If you are a non-EU spouse, a child under 21 or a dependent parent of a citizen of another EU country, and you stay in Poland with them for more than 3 months, you must get a karta pobytowa członka rodziny obywatela UE. The voivode issues it free of charge for 5 years. You apply in person, no later than the day after your third month in Poland ends.
The name trips people up. Polish law calls this document a karta pobytowa (residence card of a family member), while a karta pobytu is the card issued under the Act on Foreigners, with a state fee, the online MOS portal and different conditions. Most people search for "karta pobytu for EU family members", but the forms and letters from the office will say karta pobytowa. The card itself carries the note "Członek rodziny obywatela UE, art. 10 dyrektywy 2004/38/WE".
Who counts as a family member
The list is closed. It sits in art. 2 pkt 4 lit. a of the Act of 14 July 2006 on the entry, residence and exit of EU citizens and their family members (ustawa o wjeździe… obywateli UE):
- the spouse of the EU citizen;
- a direct descendant of the EU citizen or their spouse who is under 21, or older if dependent on them;
- a direct ascendant (parent, grandparent) of the EU citizen or their spouse, if dependent;
- the parent of a minor EU citizen who actually cares for the child and supports them.
"EU citizen" here means a national of an EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. UK nationals fall under separate post-Brexit rules, handled as a separate procedure in Warsaw.
Unmarried partners are not on the list. If you live with a German or French partner without being married, this card is not for you, and you legalise your stay under the Act on Foreigners instead. Spouses of Polish citizens qualify only in a narrow case: the Polish spouse lived in another EU country for more than 3 months and is now moving back for good. The usual route for a Pole's spouse is a karta czasowego pobytu, covered in our guide to the residence card based on marriage to a Polish citizen.
What the EU citizen needs first
Your right flows from theirs. The EU citizen must have a right to stay over 3 months under art. 16: working or self-employed in Poland, or having enough money plus health insurance, or studying (then only the spouse and dependent children are covered), or being married to a Polish citizen. They must also register their stay and get a zaświadczenie o zarejestrowaniu pobytu obywatela UE (EU citizen registration certificate). The law says it is issued without delay, and it is valid for 10 years. A copy goes into your file. Without it, your application stalls.
How it differs from a regular karta pobytu
| Residence card of an EU citizen's family member | Temporary residence permit (karta czasowego pobytu) | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Act on EU citizens and their families (2006) | Act on Foreigners (2013) |
| State fee | none | 340 or 440 PLN plus 100 PLN for the card |
| Validity | 5 years, or the EU citizen's planned stay if shorter | up to 3 years |
| Filing | in person or by post, paper form | online only, via MOS |
| Statutory deadline | card issued within 6 months | separate rules |
| Work | free access to the labour market | depends on the ground |
| After 5 years | permanent residence card for family members, valid 10 years | permanent residence or EU long-term resident under the Act on Foreigners |
Don't confuse this card with EU long-term resident status. That one is for a non-EU national who has lived in Poland legally and without a break for 5 years on their own, with proof of income and Polish language skills, and a 640 PLN fee. It has nothing to do with being married to an EU citizen. We explain it in our guide to EU long-term resident status, and we handle those applications too.
Deadline: by the end of month three
For the first 3 months you can stay with just a valid passport. If you stay longer, you file no later than the day after 3 months from your entry date (art. 21 ust. 2). Entered on 10 March: the three months run out on 10 June, so 11 June is your last day.
If you come from a visa-required country, you need a visa to enter, unless you already hold a residence card as an EU citizen's family member issued by another EU country.
Filing late is not one of the refusal grounds listed in art. 31, but failing to obtain the card is punishable by a fine (grzywna, art. 81). We would not test how strictly Warsaw applies it.
Documents
The form is in Polish: "Wniosek o wydanie karty pobytowej członka rodziny obywatela UE", available on the Wydział Spraw Cudzoziemców (Foreigners' Department) website. You attach:
- Your valid passport: a copy, with the original shown at filing.
- Four photos taken within the last 6 months.
- A copy of the EU citizen's registration certificate (or proof of their permanent residence right).
- Proof of the relationship: akt małżeństwa (marriage certificate) for a spouse, a birth certificate for children, plus proof of dependency for children over 21 and for parents.
- Proof that you live together and that the EU citizen meets the residence conditions, such as their employment contract.
- A sworn Polish translation of every foreign-language document.
Fingerprints are taken from everyone aged 6 and over, and a child who is 6 on the filing date has to come along. If something is missing, the office gives you at least 7 days to complete the file, otherwise the application is left unexamined. Our article on sworn translations for residence applications covers who may translate; the same rules apply here, only nothing goes into MOS.
Filing in Warsaw
MOS is not used for this card. In Warsaw you file at the Wydział Spraw Cudzoziemców, ul. Marszałkowska 3/5. Three options:
- In person in the customer hall, with a ticket marked "I".
- Through the Biuro Podawcze (filing office) at the same address, by appointment booked on the e-usługi portal.
- By post. The postmark date counts as the filing date, which helps when the deadline is close. The office will still call you in later with the originals.
Papers left at the Biuro Podawcze are not checked against originals, so filing in person usually catches mistakes earlier. Opening hours: Monday 10:00 to 17:30, Tuesday to Friday 8:00 to 15:00.
You get a zaświadczenie o złożeniu wniosku (certificate of filing) straight away. The voivode then asks the Border Guard, the police and the Internal Security Agency for information; they have 30 days, up to 60 in special cases, and children under 13 are not checked. Where a marriage raises doubts, the office looks at the signs listed in art. 25: whether you live together, share a language, give matching accounts of each other. The Border Guard can run a wywiad środowiskowy, a check at your home address. The card must be issued within 6 months of filing (art. 22). A refusal comes as a decision you can appeal within 14 days, through the voivode, to the Head of the Office for Foreigners.
You collect the card in person at ul. Marszałkowska 3/5, desk 21, ticket "V".
How much does it cost?
Nothing. There is no fee for the card and no stamp duty on the application. The only official charge is 17 PLN stamp duty if someone files for you under a power of attorney. Your real costs are sworn translations and photos. A regular karta czasowego pobytu costs at least 340 PLN plus 100 PLN for the card.
Can I work with this card?
Yes, without a work permit. Art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 1 of the Act of 20 March 2025 on foreigners' employment gives a family member living with an EU citizen in Poland free access to the labour market. The right comes from your status, not from the plastic card. In practice, employers ask for the certificate of filing and a copy of your spouse's registration before the card arrives, and that is enough to sign a contract.
What happens after a divorce or the EU citizen's death?
You don't lose the right automatically. A non-EU family member keeps it (art. 19 ust. 2) when:
- the EU citizen died and you had lived with them in Poland for at least a year;
- the marriage lasted at least 3 years before divorce proceedings began, including at least one year in Poland;
- you have custody of the children, or a court order or agreement gives you contact with a child in Poland;
- especially important circumstances apply, such as domestic violence during the marriage.
After 5 years: permanent residence card
After 5 years of continuous residence in Poland with the EU citizen, you acquire permanent residence (art. 43). Apply for the karta stałego pobytu członka rodziny obywatela UE while your current card is still valid; the new one lasts 10 years. Absences of up to 6 months a year don't break continuity, and one absence of up to 12 months in a row is allowed for an important reason such as pregnancy, illness, study or a posting.
Mistakes we see most often
The EU citizen never registered. Your spouse has worked in Warsaw for half a year without a registration certificate, so your file is incomplete. We start such cases by registering the spouse.
Filing under the wrong act. Someone logs into MOS, applies for a karta czasowego pobytu on family grounds, pays 340 PLN and waits for months, when a free card with a 6-month deadline was available.
Moving without replacing the card. Your registered address (adres zameldowania) is printed on the card. A new registered address is a change of data, and you must apply for a replacement within 14 days (art. 33 ust. 1a). Apply for a new card at least 30 days before the old one expires. Our guide to meldunek explains address registration.
Losing the card and saying nothing. Report a lost or damaged card within 3 days. You get a certificate that covers you for up to 2 months while the replacement is made.
A typical case
A typical scenario. A Kazakh national joins her Spanish husband in Warsaw, where he works on an employment contract. Two months in, she assumes she'll be "added" to his papers and opens MOS, where there's no form for her situation. Then it turns out her husband never registered his stay. The order here: his registration certificate first, then her file (the marriage certificate with a sworn translation, his contract, proof of a shared address). The application should go in before the three-month mark. The certificate of filing is issued the same day, and she can work on the strength of it.
This is an overview; for your own situation, get an individual assessment from a lawyer.
We register the EU spouse's stay for 840 EUR and handle your residence card from 2000 PLN: send us your details.