Collecting Your Residence Card After the Decision (2026) — Wait Time, 100 PLN Fee, Booking

A positive decision is not yet a residence card — between the decision being served and the card in your hand there are usually several weeks, and exactly how many depends largely on you. We explain what happens after fingerprints and after the decision, why proof of the 100 PLN card fee must be on file from the application onwards, how long the plastic takes and how to book pickup at the office that handled your case. If you would rather have a lawyer run the whole case — from application to card pickup — see online residence legalisation.

From fingerprints to the decision — how long it takes

Fingerprints do not mean the decision is near. After biometrics the office sends the file for opinions to the Border Guard, the regional Police commander and the Internal Security Agency, and then assesses the evidence on the merits. At the Mazovian Voivodeship Office this stage realistically takes many more months, and what drags it out is described in our article on how long a residence card takes in Warsaw.

If your case shows no movement for another quarter after fingerprints, do not wait indefinitely. An urging letter (ponaglenie) signed by a legal adviser forces the office to react and leaves a record you can rely on in a complaint about inaction. This is the only stage that legal remedies can realistically speed up — the next ones happen after the decision and depend mainly on how quickly you react.

Positive decision — what happens right after it is served

The decision arrives electronically, and the case-status portal then shows a sequence of statuses, each standing for a specific step:

• awaiting documents for card personalisation — the decision is positive, and the office checks that proof of the 100 PLN card fee is on file and waits for information on whether your registered address should appear on the card
• personalisation — the office has ordered the print, and the card is produced centrally, not at the office that issued the decision
• card ready for collection — the plastic is waiting at the voivodeship office; in most cities you get a text message to the number given in the application
• card issued — you collect it in person, at the office or branch that handled your case

If the status has not changed for more than a month, the file almost always lacks proof of payment or the information about your registered address. What each portal entry really means is explained in our article on residence card case statuses.

The 100 PLN card fee — which account, and the 50 PLN reduction

Issuing the residence card itself costs 100 PLN — a separate transfer to a different account than the stamp duty for the permit (340, 440 or 640 PLN). According to the MOS notice of 30 April 2026, both fees are paid before the application is filed, and proof of both payments is attached to the MOS application. The card fee goes to the account of the voivodeship office, not the municipality — a wrong account or missing proof on file is the most common reason why the card does not go into production after the decision. Half, i.e. 50 PLN, is paid by children who were under 16 on the day the application was filed, secondary-school pupils and university students, and people in a difficult financial situation that has to be shown.

In the transfer title state what and whom you are paying for, for example „wydanie karty pobytu — Jan Kowalski”, and attach the confirmation to the application together with proof of the stamp duty. If the proof is missing, the office will ask you to supply it and the card will wait. Account numbers of the offices in Warsaw, Wrocław, Łódź, Gdańsk, Poznań, Katowice and Opole are listed in our article on how much a residence card costs in 2026.

How long the plastic takes after the decision

The clock only starts once the decision is issued and the office has proof of the card fee and the address information on file. From the print order the Mazovian Voivodeship Office quotes about 3–4 weeks, the Greater Poland office — about a month. Every week of delay in supplying proof of payment or the address reply moves pickup back by the same amount.

The decision alone does not replace the card when crossing the border. If you plan to travel before collecting the plastic, establish in advance on what basis you will return to Poland — travelling „on the decision” is often the most expensive mistake of the whole procedure.

Pickup: in person, with your passport — and different rules in every city

Neither an attorney, nor your spouse, nor your employer can collect the card for you: on issue the officer compares your fingerprints with those stored in the card. Bring a valid passport and proof of payment; the card of a child under 13 is collected by a parent or guardian. Booking the pickup, however, works differently at each office:

• Warsaw — cards are issued by the customer points of the Foreigners’ Affairs Department at ul. Krucza 5/11 and pl. Bankowy 3/5, entrance G
• Kraków — only after the text message that the card is ready and after booking a slot at okp.muw.pl, separately for each family member; arriving late cancels the visit
• Łódź — no booking: since 9 March 2026 a ticket from the ticket machine, at most 40 tickets a day, and no cards are issued on Fridays
• Katowice — only after online booking and only at the branch that issued the decision; a booking for a card not yet at the branch is cancelled automatically, so you first call the helpline 780 100 935
• Poznań — once the office app shows the status „card ready for collection”, you book a slot in the queue „CUDZOZIEMCY – Odbiór karty pobytu”
• Opole — booking via uw.bezkolejki.eu/ouw, pickup in room 56 on the ground floor, card readiness confirmed at 77 45 24 305, and a child aged 6 or over must be present

Addresses, opening hours and phone numbers of the Warsaw office are in our article on the Foreigners’ Affairs Department in Warsaw, and extra Saturday pickups and booking in Opole in the article on the residence card in Opole.

Check the card at the counter — and what if it is a refusal

The most common problem at pickup is not the queue but the data: a typo in the surname, an outdated passport number or an old address. A card with an error goes back to production and you wait all over again — so the data in the decision must be checked before the card goes to personalisation, and the plastic itself inspected at the counter. Replacing a card lost or damaged through your fault costs 200 PLN, and each subsequent one 300 PLN.

If a refusal arrived instead of a positive decision, every day counts: you have 14 days from service to appeal to the Head of the Office for Foreigners. We analyse a refusal decision online for 299 PLN within 48 hours, and if the appeal has grounds, we handle it for 1499 PLN — order a refusal analysis.

How we run the case all the way to card pickup

Bartosz Krajewski Law Firm (Kancelaria Radców Prawnych) handles residence legalisation from the MOS application to card pickup for 2200 PLN, or 1900 PLN at the promotional online price. We attach both fees and proof of payment to the application straight away, and right after the decision is served we check the data and the address information, so the card goes into production without wasted weeks. If the case is stuck before the decision, a ready urging letter signed by a legal adviser costs 199 PLN — order an urging letter online.

You go to the office only for fingerprints and to collect the card — we do the rest. The full scope of our help in residence matters is described on the page foreigners’ cases in Warsaw.