Just days into the new year, Polish consular posts on five continents quietly updated their cashier screens. The new fee table—an annex to the Foreign Affairs Ministry regulation of 29 October 2025—entered into force on 1 January 2026 and lifts almost every tariff by roughly a quarter. A D-type national visa issued in Chicago now costs USD 218, while a temporary passport processed outside office hours has climbed to USD 118.
Warsaw says the increase merely reflects a decade of inflation and rising logistics costs for secure documents—some fees had not changed since 2013. Consular officials insist the extra income will finance cybersecurity upgrades, additional staff and a new e-payment gateway due later this quarter.
For global mobility programmes the timing is awkward: most 2026 travel and relocation budgets were finalised before Christmas. A family of four applying for national visas will now pay €800 instead of €540, and large trainee cohorts or seasonal-worker intakes face immediate cost overruns. Mobility managers are being advised to audit all pending submissions, confirm which fee table applies (the key date is when the application is filed, not when the appointment takes place) and, where possible, batch filings in lower-cost jurisdictions within the Schengen area.
![Polish consulates worldwide raise most fees by 20–25 % under new 2026 tariff]()
Organizations looking for a concise, constantly updated resource on Polish consular tariffs can turn to VisaHQ’s dedicated Poland page (https://www.visahq.com/poland/). The platform aggregates the latest fee schedules, appointment lead times and document checklists, giving mobility teams and individual travelers alike a single dashboard to budget accurately and avoid surprise costs.
Industry consultants expect employers to absorb the surcharge in the short term but to renegotiate lump-sum expatriate packages later in the year. Some companies are exploring the use of remote work and short-term business-visitor frameworks to limit full visa filings, while others are turning to professional facilitators that consolidate multiple travellers in a single dashboard and keep a live database of consular fees.
Although politically uncontroversial at home, the increase underscores a broader trend of EU member states shifting more of the administrative cost burden onto migrants and their sponsors—something corporate mobility teams will need to monitor closely across Europe in 2026.
Warsaw says the increase merely reflects a decade of inflation and rising logistics costs for secure documents—some fees had not changed since 2013. Consular officials insist the extra income will finance cybersecurity upgrades, additional staff and a new e-payment gateway due later this quarter.
For global mobility programmes the timing is awkward: most 2026 travel and relocation budgets were finalised before Christmas. A family of four applying for national visas will now pay €800 instead of €540, and large trainee cohorts or seasonal-worker intakes face immediate cost overruns. Mobility managers are being advised to audit all pending submissions, confirm which fee table applies (the key date is when the application is filed, not when the appointment takes place) and, where possible, batch filings in lower-cost jurisdictions within the Schengen area.
Organizations looking for a concise, constantly updated resource on Polish consular tariffs can turn to VisaHQ’s dedicated Poland page (https://www.visahq.com/poland/). The platform aggregates the latest fee schedules, appointment lead times and document checklists, giving mobility teams and individual travelers alike a single dashboard to budget accurately and avoid surprise costs.
Industry consultants expect employers to absorb the surcharge in the short term but to renegotiate lump-sum expatriate packages later in the year. Some companies are exploring the use of remote work and short-term business-visitor frameworks to limit full visa filings, while others are turning to professional facilitators that consolidate multiple travellers in a single dashboard and keep a live database of consular fees.
Although politically uncontroversial at home, the increase underscores a broader trend of EU member states shifting more of the administrative cost burden onto migrants and their sponsors—something corporate mobility teams will need to monitor closely across Europe in 2026.
