Poland’s long-planned digital immigration overhaul is now fully in force. From 00:00 on 1 January 2026 every temporary-stay (residence)-permit application must be lodged via the Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-portal, signed with a qualified electronic signature and authenticated through the applicant’s Trusted Profile or EU e-ID. Paper dossiers handed to any of the country’s 16 voivodeship offices are now legally deemed “not filed”, forcing employers, relocation providers and foreign assignees to move online overnight.
Fee increases are just as dramatic as the technological shift. The standard residence-permit charge has jumped from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits now cost PLN 800. In parallel, national (type D) visa fees have risen to €200 and Schengen (type C) visas to €90. The Ministry of the Interior says the additional revenue will fund cybersecurity and staffing for the new portal, but HR teams complain that 2026 mobility budgets have been blown apart in the first week of the year.
Companies unsure how to navigate these new rules can tap VisaHQ’s Poland specialists (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) for step-by-step assistance, from registering Trusted Profiles and obtaining qualified e-signatures to uploading complete MOS applications and tracking payment receipts—giving mobility managers a faster, compliant route through the transition.
![Poland activates mandatory MOS e-filing and quadruples residence-permit fees]()
For corporate mobility managers, the immediate operational challenge lies in registering every foreign employee for a Trusted Profile and qualified e-signature, then training them to navigate MOS. Early users report time-outs and lost sessions; advisers recommend screenshotting key submission screens as proof of timely filing until the platform stabilises. Failure to adapt has hard consequences: working without a filed permit exposes both employer and employee to fines and, in serious cases, a ban on future sponsorship.
In the medium term, the all-digital rule should accelerate adjudication. Authorities promise that MOS will cut processing times by 30 %, partly by eliminating courier delays and partly through automated data validation. If those gains materialise, Poland could once again compete with the Czech Republic and Hungary for time-sensitive EU postings.
Strategically, however, higher government fees may dissuade smaller service centres from choosing Poland. Global Shared-Services operators considering Kraków or Łódź must now weigh the PLN 800 posted-worker cost against cheaper options in the Baltics or Balkans. Companies already on the ground will need to renegotiate assignment budgets and, in some cases, re-price client contracts that assumed 2025 fee levels.
Fee increases are just as dramatic as the technological shift. The standard residence-permit charge has jumped from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits now cost PLN 800. In parallel, national (type D) visa fees have risen to €200 and Schengen (type C) visas to €90. The Ministry of the Interior says the additional revenue will fund cybersecurity and staffing for the new portal, but HR teams complain that 2026 mobility budgets have been blown apart in the first week of the year.
Companies unsure how to navigate these new rules can tap VisaHQ’s Poland specialists (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) for step-by-step assistance, from registering Trusted Profiles and obtaining qualified e-signatures to uploading complete MOS applications and tracking payment receipts—giving mobility managers a faster, compliant route through the transition.
For corporate mobility managers, the immediate operational challenge lies in registering every foreign employee for a Trusted Profile and qualified e-signature, then training them to navigate MOS. Early users report time-outs and lost sessions; advisers recommend screenshotting key submission screens as proof of timely filing until the platform stabilises. Failure to adapt has hard consequences: working without a filed permit exposes both employer and employee to fines and, in serious cases, a ban on future sponsorship.
In the medium term, the all-digital rule should accelerate adjudication. Authorities promise that MOS will cut processing times by 30 %, partly by eliminating courier delays and partly through automated data validation. If those gains materialise, Poland could once again compete with the Czech Republic and Hungary for time-sensitive EU postings.
Strategically, however, higher government fees may dissuade smaller service centres from choosing Poland. Global Shared-Services operators considering Kraków or Łódź must now weigh the PLN 800 posted-worker cost against cheaper options in the Baltics or Balkans. Companies already on the ground will need to renegotiate assignment budgets and, in some cases, re-price client contracts that assumed 2025 fee levels.
