Every foreign-language document you attach to a karta pobytu application has to come with a Polish translation. Not just any translation: one made by a Polish sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły). It looks like a formality and then costs weeks, because the office sends a request to supplement the file. Where this step sits in the whole procedure is laid out in our karta pobytu 2026 overview.
Since 27 April 2026 applications go in only through the MOS portal, which adds a second question to "what do I translate": in what form do you upload the translation so that the Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki in Warsaw accepts it.
In short: translate everything that serves as evidence and is not in Polish: civil status certificates, diplomas, foreign contracts, bank statements, insurance policies. Do not translate your passport. Only a sworn translator on the Polish Ministry of Justice list will do. For MOS, the cleanest option is an electronic translation signed with the translator's qualified electronic signature: the Warsaw office accepts a scan of a paper translation only once a notary, or an advocate or legal adviser acting as your attorney in the case, has certified the copy.
What the law says
The rule is art. 8(2) of the Act on Foreigners (ustawa o cudzoziemcach): documents drawn up in a foreign language that serve as evidence in the proceedings are filed together with a Polish translation made by a sworn translator.
Three things follow from that sentence, and they are the ones we get asked about most.
English counts too. The law makes no exception for widely spoken languages. A contract with a German client written in English, or a UK degree, needs a translation just like a birth certificate from Kazakhstan.
A sworn translator means someone on the Polish list. The Minister of Justice keeps the list, and you can search it online by name and language. A translation certified by a notary in Kyiv, Istanbul or Delhi is not a sworn translation under Polish law, stamp and apostille notwithstanding. The office will not count it.
Your own translation does not count. Even if your Polish is fluent. A sworn translator can review and certify someone else's translation, but in cost terms that usually comes out the same as a fresh one.
Which documents need translating
It depends on the grounds for your application. For residence cards we most often translate:
- civil status certificates - a marriage certificate for family reunification and for a residence card based on marriage to a Polish citizen, children's birth certificates;
- diplomas and supplements - for the EU Blue Card and for work in a regulated profession;
- foreign contracts and invoices - for remote work for a client outside Poland and for business-based permits;
- statements from a foreign bank - when you show income or means of support from an account abroad;
- insurance policies issued in English or another language;
- the apostille, if it is in a foreign language - it is translated together with the document it sits on.
What you do not translate:
- your passport. The Mazowiecki office asks for a scan of every page of a valid passport, and you show the original at the biometrics appointment. A passport translation is not on its list. Do not order one just in case: if the case officer wants more, a formal request will arrive;
- Polish documents - a lease in Polish, a ZUS certificate, a Polish employment contract (umowa o pracę);
- Załącznik nr 1 - the employer fills it in directly in MOS, in Polish.
A lease written only in English is a foreign-language document and does need a translation.
Paper or file: what MOS will take
This is the biggest change of 2026, and the easiest place to pick up a request to supplement.
The foreigners' department of the Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki says it plainly in its guidance: if you attach a document in a foreign language, the translation is filed in electronic form, made and electronically signed by a sworn translator. The translator signs the file with a qualified electronic signature, which art. 18(1a) of the Act on the Profession of Sworn Translator allows. That file carries the same weight as paper with a stamp.
What if you already have a paper translation? Under the same guidance its scan must first be certified electronically as a true copy (za zgodność z oryginałem) by a notary, or by an advocate, legal adviser or tax adviser who is your attorney (pełnomocnik) in the case. A plain phone photo is an invitation for a request to supplement.
In practice:
- Order the translation in electronic form from the start. You get a PDF with the translator's qualified signature and upload it to MOS as is.
- You have an older paper translation - either have the scan certified by a notary or ask the translator for an electronic version of the same translation. The second route is usually simpler.
- Mind the source document itself. The same guidance covers paper originals generally: a foreign marriage certificate is paper too, and its scan falls under the same certification rule as the translation.
MOS file limits: up to 10 MB per file, 50 MB in total, scans of paper documents as PDF. A multi-page certificate with an apostille and translation easily exceeds 10 MB if scanned in high-resolution colour. Make sure the text is legible first, then compress.
Once the application is in, the Warsaw office does not take paper documents, not even at the counter. Anything missing goes through e-Doręczenia, so "translation as a signed file" holds until the end of the case.
Cost and timing
Sworn translations are billed by standard pages, not sheets. The Minister of Justice regulation on sworn translators' fees defines a page as 25 lines of 45 characters, so 1,125 characters with spaces, and a started page counts as a full one. The regulation's rates apply to work ordered by courts and authorities; a private client pays the translator's own rate, but the billing unit is the same.
With us, translation from or into Ukrainian or Russian starts at PLN 70 per page. Other languages are priced per language on our sworn translation page. Standard turnaround is 1-3 working days, with a 24-hour rush option at a surcharge. We count pages in the Polish text of the translation.
For a rough idea: a marriage certificate and two children's birth certificates usually come to 3-4 standard pages, so from PLN 210 to 280 from Ukrainian. A diploma with its supplement runs a few pages more, because the list of courses and grades is dense. We give an exact quote from a scan.
Where people lose time
A name transliterated differently from the passport. A Cyrillic name can be rendered in Latin letters several ways. If the marriage certificate translation says "Kowalenko Ołeksandr" while the passport and the application say "Kovalenko Oleksandr", the case officer has to work out whether it is the same person. Give the translator the passport spelling before they start.
Translating before the apostille. If the document needs an apostille, get it in the issuing country first, then translate the whole thing. The other way round means paying for a second translation. When an apostille is needed at all is covered in our piece on apostille, nostrification and sworn translation.
Only the first page translated. Stamps, notes on the back and entries about a change of name are part of the document. A sworn translator translates all of it, including a description of the seals.
A bank statement ordered too early. The translation itself does not expire, but the source document has to be current. A three-month-old statement may not be enough however well it is translated. Translate it once you know your filing date.
Leaving translations to the last day. A MOS draft is kept for 45 days, and the office explicitly asks people not to file on the last day of their legal stay. The translation takes 1-3 days; an apostille from your home country can take weeks.
An order that works
- Settle your grounds and the document list. At this point you know what is already in Polish and what is not.
- Get apostilles in the issuing country for the foreign documents that need them.
- Send the translator the scans, the passport spelling of every name, and a note that the translation is going into MOS.
- Collect the electronic translation with the qualified signature.
- Upload the source document and the translation as separate files with clear names.
The filing itself, step by step, is in our MOS 2.0 guide. Where the portal jams on the signature, Załącznik nr 1 and payment is covered in MOS 2.0 won't let you file.
This article is informational and does not replace individual legal advice. We prepare sworn translations for residence cases through our sworn translation service, on paper and electronically. If you would rather have the whole case handled, from the document list to the decision, book us for your karta pobytu - we will check what genuinely needs translating and put the MOS file together.
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