A Russian driving licence lets you drive in Poland for 6 months from the day your temporary or permanent residence begins (art. 5 ust. 4 of the Act on Vehicle Drivers). To keep driving after that, you exchange it for a Polish licence at the district office: the fee is 100 PLN, and because Russia is a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention, a licence that matches the convention model is exchanged without a theory exam. The slow part is the confirmation of your licence data from the Russian side, which the Polish office requests before issuing the licence and which you can also obtain and bring yourself.
There is no separate agreement between Poland and Russia on driving licences, so everything below follows from Polish law and the Vienna Convention. The general rules for all countries are in our licence exchange guide.
How long a Russian licence is valid in Poland
| Situation | Can you drive on the Russian licence? |
|---|---|
| Short visit, no residence in Poland | Yes, as a visitor, together with your passport |
| Living in Poland on a visa or residence permit | For 6 months from the start of your residence |
| After the 6 months | No. You need a Polish licence; a pending exchange does not extend the period |
Driving after the 6 months is driving without a licence. Under art. 94 of the Code of Petty Offences the fine is at least 1,500 PLN, and a driving ban is mandatory. Many guides mix this up with the "185 days" rule. The 185 days are something else: to be issued a Polish licence you must live in Poland at least 185 days in each calendar year (art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 5), confirmed by a written statement. Since 3 September 2026 you can sign that statement as late as the day you collect the Polish licence. Details are in our article on the 185-day rule.
Exam or no exam
Since 17 December 2025, the theory exam and a sworn translation are required only if the foreign licence "nie jest zgodne ze wzorem i zakresem danych wymaganych w konwencji" (does not match the model and data required by the 1968 Vienna Convention, art. 14 ust. 1). Before that date a licence covered by either the 1949 Geneva or the 1968 Vienna Convention was enough; now only the Vienna model counts. Russia ratified the Vienna Convention in 1974, so a Russian licence that matches the model is exchanged without an exam.
If the office decides your document does not match:
- you receive a PKK (candidate driver profile) within up to 2 working days and book the theory exam;
- at WORD Warszawa the theory exam costs 56.98 PLN for category B in 2026;
- since 18 February 2026 you do not need a medical certificate to sit the exam when exchanging a valid foreign licence.
A practical exam is never part of an exchange. Booking the theory exam is explained in our PKK and WORD article.
Categories do not always transfer one to one
The office issues Polish categories that correspond to what your Russian licence actually allows. In a 2022 judgment on a Russian licence (I OSK 1407/19), the Supreme Administrative Court said the office should ask the Russian authority what a category covers rather than assume that categories match one to one. In that case the question was category M (mopeds). If your licence has subcategories or old category markings, expect the office to check them before issuing the Polish licence.
Confirmation from Russia: the step that decides the timing
For a licence from outside the EU, the Polish office asks the authority that issued it, or that country's embassy, to confirm the licence data (§ 15 ust. 8 of the 2025 regulation on driving licence documents). For a Russian licence this means a request to the Russian side, and the Polish office cannot speed up the answer. gov.pl warns that confirmation can take "even several weeks".
The regulation gives you two ways to avoid waiting for the office's request:
- you may present the confirmation yourself (§ 15 ust. 9);
- a document issued by the embassy of the country that issued the licence also counts as confirmation (§ 15 ust. 10).
If the office has doubts about a confirmation you bring, it can still send its own request (§ 15 ust. 11). That is why it pays to bring a document the office can check easily, issued by the authority or the embassy, rather than a private translation of a printout.
Holders of refugee status, asylum, subsidiary protection, humanitarian or tolerated stay in Poland are exempt from the confirmation altogether (§ 14 ust. 12 pkt 1). Their foreign licence is kept in the Polish driver file instead of being returned.
Documents for the exchange in Warsaw
From the City of Warsaw's procedure page:
- the application for a driving licence (wniosek o wydanie prawa jazdy);
- a colour photo, 35 x 45 mm;
- a residence card, visa or other document confirming your right to stay, or a certificate of at least six months of studies;
- a copy of the Russian licence, with the original shown;
- a sworn translation into Polish, where required;
- the statement on living in Poland (185 days) and the statement on criminal liability;
- proof of the 100 PLN fee;
- a power of attorney, if someone files for you (17 PLN stamp duty unless it is a close relative).
Copies certified by the clerk cost 5 PLN per page. If your surname in the licence is spelled differently from your passport or residence card, bring a document that links the two spellings; different transliterations from Cyrillic can lead to extra questions from the office.
Where and how long in Warsaw
You file at the delegatura of the Biuro Administracji i Spraw Obywatelskich for the district where you live, with a visit booked in the city's reservation system. After the file is complete, the city's stated times are up to 9 working days to prepare the licence, up to 1 month for cases that need clarification and up to 2 months for particularly complex ones. The wait for the Russian confirmation comes before that. You can check readiness in the Info-Kierowca service on the government e-services portal.
At collection you hand in the Russian licence. It is not returned to you: the office sends it to the Russian authority through Russia's embassy in Poland (§ 15 ust. 9). If you will need a Russian licence for trips outside the EU, plan for that before you exchange.
A refusal can be appealed within 14 days to the Samorządowe Kolegium Odwoławcze in Warsaw, through the district office. The appeal is free.
Expired or lost licence
Since 17 December 2025 an expired licence can also be exchanged (art. 14 ust. 1a), once the issuing authority confirms its data and you add the documents needed to extend it: a medical certificate and, for categories C and D, a psychological one. Without the original document there is nothing to exchange; see our article on lost and expired licences.
A related point: Russian-registered cars
The licence and the car are separate questions. Under EU sanctions (Regulation 833/2014), the Polish Border Guard has refused entry to passenger cars registered in Russia since 17 September 2023, whatever the driver's nationality. Exchanging the licence does not change that.
Mistakes we see
- Counting 185 days instead of 6 months as the limit for driving on the Russian licence.
- Filing near the end of the 6 months and waiting for the Russian confirmation while the right to drive runs out.
- Bringing a confirmation the office cannot verify, and then waiting for the office's own request anyway.
- Different Latin spellings of the surname in the licence, passport and residence card, with nothing that links them.
- Exchanging the licence without realising it goes back to Russia, then needing it for a trip outside the EU.
How we help
We prepare the application and statements, arrange the sworn translation, obtain a confirmation of your licence to present at the office where that shortens the wait, and file the application for you under a power of attorney; you collect the licence in person. Licence exchange is from 1,800 PLN; the final price depends on whether a WORD theory exam is needed. The 100 PLN state fee and the translation are paid separately. A consultation costs 300 PLN and is credited if you order the service.
Arrange your Russian licence exchange →
This article is informational and reflects the rules as of October 2026. How long the confirmation from Russia takes in a given case is outside the Polish office's control.
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