Business Residence Permit Poland 2026: JDG or Sp. z o.o.

The temporary residence permit for business activity (zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy w celu prowadzenia działalności gospodarczej, art. 142 of the Act on Foreigners) is granted when your business, in the previous tax year, earned an income of at least 12 times the average monthly gross salary in its voivodeship, or employed at least two eligible workers full-time on open-ended contracts for a whole year. A new business can instead show that its money or activity will get it there. For a company based in Mazowieckie, the latest published average (9,488.94 PLN for 2024) puts the income bar at about 113,870 PLN. Income means profit after costs, not turnover.

Most foreigners can't use a JDG for this at all. The usual route is a sp. z o.o. in which you hold shares or sit on the board.

The conditions in art. 142

The permit has two layers of requirements.

The employees must be Polish citizens, EU citizens or foreigners with free access to the labour market, such as holders of permanent residence. Two people on an umowa zlecenie, or two half-time employees, don't meet the test.

The salary figure is the average monthly gross wage in the voivodeship where the business is registered, published by the head of GUS. GUS publishes it once a year, in the autumn of the following year: the figure for 2024 came out on 19 November 2025. Check which year's figure applies on the day you file.

The stamp duty is 340 PLN and the card 100 PLN. The statutory deadline for a decision is 60 days from a complete file, and since 27 April 2026 the application goes through MOS.

JDG: open only to some foreigners

A JDG (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, sole trader) is registered in CEIDG for free, but art. 4(2) of the Act on foreign entrepreneurs limits who may run one. Among others, you can if you hold:

• permanent residence or EU long-term resident status;
• a temporary permit for a Blue Card job, studies, research or family reunification;
• a temporary permit and a marriage to a Polish citizen living in Poland;
• refugee status, subsidiary protection, a humanitarian or tolerated stay, or temporary protection;
• a valid Karta Polaka;
• a temporary business permit granted to continue a JDG that's already registered in CEIDG.

An ordinary work-based permit (zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy i pracę) is not on the list, and neither is a visa. A foreigner outside the list can do business only through a company: sp. z o.o., simple joint-stock company (prosta spółka akcyjna), joint-stock company or limited partnership. A PESEL is required for a CEIDG entry.

That makes the JDG route realistic in one main scenario. Say you came from Dhaka or Kathmandu to study in Warsaw, and while on your student permit you registered a JDG and built up clients. When your studies end, you can apply for the business permit to continue that JDG, and art. 4(2)(1)(h) lets you keep running it on that permit.

Sp. z o.o.: shareholder or board member

A company can be set up by anyone, from abroad, for 350 PLN in fees through S24 (our setup guide). For the permit, art. 142 has two variants:

• you created the company or hold shares in it, and your purpose is to run the business (art. 142(1) and (2));
• you will work as a member of the management board, a general partner or a commercial proxy (prokurent) of a company you created or invested in (art. 142(3)).

In the second variant, the company fills in an attachment to your MOS application with the position, the pay, the working hours and the PKD code. The decision names the company and the position, so moving to a different role later means a change of the permit. The interior minister may set annual limits on these board-member permits (art. 142a).

What the office looks at in a company file: the CIT-8 return and financial statements for the previous year, the employment contracts and ZUS reports for the two employees if you rely on them, bank statements, and evidence that you personally are connected to how the company runs. A 2% stake with no board role and no salary is a weak file.

Your own income is a separate test. Many founders forget it: if you draw no salary or board pay from the company and have no other income, you fail the personal condition even when the company itself passes.

JDG and sp. z o.o. compared for the permit

On ryczałt (the flat rate on revenue), your PIT-28 shows revenue, not income. If you rely on the income test, be ready to document your costs separately.

Turkish citizens

Art. 142(5) tells the voivode to apply art. 41(1) of the Additional Protocol to the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement in cases of Turkish citizens setting up as self-employed. That is the standstill clause, which bars new restrictions on Turkish nationals' freedom of establishment introduced after the clause began to bind the state. How far it affects the income test in your case is worth checking before you file, and the office has to address the argument if you raise it.

Three scenarios

Say you run a Warsaw restaurant through your sp. z o.o. and have employed two Polish cooks full-time on open-ended contracts since mid-2025. By late 2026 they have been employed for over a year, and the company passes the employees test even if its profit was low.

Say you're a Colombian designer whose sp. z o.o. was registered in March 2026. There is no full previous tax year, so the company relies on art. 142(1)(3)(b): the money you've put in, signed contracts, a hiring plan and a realistic forecast. These files depend on evidence, not on a business plan template.

Say you're an Indian IT consultant with a JDG opened on a student permit and 140,000 PLN of income in 2025 on the flat tax. You're above the Mazowieckie bar and may apply for the business permit to continue the JDG.

Where applications fail

1. Turnover presented as income. 200,000 PLN of invoices with 150,000 PLN of costs is 50,000 PLN of income.
2. Employees who don't count: part-time, fixed-term or employed for less than a full year before filing.
3. No personal income from the business. The company passes, the applicant doesn't.
4. A JDG opened by someone not entitled to one, for example on a work-based permit. The registration itself is unlawful and can't support a permit.
5. Unpaid tax or ZUS. Tax arrears are a ground for refusal under art. 100(1)(6), and a ZUS account in debt undermines the claim that the business runs properly. Sole shareholders who never registered for ZUS are a frequent case.
6. A business that exists on paper only: no invoices, no bank traffic, an address shared with hundreds of other companies and nobody there.

How we can help

We prepare business-based residence applications from 2,000 PLN and register sp. z o.o. companies from 1,500 PLN; the final price is agreed after a specialist has seen your company's documents. Before you file, we check the income or employee test against the right voivodeship figure, your personal income and the ZUS account. An odwołanie after a refusal is a document we prepare and you file.

Get help with a business-based residence permit

This article is general information and not legal advice for your case.

Related reading:

• JDG or sp. z o.o.: what to choose as a foreigner
• JDG for foreigners in Poland
• Temporary residence card: step by step