The short answer up front: in almost any immigration procedure in Poland, the wojewoda (voivode) or the President's Office expects a certificate of no criminal record from you - a zaświadczenie o niekaralności, an extract from the KRK (Krajowy Rejestr Karny), the central register of convictions. But not always the same one. For citizenship and some grounds for permanent residence you need only the Polish KRK. For a number of grounds for the karta stałego pobytu you also need a certificate from your country of origin, with an apostille and a sworn translation. That is the difference, and it is exactly where people most often lose time.
Which certificate is needed when - the short answer
Two different documents work in immigration. The Polish KRK confirms you have no convictions from Polish court verdicts. A home-country certificate confirms the same for your homeland. Citizenship and many grounds for permanent residence are covered by the Polish KRK alone. A few grounds for the karta stałego pobytu and the long-term EU resident card additionally require a home-country certificate with an apostille.
| Procedure | Polish KRK | Home-country certificate |
|---|---|---|
| Citizenship (uznanie / nadanie) | yes | usually no |
| Permanent residence - marriage, Karta Polaka | yes | depends on the voivodeship |
| Permanent residence - some grounds | yes | yes, with apostille |
| Long-term EU resident | yes | often yes |
Polish citizenship: KRK only, but the validity is 3 months
For citizenship - both through uznanie za obywatela polskiego (recognition by the wojewoda's decision) and through nadanie obywatelstwa (naturalisation by the President's decision) - a certificate of no criminal record is mandatory. The Polish KRK is filed. The key point: the validity for citizenship is 3 months at the moment of filing, not the usual 6.
This trips people up. A standard KRK for most purposes is valid for 6 months, and many order it early, together with the rest of the file. For citizenship such a certificate will already be "overripe" by the time of filing. The KRK must be ordered at the very end of assembling the file, once the autobiografia is written, income is proven, the B1 is in hand, and there are a few weeks left before the visit to the wojewoda.
Separately on nadanie. The President's decision is discretionary. The Office sees the full file, including entries that might not show on an ordinary certificate. The President weighs everything. More on conviction entries below.
Karta stałego pobytu: when a home-country certificate is also needed
This is where the main confusion starts. For permanent residence (art. 195 of the ustawa o cudzoziemcach) the wojewoda expects the Polish KRK - without it the wniosek simply will not be accepted. But for a number of grounds the wojewoda additionally requires a certificate of no criminal record from the country of origin, and necessarily with an apostille and a sworn translation into Polish.
The logic is simple. You did not live in Poland your whole life. The Polish KRK says nothing about what happened before you moved. So for some grounds the wojewoda wants a picture from the homeland too.
| Ground for permanent residence | What is usually required |
|---|---|
| Spouse of a Polish citizen | KRK; home-country certificate at the wojewoda's discretion |
| Karta Polaka | KRK; home-country certificate often not needed |
| Polish descent | KRK + often a home-country certificate |
| 5 years on a temporary residence card | KRK; home-country certificate on request |
| Long-term EU resident card | KRK + often a home-country certificate |
The exact list depends on the voivodeship and the ground. The Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki at pl. Bankowy 3/5 and, say, the Dolnośląski Urząd Wojewódzki in Wrocław may treat the same ground differently. That is why we always check the file against the current wykaz dokumentów (document list) of the specific office before filing.
How the certificate lives inside the document file
The main mistake is ordering the certificate too early. The KRK must not "go stale" before the decyzja is issued, and a permanent-residence decision takes 3-6 months, citizenship longer. So the certificate is tied not to the start of gathering but to the filing date.
The practical order looks like this:
- You assemble the whole file - except the certificates. Documents for the ground, income, housing, and for citizenship the autobiografia and B1.
- Two to four weeks before filing you order the Polish KRK. An electronic e-KRK via profil zaufany comes out in 1 day, paper in up to 7.
- In parallel, if the ground requires a home-country certificate, you launch it early - it is the longest element. With an apostille in the issuing country and a sworn translation, the cycle easily runs 4-8 weeks.
- You file everything together when both certificates are fresh.
In other words, the home-country certificate is ordered first (it is the longest), and the Polish KRK last (it is the fastest and has the tighter term). That way both stay valid at the moment of filing.
How to physically obtain the e-KRK step by step we cover separately - see how to get a KRK certificate in Poland. How to order and legalise the home-country certificate - see certificate of no criminal record from the country of origin. The apostille mechanics on the certificate itself - see apostille on a certificate of no criminal record.
KRK for immigration - always the private form
The KRK comes in two versions. A wniosek "osoba prywatna" (private person) shows all entries. A wniosek "do celów zatrudnienia" (for employment purposes) filters entries to a specific position - for working with children, for instance, it shows only sexual-offence articles and hides the rest.
For immigration - citizenship, permanent residence, EU resident - you always need the private form. The wojewoda and the President's Office want the full picture, not one filtered for a job. Ordering "do celów zatrudnienia" by mistake means refiling and lost time.
KRK from the central register, not a court certificate
Another frequent mix-up. A certificate of no criminal record in Poland is issued by the Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości from the central KRK register - a single database covering all verdicts in the country. A certificate from a specific court concerns only that court's cases and is not equal to the KRK.
Wherever the immigration requirements say "zaświadczenie o niekaralności", they mean precisely the KRK from the central register. Court certificates serve very narrow procedures and will not do for the wojewoda or the President's Office. If you were issued a court certificate instead of the KRK, it will not be accepted at filing.
If there is an entry on the certificate
A caveat right away: this is about procedure, not criminal-case defence. An entry in the KRK does not mean an automatic refusal, but it calls for a careful approach.
First - zatarcie skazania (spending of a conviction). When a conviction is spent, it does not show on the "do celów zatrudnienia" form. On the private form there may be a note "skazany - wyrok zatarty" (convicted - verdict spent). For immigration the certificate is private, so a spent entry may be visible there.
Second - citizenship by nadanie. The President reviews the entire file, including spent entries. This is not a bar to filing, but a reason to prepare wyjaśnienia (a written explanation of the circumstances) in advance. The wojewoda for permanent residence assesses the entry in the context of the ground and overall integration.
What you should not do is "hide" an entry or file the "do celów zatrudnienia" form hoping it filters things out. For immigration it is still the private form, and the discrepancy will surface. Better to assess the situation with a lawyer before filing than to get a refusal.
The most common mistakes
1. A court certificate instead of the KRK. Immigration needs the KRK from the central register, not a court certificate.
2. The "do celów zatrudnienia" form. For citizenship and permanent residence always the private one (osoba prywatna), otherwise the picture is incomplete.
3. KRK ordered too early. For citizenship the term is 3 months. Freshness is tied to the filing date, not to the start of gathering.
4. Forgetting the home-country certificate. For some permanent-residence grounds it is required separately, with an apostille and a sworn translation - the longest element of the file.
5. Translation done before the apostille. The apostille is affixed first, the translation after, otherwise you will translate again together with the text of the stamp.
When you need a lawyer
One simple KRK you can realistically get yourself. A lawyer makes sense when:
- you are preparing a file for citizenship or permanent residence and need to know exactly which certificates and with what validity;
- the ground requires a home-country certificate and cooperation with that country is difficult (Russia in 2024-2026);
- there is an entry in the KRK, including a spent one, and you need to weigh the odds and prepare wyjaśnienia;
- the wojewoda has already sent a wezwanie demanding the certificate within a deadline;
- you need to align the validity of two certificates to one filing date.
At LegalWin the certificate of no criminal record service covers obtaining the Polish KRK and ordering, in parallel, a home-country certificate with apostille and translation. And Polish citizenship means handling the entire uznanie or nadanie case end to end.
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This article is an overview. The exact composition of the file and validity terms depend on the ground and the specific voivodeship. For an individual situation, consult a lawyer.
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