Losing Your Job with a Residence Card in Poland 2026 — 30 Days, Notice and Revocation

Losing your job does not erase your residence card, but from your first day without work two deadlines run that the office will not remind you about. You have 15 working days to notify the voivode in writing and 30 days during which the permit cannot be revoked because of the job loss. In that time you need a new employer and a correct application — which rarely works out alone. If you want us to take over the new application straight away, see our online residence legalisation.

Whether job loss threatens your card depends on the basis of your stay

A residence card is only a document. Whether losing your job matters depends on the permit it was issued for. The problem mainly concerns the temporary residence and work permit, the so-called single permit: the decision names a specific employer, and the purpose of stay is work for that employer. When the job ends, the purpose of stay formally ceases to exist.

If your stay is based on family reunification, studies, permanent residence, EU long-term resident status or another basis with full access to the labour market, dismissal does not threaten your permit — you can simply change jobs. The rest of this text is for people whose residence card is tied to work for a named employer.

15 working days to notify the voivode

Under Article 121(1) of the Act on Foreigners, a foreigner holding a temporary residence and work permit must notify the voivode who granted it, in writing, of losing work with any entity named in the decision — within 15 working days. Since 1 June 2025 the employer has a similar obligation, so the office will learn about the termination anyway. The difference is what you gain:

• a notice filed on time opens the 30-day protection against revocation — without it you have no such protection
• a missing notice is a classic objection raised by the office at your next residence application and is sometimes used to justify a refusal
• what counts is the date the job actually ended according to the documents, not the day you received your employment certificate — so count the deadlines with a lawyer

How long you can stay without work — 30 days of protection

Article 123(1) of the Act on Foreigners provides that for 30 days from losing your job the rules on revoking a permit because the purpose of stay has ceased or the conditions are no longer met (Article 101 points 1 and 2) do not apply — provided you show that you notified the voivode, or that the notice did not arrive for reasons beyond your control. That is the whole answer to how long you can go without work: 30 days, and only with the notice filed.

Those 30 days are not a holiday. They are the time to find a new employer and apply for a change of the permit or for a new permit. Once they pass with neither a new job nor a filed application, the voivode may start revocation proceedings, and the gap in employment stays in your file and comes back with every future application.

Can an employer cancel your residence card

No. Your employer has no power over your permit — it cannot cancel, suspend or “withdraw” it. Only the voivode can revoke a permit, by an administrative decision, after proceedings in which you have the right to be heard. The employer can, however, trigger such proceedings: its notice of termination reaches the office and signals to the voivode that the purpose of stay may have ceased. So the threat “I will cancel your card” is empty, but the termination itself is not.

What happens if you do nothing after losing your job

The most common scenario does not look dramatic: someone loses a job, looks for a new one for two months, then starts working for another company on the old card. The consequences arrive later:

• revocation proceedings, because the purpose of stay has ceased and the 30-day protection no longer applies
• working for a new employer without an amended decision is illegal work — with a fine for the employer and a risk of a return decision for you
• refusal of your next permit because of a gap in legal employment and the missing notice
• loss of the continuity of stay you were counting on for permanent residence or EU long-term resident status

If you already have a new employer, the key question is whether you need a change of the permit or a new application — we explain the difference in our article on changing employer with a residence card.

You received a revocation decision — 14 days

A permit is revoked by a decision of the voivode. From the day it is served you have 14 days to appeal to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, filed through the voivode. Until the decision is final, your permit remains valid. Once it becomes final, you must leave Poland within 30 days unless you have another basis of stay. An appeal makes particular sense when the notice was filed and the office ignored it, or when a new application was already lodged within the 30 days. How to count the deadlines and what to argue is explained in our guide on residence card refusal — appeal and complaint to the court.

How we handle your case after a job loss and what it costs

We start with the dates: when employment actually ended, whether and when the notice was sent, how much of the 30 days is left. Then we choose the route — a change of the permit to the new employer or a new permit on another basis — and file the application through MOS before the protection runs out. We handle a new permit or a change of permit for PLN 2,200, and in our online legalisation mode at the promotional price of PLN 1,900. Official fees (PLN 340 or PLN 440 for the application and PLN 100 for the card) are separate.

If you lost your job a few days ago, do not wait for a new offer before sending the notice — call us straight away. The full scope of our help is described on the page foreigners' matters in Warsaw.