Poland’s Ministry of the Interior has fired the starting gun on the last—and most painful—phase of its immigration-system overhaul. A regulation published late on 18 December 2025 confirms that, from 1 January 2026, every temporary-stay (residence) permit must be lodged exclusively via the Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-portal. Local offices will no longer accept paper dossiers; files handed in over the counter will be rejected outright.
The reform completes a year-long digitisation drive that already forced employers to file work-permit requests through the praca.gov.pl platform. What catches the eye this time is the cost. The standard residence-permit fee leaps from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits soar to PLN 800. Consular charges also rise sharply: national (D-type) visas jump from €135 to €200 and Schengen (C-type) visas edge up to €90. Warsaw argues that the income will pay for extra case officers and cybersecurity, trimming processing times by 30 per cent; HR directors counter that 2026 relocation budgets have been blown overnight.
At this juncture, many mobility teams are turning to VisaHQ, whose Poland desk (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) can register applicants on MOS, arrange qualified e-signatures, and keep track of every fee change in real time—helping HR departments meet the new rules without scrambling to decode each fresh instruction.
![Poland Orders All Residence-Permit Applications to Move Online and Quadruples Government Fees]()
With just two weeks to prepare, corporate mobility teams must act fast. Every foreign assignee now needs (1) a Polish Trusted-Profile login or EU eID, (2) a qualified e-signature and (3) training on MOS navigation. Visa advisers recommend screenshotting each step because the portal still crashes under load; a screenshot may become the only proof of timely submission if a session times out. Employers are therefore rushing to pre-pay 2025-level fees and front-load any remaining paper filings before New Year’s Eve.
Looking further ahead, MOS will be linked to the tax and social-security databases, enabling automatic red flags if the salary declared in the permit does not match payroll filings. Non-compliance could trigger fines of up to PLN 50,000 per assignee under amendments to the Foreigners Employment Act that took effect in June. Multinationals are already revising posted-worker policies, budgeting extra onboarding time and ring-fencing funds for electronic signatures.
For global mobility managers the message is clear: Poland’s immigration landscape is entering a “digital by default, expensive by design” era. Companies that automate document collection, build cost increases into 2026 forecasts and train staff early on MOS quirks will gain a decisive head-start once the gate slams shut on paper applications.
The reform completes a year-long digitisation drive that already forced employers to file work-permit requests through the praca.gov.pl platform. What catches the eye this time is the cost. The standard residence-permit fee leaps from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits soar to PLN 800. Consular charges also rise sharply: national (D-type) visas jump from €135 to €200 and Schengen (C-type) visas edge up to €90. Warsaw argues that the income will pay for extra case officers and cybersecurity, trimming processing times by 30 per cent; HR directors counter that 2026 relocation budgets have been blown overnight.
At this juncture, many mobility teams are turning to VisaHQ, whose Poland desk (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) can register applicants on MOS, arrange qualified e-signatures, and keep track of every fee change in real time—helping HR departments meet the new rules without scrambling to decode each fresh instruction.
With just two weeks to prepare, corporate mobility teams must act fast. Every foreign assignee now needs (1) a Polish Trusted-Profile login or EU eID, (2) a qualified e-signature and (3) training on MOS navigation. Visa advisers recommend screenshotting each step because the portal still crashes under load; a screenshot may become the only proof of timely submission if a session times out. Employers are therefore rushing to pre-pay 2025-level fees and front-load any remaining paper filings before New Year’s Eve.
Looking further ahead, MOS will be linked to the tax and social-security databases, enabling automatic red flags if the salary declared in the permit does not match payroll filings. Non-compliance could trigger fines of up to PLN 50,000 per assignee under amendments to the Foreigners Employment Act that took effect in June. Multinationals are already revising posted-worker policies, budgeting extra onboarding time and ring-fencing funds for electronic signatures.
For global mobility managers the message is clear: Poland’s immigration landscape is entering a “digital by default, expensive by design” era. Companies that automate document collection, build cost increases into 2026 forecasts and train staff early on MOS quirks will gain a decisive head-start once the gate slams shut on paper applications.
