finish — also fully remotely, with no visits to the office: we determine the right basis of stay, assemble the documents and keep track of the deadlines.

What next? How to secure your stay beyond protection

Temporary protection is a temporary solution. If you are building your future in Poland, it is worth thinking ahead about a more stable basis of stay. The most common routes are:

• A temporary residence permit (residence card) — for example based on work, business, studies or family. More in our guide to the residence card in Warsaw.
• A permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status — for those who meet the conditions of longer, uninterrupted residence. See: legalising your stay in Poland.
• Legal work — a work permit or an employer's declaration. Check: employment of foreigners in Poland.

Moving from temporary protection to a residence card requires an application to the voivode, a complete set of documents and strict deadlines; a formal mistake or a delay can set the case back by months. We run such cases entirely remotely — see how the online legalisation works (1900 PLN).

What we do and what it costs

Not everyone who lands here is in the same place. Below are four situations in which we run the case from start to finish — with the price stated upfront, not quoted after a call.

• You have a return decision — the appeal deadline is counted in days. You upload the decision and a lawyer assesses the chances and points to concrete grounds of appeal. order the decision analysis (499 PLN).
• You have the status and want a residence card — we run the whole case remotely: we establish the right ground of stay, gather the documents, file through MOS and keep track of the deadlines until the decision. see the online legalisation (1900 PLN).
• You received a refusal — you have 14 days. A lawyer reads the decision and tells you whether it can be challenged — analysis within 48 hours, and if there is a case, we run the appeal. order the refusal analysis (299 PLN).
• You filed an application and the office is silent — once the statutory deadline has passed we prepare a formal demand signed by a legal counsel and file it with the authority no later than the next business day. order the demand (from 199 PLN).

Not sure which situation is yours? Write to us — we will check what the register says and what can realistically be done before you incur any cost. The full range of cases is described on foreigners' cases in Warsaw.

Legal state as of 2 October 2026. Basis: the Act of 23 January 2026 on phasing out the solutions of the Act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens (Journal of Laws 2026, item 203) and Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1912 of 30 July 2026.

Useful links

• Poland residence permit documents 2026 — checklist, certification and e-filing
• Temporary protection for Ukrainian citizens — UDSC
• MOS portal — electronic submission of residence applications
• How to set up Profil Zaufany (gov.pl)