Corporate mobility teams have just two weeks to overhaul their Polish onboarding processes. A regulation published late on 18 December confirms that, from 1 January 2026, every application for a temporary-stay (residence) permit must be lodged exclusively via the Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-portal. Local immigration offices will shut their counters to walk-in submissions; paper dossiers handed across the desk will be refused outright. The change completes a year-long digital-by-default drive that already forced employers to file work-permit requests through praca.gov.pl.
What alarms HR directors is not the technology but the price-tag. The standard residence-permit fee jumps from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits rocket to PLN 800. At the same time, Polish consulates worldwide will raise visa charges: national (type-D) visas climb from €135 to €200 and Schengen (type-C) visas from €80 to €90. Warsaw argues that the higher income will fund 250 extra case officers and cybersecurity upgrades, trimming processing times by 30 percent. Multinationals counter that 2026 relocation budgets have been blown overnight, with some companies scrambling to pre-pay 2025-level fees before the year ends.
The MOS platform itself still suffers growing pains: frequent time-outs, a clunky Polish-only interface and the need for every applicant to sign with a qualified electronic signature. Assignees therefore require a Trusted-Profile login or EU eID and must upload full-passport scans—tasks that often fall on already-stretched corporate mobility teams. Advisers recommend screenshotting each submission step because a frozen session may be the only proof of a timely filing.
![Poland moves all residence-permit filings online and quadruples fees from 1 January 2026]()
For organisations that need immediate, on-the-ground support, VisaHQ can shoulder the heaviest administrative lifts. Our Warsaw-based specialists arrange qualified e-signatures, prepare MOS-ready dossiers and coordinate consular visa appointments, all visible through a single online dashboard. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/poland/.
Practical implications are far-reaching. HR departments must train staff on MOS navigation, budget for qualified e-signatures (about PLN 300 each) and update posted-worker policies to reflect the steeper costs. Employers planning January start dates are rushing to lodge any remaining paper files before New Year’s Eve; others are front-loading 2026 assignments now to avoid fee hikes. Failure to comply could trigger fines of up to PLN 50,000 per assignee under amendments to the Foreigners Employment Act that took effect in June.
In the longer term, MOS will be linked to tax and social-security databases, allowing automatic red flags if the salary declared in the permit does not match payroll filings. Poland is signalling the start of a “digital-by-default, expensive-by-design” era: companies that automate document collection, build the new fee structure into budgets and train early will gain a decisive head-start once the paper gate slams shut.
What alarms HR directors is not the technology but the price-tag. The standard residence-permit fee jumps from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits rocket to PLN 800. At the same time, Polish consulates worldwide will raise visa charges: national (type-D) visas climb from €135 to €200 and Schengen (type-C) visas from €80 to €90. Warsaw argues that the higher income will fund 250 extra case officers and cybersecurity upgrades, trimming processing times by 30 percent. Multinationals counter that 2026 relocation budgets have been blown overnight, with some companies scrambling to pre-pay 2025-level fees before the year ends.
The MOS platform itself still suffers growing pains: frequent time-outs, a clunky Polish-only interface and the need for every applicant to sign with a qualified electronic signature. Assignees therefore require a Trusted-Profile login or EU eID and must upload full-passport scans—tasks that often fall on already-stretched corporate mobility teams. Advisers recommend screenshotting each submission step because a frozen session may be the only proof of a timely filing.
For organisations that need immediate, on-the-ground support, VisaHQ can shoulder the heaviest administrative lifts. Our Warsaw-based specialists arrange qualified e-signatures, prepare MOS-ready dossiers and coordinate consular visa appointments, all visible through a single online dashboard. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/poland/.
Practical implications are far-reaching. HR departments must train staff on MOS navigation, budget for qualified e-signatures (about PLN 300 each) and update posted-worker policies to reflect the steeper costs. Employers planning January start dates are rushing to lodge any remaining paper files before New Year’s Eve; others are front-loading 2026 assignments now to avoid fee hikes. Failure to comply could trigger fines of up to PLN 50,000 per assignee under amendments to the Foreigners Employment Act that took effect in June.
In the longer term, MOS will be linked to tax and social-security databases, allowing automatic red flags if the salary declared in the permit does not match payroll filings. Poland is signalling the start of a “digital-by-default, expensive-by-design” era: companies that automate document collection, build the new fee structure into budgets and train early will gain a decisive head-start once the paper gate slams shut.
