Poland has published the long-awaited secondary regulations that complete its 2025 immigration overhaul. Under the decree, every temporary-stay (residence) permit—including EU Blue Card, intra-company transfer and family-reunification cases—must be lodged through the Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-portal as of 1 January 2026. Paper files delivered to a voivodeship office will be rejected outright, and applicants must attach full passport scans and sign with a qualified electronic signature. HR teams therefore have only two weeks to obtain trusted-profile log-ins for assignees and train staff on MOS navigation.
Just as important for budgets, government fees jump steeply. A locally-hired employee’s residence-permit charge rises from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker cases soar to PLN 800. Consular fees also climb: a national type-D visa will cost €200 (up from €135) and a Schengen type-C visa €90 (up from €80). Authorities argue digitisation will cut processing times by 30 %, but corporate mobility managers fear the portal—already prone to time-outs—could create new bottlenecks.
![Poland locks in e-portal mandate and quadruples immigration fees from 2026]()
To help organisations stay ahead of these changes, VisaHQ offers comprehensive assistance with Polish visa and residence-permit processes, including setting up trusted profiles, pre-checking documentation and guiding users through the MOS portal. Their Poland specialists can also advise on the new fee structure and arrange qualified electronic signatures, lightening the workload for busy HR teams. More details are available at https://www.visahq.com/poland/.
Practical implications are significant. Companies planning January start dates should submit any remaining paper files by 31 December, secure e-signatures via Polish-issued certificates or EU eID, and update internal budgeting models to reflect the four-fold fee increase. Expatriate-pay packages may need re-calculation, and posted-worker agreements should stipulate which entity pays the higher government costs. Employers that rely on student employees must also note a new 20-hour weekly work-cap unless a separate work permit is held.
Immigration advisers recommend building contingency time into mobility schedules through Q1 2026. While the government claims the MOS portal has been stress-tested, previous roll-outs of digital systems (e.g., the PESEL online register) were plagued by outages. Firms should therefore keep screenshots of every submission step, as missing metadata can trigger automated rejections without human override. Despite the risks, Poland sees the e-portal as a flagship for wider public-service digitisation, promising eventual integrations with tax and social-security databases.
Just as important for budgets, government fees jump steeply. A locally-hired employee’s residence-permit charge rises from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker cases soar to PLN 800. Consular fees also climb: a national type-D visa will cost €200 (up from €135) and a Schengen type-C visa €90 (up from €80). Authorities argue digitisation will cut processing times by 30 %, but corporate mobility managers fear the portal—already prone to time-outs—could create new bottlenecks.
To help organisations stay ahead of these changes, VisaHQ offers comprehensive assistance with Polish visa and residence-permit processes, including setting up trusted profiles, pre-checking documentation and guiding users through the MOS portal. Their Poland specialists can also advise on the new fee structure and arrange qualified electronic signatures, lightening the workload for busy HR teams. More details are available at https://www.visahq.com/poland/.
Practical implications are significant. Companies planning January start dates should submit any remaining paper files by 31 December, secure e-signatures via Polish-issued certificates or EU eID, and update internal budgeting models to reflect the four-fold fee increase. Expatriate-pay packages may need re-calculation, and posted-worker agreements should stipulate which entity pays the higher government costs. Employers that rely on student employees must also note a new 20-hour weekly work-cap unless a separate work permit is held.
Immigration advisers recommend building contingency time into mobility schedules through Q1 2026. While the government claims the MOS portal has been stress-tested, previous roll-outs of digital systems (e.g., the PESEL online register) were plagued by outages. Firms should therefore keep screenshots of every submission step, as missing metadata can trigger automated rejections without human override. Despite the risks, Poland sees the e-portal as a flagship for wider public-service digitisation, promising eventual integrations with tax and social-security databases.
