Poland has crossed a digital Rubicon. As of 1 January 2026 every temporary-stay (residence) permit—including renewals for long-term assignees and family members—must be lodged exclusively through the government’s Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS) e-portal. Paper dossiers handed to any of the 16 voivodeship offices are now legally deemed “not filed”, compelling companies and foreign nationals to embrace the online workflow overnight.
The Interior Ministry argues the move will slash processing times by 30 % once teething problems subside. To pay for extra case officers and cyber-security the standard residence-permit fee has jumped from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits now cost PLN 800. Consular tariffs rose in lock-step: national (type D) visas increased to €200 and Schengen (type C) visas to €90. Corporate mobility budgets for 2026 were wiped out in a single regulation, forcing HR teams to re-forecast or pass costs to business units.
![Poland’s new MOS e-portal becomes sole channel for residence-permit filings as government quadruples fees]()
Organizations looking for a safety net during this transition can tap VisaHQ’s Poland desk for end-to-end assistance. Through the platform’s guided MOS workflows, bilingual experts and real-time fee calculators, VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) helps employers assemble error-free e-packs, procure qualified e-signatures and track every application stage—saving precious hours and avoiding costly re-filings at the new PLN 400–800 price point.
Early adopters praise real-time case tracking but complain of glitches: qualified e-signature certificates fail to load; sessions time-out without warning; the payment gateway rejects some foreign credit cards. Smaller employers outside major cities face steep learning curves as they scramble to create Trusted-Profile log-ins in Polish and train staff on the MOS interface. Immigration advisers recommend screenshotting each submission stage—an un-saved draft lost in a crash still counts as a missed deadline.
Strategically, the change is only the first step. By mid-2026 the government plans to migrate permanent-residence, citizenship, Blue Card and seasonal-worker filings to MOS. Companies that standardise e-signature procurement, allocate extra budget (≈ PLN 2 000–2 500 per foreign hire) and centralise “power-user” expertise will weather the transition best. Those that do not risk employees falling out of status—and losing the right to work—because a paper file can no longer enter the queue.
The Interior Ministry argues the move will slash processing times by 30 % once teething problems subside. To pay for extra case officers and cyber-security the standard residence-permit fee has jumped from PLN 100 to PLN 400, while posted-worker permits now cost PLN 800. Consular tariffs rose in lock-step: national (type D) visas increased to €200 and Schengen (type C) visas to €90. Corporate mobility budgets for 2026 were wiped out in a single regulation, forcing HR teams to re-forecast or pass costs to business units.
Organizations looking for a safety net during this transition can tap VisaHQ’s Poland desk for end-to-end assistance. Through the platform’s guided MOS workflows, bilingual experts and real-time fee calculators, VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) helps employers assemble error-free e-packs, procure qualified e-signatures and track every application stage—saving precious hours and avoiding costly re-filings at the new PLN 400–800 price point.
Early adopters praise real-time case tracking but complain of glitches: qualified e-signature certificates fail to load; sessions time-out without warning; the payment gateway rejects some foreign credit cards. Smaller employers outside major cities face steep learning curves as they scramble to create Trusted-Profile log-ins in Polish and train staff on the MOS interface. Immigration advisers recommend screenshotting each submission stage—an un-saved draft lost in a crash still counts as a missed deadline.
Strategically, the change is only the first step. By mid-2026 the government plans to migrate permanent-residence, citizenship, Blue Card and seasonal-worker filings to MOS. Companies that standardise e-signature procurement, allocate extra budget (≈ PLN 2 000–2 500 per foreign hire) and centralise “power-user” expertise will weather the transition best. Those that do not risk employees falling out of status—and losing the right to work—because a paper file can no longer enter the queue.
