No. A temporary residence application (wniosek o zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy) does not include a Polish criminal record certificate (zaświadczenie z KRK), and it isn't on the document list. The voivode's office runs the check itself: it writes to the Police, the Border Guard and the ABW, who have 30 days to answer, and checks SIS and Poland's list of unwanted foreigners. You declare any Polish convictions on the form.
Where a certificate does come up is work or a move further on: taxi and Bolt driving, nurseries and schools, security jobs, a visa for another country. And then there is the case where your KRK record isn't clean. A conviction alone doesn't mean refusal, but it can put you on the unwanted-foreigners list, and that list is a direct ground for refusal.
What the voivode checks without your certificate
The procedure is in art. 109 of the Act on Foreigners (ustawa o cudzoziemcach). Before issuing a temporary residence decision, the voivode asks three bodies one question: could your entry and stay threaten national defence, state security or public order? If needed, the office also asks the consul for your last place of residence abroad.
| Who or what is checked | Legal basis | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Regional Police commander (komendant wojewódzki Policji) | art. 109(1) | 30 days to reply, up to 60 in special cases |
| Border Guard unit commander (komendant oddziału Straży Granicznej) | art. 109(1) | same deadlines |
| Head of the Internal Security Agency (Szef ABW) | art. 109(1) | same deadlines |
| Schengen Information System (SIS) | art. 100(1)(3) | an entry for refusal of entry is a refusal ground |
| List of foreigners whose stay is unwanted (wykaz cudzoziemców, których pobyt jest niepożądany) | art. 100(1)(2), art. 434 | kept by the Head of the Office for Foreigners (UdSC) |
| Your own answers | sections VIII and IX of the form | false information is a separate refusal ground |
Why a paper certificate adds nothing: under art. 6(1)(7) of the National Criminal Register Act, the Police, Border Guard and ABW have their own access to register data for their tasks. They see a Polish conviction without your document.
Two details people rarely mention. If a service misses the deadline, the law treats the requirement as met (art. 109(4)), so a silent police department doesn't freeze your case. And children under 13 on the filing date aren't checked this way at all (art. 109(5)).
Permanent residence (pobyt stały) works the same way under art. 207: the same three bodies, 30 days, extendable to 60. These weeks are part of the overall processing time, which is why a case at the Mazowiecki office can look stuck. We explain how to read your case status in checking your case at the Mazowiecki office.
Sections VIII and IX: where people slip on the form
A new temporary residence form has applied since 27 April 2026 (MSWiA regulation of 10 April 2026, Dz.U. poz. 553), and you fill it in through MOS, the online case module. Two questions concern your history.
Section VIII asks whether you have been sentenced by a court in Poland ("Czy był(-a) Pan(-i) karany(-na) sądownie na terytorium Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej?"). If yes, you state when, for what act, what sentence and whether it was served.
Section IX asks whether criminal or petty-offence proceedings (postępowanie karne lub w sprawach o wykroczenia) are pending against you in Poland.
These are the mistakes we see most often.
- Ticking "no" for an old sentence on the assumption it no longer counts. The police will see it, and false information is a refusal ground on its own (art. 100(1)(5)). Before answering from memory, order your own certificate and look at what the register holds today. An old entry may have been spent already: after a fine with no extra measures, that happens one year after you paid it. The rules are in zatarcie skazania: when a record disappears from the KRK.
- Listing a police speeding ticket (mandat) in section VIII. A ticket isn't a court sentence and doesn't reach the KRK: of petty offences, the register keeps only those punished with detention (areszt), under art. 1(2)(7) of the KRK Act. A petty-offence case currently before a court goes in section IX. More on fines and the register in does a mandat show up in the KRK.
- Panicking over section V of Annex 1 (Załącznik nr 1). It has "nie zostałem skazany" boxes about art. 218-221, 270-273 and 275 of the Criminal Code, but the employer (podmiot powierzający pracę) fills them in about itself. It has nothing to do with your record.
The whole MOS filing is walked through in applying via MOS 2.0.
When you will be asked for a certificate
The residence card doesn't need one. Employers and foreign authorities do, usually with a strict freshness rule.
| Situation | Who asks | What exactly | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxi, Bolt, Uber, carrying passengers by car | the platform intermediary or the licensing office | a certificate no older than 1 month | art. 8(3)(4) and art. 27e(2)(3) of the Road Transport Act |
| School, nursery, camp, coach, tutor | employer or organiser | KRK for chapters XIX and XXV of the Criminal Code, art. 189a, 207 and the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction, plus a certificate from your country of citizenship | art. 21 of the Act of 13 May 2016 |
| Security, finance, other licensed jobs | regulator or employer | per the specific law | see KRK for licences and professions |
| A visa or job in another country | foreign authority | certificate, translation, sometimes an apostille | the destination's rules |
| Employed lorry driver (C, C+E) | not required by law | - | art. 39a of the Road Transport Act has no criminal record condition |
With taxi and Bolt work, the one-month rule is the trap: a certificate ordered "just in case" with your residence documents will be too old for the licence. See taxi licence for a foreigner.
Work with children asks the most of a foreigner. Besides the Polish KRK, art. 21(4) and (5) require a certificate from the register of your country of citizenship and a statement listing the countries you lived in over the past 20 years, with certificates from those registers. Details in KRK and RSTPN for work with children.
Do you need a certificate from your home country
Not for a karta pobytu: the Act on Foreigners doesn't require one, and the form has no such item. The official document lists for permanent residence (Zachodniopomorski office) and for recognition as a Polish citizen (Dolnośląski office) don't include even the Polish KRK certificate. If an officer in your particular case sends a summons (wezwanie) asking for one from home, order it at once: with an apostille and a sworn translation it takes several weeks. How to get it: criminal record certificate from your country of origin.
There is an entry in your KRK: what it means for the card
Article 100 doesn't list a conviction as such among the refusal grounds. It works through other mechanisms, and it's better to learn them before filing than from a decision.
The main one is the unwanted-foreigners list. A foreigner convicted in Poland of an intentional offence or intentional fiscal offence and sentenced to a fine or imprisonment is entered on it (art. 435(1)(2)(a)). Being on the list is a direct ground to refuse temporary residence (art. 100(1)(2)) and to revoke a permit already granted (art. 101(3)).
How long the entry stays depends on the sentence (art. 436 and 438 of the Act on Foreigners):
| Sentence | On the list? | For how long |
|---|---|---|
| Fine only, paid | no | - |
| Fine not paid | yes, and the data is deleted once you pay (art. 436(2)) | 3 years from the date the judgment became final |
| Suspended prison sentence | yes | for the suspension period, from the date the judgment became final |
| Prison of less than 3 years, served | yes | 3 years after release |
Among those not listed are spouses of Polish citizens (except in security or sham-marriage cases), minors, and holders of permanent residence or EU long-term resident status (art. 436(1)).
The list and the KRK run on different clocks. With a suspended sentence, the list lets go when the probation period ends, while the KRK entry lasts one more year (art. 76 § 1 of the Criminal Code).
There are narrower grounds too. A combined residence and work permit is refused if the foreigner was convicted under art. 270-275 of the Criminal Code (offences against the reliability of documents) for acts in a work permit or residence-and-work case (art. 117(2)(b)). Permanent residence is revoked after a Polish sentence of at least 3 years' imprisonment for an intentional offence (art. 199(1)(4)). Separately, the voivode may refuse on security and public order grounds (art. 100(1)(4)), and that turns on what the Police and ABW report.
Example. Someone receives a suspended sentence in 2025 with a two-year probation period and applies for a residence and work permit in 2026. The entry is in the KRK and on the list, and the list entry runs until the end of probation, in 2027. While it stands, the voivode has a direct ground to refuse, and a new job or employer doesn't change that.
What to do before you file
- Order your own KRK certificate and see what the register holds now: 20 PLN through e-KRK, 30 PLN on paper. How to do it right: criminal record certificate in Poland.
- Work out when the conviction is spent (zatarcie skazania). Once that date passes, the KRK deletes the entry itself, no application needed.
- Ask the Head of the Office for Foreigners whether your data is on the list or in SIS, on what basis and until when. Art. 444(1)(1) gives you that right, and the reply comes as a certificate (zaświadczenie).
- In section VIII, answer as it is: date, act, sentence, whether it was served.
If there is an entry, go through it with a lawyer before filing: the filing date can decide whether the list becomes a refusal ground.
Quick answers
How long do the Police, Border Guard and ABW checks take
30 days from the request by law, up to 60 in special cases, and the service has to tell the voivode about the extension. No answer means the requirement is met.
Does the office see a spent conviction
No. Once spent, a conviction is treated as if it never happened, and the entry is removed from the register (art. 106 of the Criminal Code). The unwanted-foreigners list and SIS are separate databases with their own terms.
Do you need a KRK certificate to renew your card
No. Each new temporary residence application goes through the same art. 109 check, and nobody expects a certificate from you.
We can show you what your KRK record says before you apply: a certificate under power of attorney costs 500 PLN including state fees, and you don't need to come to Poland. Order a criminal record certificate →