NUE status in PESEL — what it means, whether your stay is legal and how to get UKR back

NUE status in the PESEL register is not a penalty or a removal order — it is the ordinary label for a foreigner from outside the European Union. The problem starts when NUE replaced your previous UKR status: together with it you may have lost the basis for your legal stay, the diia.pl document and the simplified route to a residence card. Whether you are in Poland legally and which application you can still file depends on why the status changed. If you want us to establish this on your documents and take over the application right away, see our online residence legalisation.

What NUE means in the PESEL register

The Population Register Act (art. 8(24a)) gives every foreigner with a PESEL number one of several statuses. UE means a citizen of the European Union, an EFTA state or Switzerland, CUE a family member of such a person, and NUE any other foreigner, i.e. a third-country national. A separate UKR status is held by temporary protection beneficiaries who were given a PESEL number in that procedure.

So the abbreviation NUE says nothing about whether your stay is legal — most foreigners with a residence card or a visa have it. For a Ukrainian citizen, however, a change from UKR to NUE means something specific: the register no longer treats you as a person using temporary protection, and that has the consequences described below.

Why your status changed from UKR to NUE

The change happens without a decision or a summons — you usually find out when diia.pl stops working or an office refuses a benefit. There are four reasons:

• failure to confirm identity by 31 August 2026 by people whose PESEL was issued on the basis of a declaration — on 1 September 2026 the digital affairs minister changed the status (art. 25(2) of the Act of 23 January 2026, Journal of Laws 2026 item 203)
• leaving Poland for more than 30 days — temporary protection expires by law (art. 109b(1)(2) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners) and the status is changed on the basis of Border Guard data
• being granted a temporary residence, permanent residence or EU long-term resident permit (art. 109b(1)(4)) — in that case NUE is a natural result of legalisation and is not a problem
• renouncing temporary protection at a municipal office, applying for international protection or obtaining temporary protection in another EU country

The first and second reasons require action at once. The third means your stay already rests on a residence card — just keep an eye on its expiry date.

What NUE status changes in practice

Where the change follows a failure to confirm identity, the statute is explicit: the foreigner loses the right under art. 106(1) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners, i.e. the recognition of the stay as legal under temporary protection (art. 25(3)). The minister also cancels the diia.pl document (art. 110d(10)), which together with a passport allowed you to cross the border without a visa. Benefits and healthcare for temporary protection beneficiaries end too, including the 800+ child benefit.

The least visible but most expensive consequence concerns your future residence card. Art. 45 of the phase-out act gives people with UKR status a simplified route for the residence and work permit, highly qualified work, business activity, family of a Polish citizen and family reunification: the voivode uses the fingerprints taken when the PESEL was issued, and for family reunification no minimum residence period of the family member is required. With NUE status you are back to the general rules — a valid passport, fingerprints and the full set of conditions.

Are you in Poland legally with NUE status

Not necessarily illegally — and this is the point most often overlooked. Losing temporary protection removes one basis of stay but does not rule out others. We check in turn:

• a valid residence card, a visa or an MOS certificate of a filed application — then NUE makes no difference to legality
• art. 42(11) of the special act — if the last day of a Ukrainian citizen's permitted stay on a visa or visa-free falls on or after 24 February 2022, the stay in Poland is deemed legal until 4 March 2027; it applies only in Poland and ends the moment you leave
• visa-free travel on a biometric passport — 90 days in any 180-day period

With a legal stay, a Ukrainian citizen without temporary protection can keep working: until 5 March 2029 it is enough for the employer to notify the labour office within 7 days (art. 41 of the phase-out act). If no basis remains, a return decision looms — if one has already arrived, read how to bring an appeal against an order to leave Poland.

Can you get UKR status back

The law provides for UKR status to be granted again after a new PESEL application for a temporary protection beneficiary (art. 44b of the Population Register Act). It is filed in person at a municipal office within 30 days of crossing the border (art. 110a(2) of the Act on granting protection to foreigners), and the status is restored from the day of re-entry. This is the route for people who lost the status by leaving for more than 30 days. In practice:

• a change caused by failure to confirm identity cannot be reversed on the spot — a visit to the municipal office with a passport after 31 August records the document but does not restore UKR
• leaving only to come back and file a new application is a risk: a border check without diia.pl, and art. 42(11) stops working the moment you leave
• regained UKR status lasts only as long as temporary protection — currently until 4 March 2028; since August 2026 protection after a break is granted only to people who have fulfilled their military obligations under Ukrainian law
• a decision to leave should be made after analysing your documents, not before

The deadlines of temporary protection itself and what may happen to it after 2028 are covered in our article how long UKR status is valid.

How to legalise your stay after losing UKR

The safest route is a temporary residence permit under the general rules — most often for work, family reunification, studies or business. The application is filed only electronically via MOS, with a valid passport; the stamp duty is 340 PLN, or 440 PLN for the residence and work permit, and the card itself costs 100 PLN. Timing is crucial: an application filed while your stay is still legal gives you a certificate and legal stay until the decision (art. 108 of the Act on foreigners). Filed after it ends, it gives no such protection — which is why with art. 42(11) and visa-free stay every week counts.

What we do and what it costs

Bartosz Krajewski Law Firm starts by establishing why your status changed and on what basis you are in Poland today — on documents, not guesswork. Then we choose the permit, assemble the documents and file the application in MOS with a power of attorney, so the office writes to us. Handling a temporary residence permit case costs 2200 PLN, and in our online legalisation mode — fully remote, with photos of documents taken on your phone — 1900 PLN at the promotional price. Official fees are paid separately.

If you prefer to discuss your situation with a lawyer first, book a consultation on foreigners' matters.