Every week people come to us with the same question: how do I catch an appointment to submit my karta pobytu documents in Warsaw. In their heads sits the old picture - inPOL, where you sat at the screen at night hunting for a free slot. That picture is out of date. Since 27 April 2026 the filing moved online, and the "appointment to submit" as a thing is gone. What remains is a single real in-person date - the termin (visit date) for biometrics.
In short: since 27 April 2026, the karta pobytu application is filed online through MOS v2.0, and there is no queue to hunt for - you send the wniosek (application) from home. There is now only one in-person termin, for biometrics, and the Mazowiecki Urząd sets the date itself in a wezwanie (summons). A decyzja (decision) in Mazovia in 2026 takes 8-14 months.
What follows is the practical, step-by-step version.
What changed: "booking" is no longer a queue
Until 27 April 2026, submitting karta pobytu documents in Mazovia really was a race against the clock. The inPOL system released a limited number of in-person slots, they vanished within minutes, and people spent months "hunting for an appointment" just to hand a folder of documents over a counter. Hence the search people still arrive with: "karta pobytu appointment Warsaw".
Since 27 April 2026, applications for pobyt czasowy, pobyt stały and rezydent długoterminowy UE status are filed only through MOS v2.0 (mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl), and since 4 May 2026 karta CUKR applications go through MOS as well. The Mazowiecki office lists the exceptions separately: family reunification and some cases where the applicant is outside Poland are handled on a paper form. An application for zmiana zezwolenia na pobyt czasowy i pracę (for example, when you change employer) is also filed on paper (art. 120a ust. 1). The inPOL system itself has not been closed: the office asks you to create an account there to track the status of a case filed through MOS. For a standard application, this means:
- To file the wniosek, you need no in-person visit at all. You fill it in and send it online.
- There are no "submission slots" left to hunt for. You can file any day, even at three in the morning.
- The old logic of "book first, then come and hand in documents" no longer applies. You file first, and only then does the office assign the single in-person visit - for biometrics.
So the word "booking" stayed in people's heads, but the reality underneath it changed. There is no kolejka (queue) for filing in MOS v2.0. There is only a termin for fingerprints, and the office, not the applicant, sets it.
The wniosek must be signed with a podpis zaufany or a kwalifikowany podpis elektroniczny (art. 106d ust. 3), so the first thing to do is to activate Profil Zaufany (fastest through the online banking of a major bank).
How to file through MOS v2.0 step by step
Technically, filing takes one day. The logic is short:
- You create an account on mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl and confirm your identity through Profil Zaufany or login.gov.pl.
- You start a new sprawa (case), choose the type ("pobyt czasowy", "pobyt stały", etc.) and the basis - praca, działalność, nauka, rodzina, and others.
- You complete the wniosek and upload document scans.
- You send your employer a request to e-sign Załącznik nr 1 - they sign it through their own Profil Zaufany.
- You sign the wniosek with your Profil Zaufany and receive a UPO (Urzędowe Poświadczenie Odbioru) with the case number.
The UPO confirms that the application has been sent. If you filed it during a legal stay and without formal defects, your stay counts as legal until the final decision (art. 108 ust. 1). The proof is a zaświadczenie of filing, which the office sends through MOS instead of the old stamp in the passport.
After that, correspondence with the wojewoda is electronic: through eDoręczenia (the electronic system of official notifications) and email. The reply deadline is set in each wezwanie; for additional documents the law gives at least 14 days (art. 106f). If you do not fix formal defects in the application in time, it will be left bez rozpoznania (without examination), and you have to file again.
A detailed walkthrough of every MOS screen is in the guide on how to file through MOS 2.0. The full picture of the process, with documents and timelines, is in the step-by-step karta pobytu 2026 instruction.
The most common breakdown at this step is an employer without Profil Zaufany and eDoręczenia, who cannot sign Załącznik nr 1. Solve it in advance: ask your employer to activate both services before you start filing, otherwise the process stalls for 2-3 weeks.
The biometrics termin in Mazovia: when and where
This is the only "booking" that remains real. Once the wojewoda admits the case for examination, you receive a summons to give fingerprints and a signature on a reader tablet - this is the biometrics.
A few important details:
- The office sets the date, not you. The Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki picks the termin itself and sends a wezwanie by email or to eDoręczenia. There is no slot-hunting like in inPOL.
- There is no official time limit between filing and the summons. The law only requires at least 7 days between delivery of the wezwanie and the visit (art. 106e ust. 1).
- The address and time are given in the wezwanie. The Wydział Spraw Cudzoziemców has four addresses in Warsaw: ul. Marszałkowska 3/5, Al. Jerozolimskie 28, pl. Bankowy 3/5 and ul. Krucza 5/11. The office decides which one is yours and states it in the summons.
What to bring: a valid passport and the wezwanie. At the visit you show your passport (if you have none and cannot obtain one, another identity document), and your fingerprints and a specimen signature are taken (art. 106a and 106e ust. 1). Documents are not accepted on the spot: the office asks you to send them through e-Doręczenia.
What to do if the termin takes too long
Sometimes the biometrics summons takes longer than you would like. Before you worry, check the mechanics:
- Check eDoręczenia and your email once a week: the summons lands there. It happens that a termin is already assigned but the person does not see it, because they never opened their inbox.
- Check whether there was a request to uzupełnienie (supply missing documents). If the wojewoda is waiting on a document, the case "hangs". The reply deadline is stated in the request itself.
- If the case has not moved at all for a long time, there is a formal tool - a ponaglenie (complaint about the authority's inaction) under article 37 of the KPA. This is a lawful way to remind the wojewoda of the deadlines, and if silence continues, the path to a skarga before the Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny. How this works in practice is covered in our piece on speeding up the karta pobytu via ponaglenie and the WSA.
Do not confuse two things: a delayed biometrics and a delayed decyzja are different stages. A long wait for the decision itself (8-14 months in Mazovia) is, unfortunately, the norm, and a ponaglenie does not always work against it. But an abnormally long absence of even the biometrics summons is a reason to check eDoręczenia and, if needed, remind the office of your case.
Can you reschedule the termin
The law gives no right to reschedule. The Ustawa o cudzoziemcach says something else: if you do not appear in response to a properly delivered wezwanie, the wojewoda umarza postępowanie, that is, discontinues the case (art. 106i ust. 1 pkt 1).
The exceptions are these. If the office, through its own fault, could not take your fingerprints on the day of the visit, it sets a new date itself, no earlier than 7 days later (art. 106g). Children under 6 and people who cannot come to the office because of an illness or disability confirmed by a medical specialist's certificate are exempt from appearing in person (art. 106h ust. 1).
If you cannot come on the assigned day, write to the office through e-Doręczenia straight away and explain why. The office decides whether to set a new date, so it is better not to plan trips while you wait for the summons.
Where to collect the finished card
The card is issued after a positive decision. The office itself tells you the date and place of collection: "Oczekuj na wiadomość SMS lub pismo nadane przez e-Doręczenia z terminem odbioru decyzji i karty". Take the address from that message.
The card is collected in person (art. 248 ust. 1). A proxy cannot collect it; the exception is when the office has exempted you from appearing in person in your case under art. 106h. You need a valid passport with you (art. 248 ust. 4). On collection you can check on a reader that the data in the card is correct (art. 248 ust. 3).
inPOL vs MOS v2.0: how the "booking" changed
To fit the 2025 reform into one picture, let us compare the two worlds through that very "booking" experience people search this article for.
| Parameter | inPOL (how it was) | MOS v2.0 (how it is now) |
|---|---|---|
| Filing documents | in-person visit at the office counter | online, from home, no visit |
| "Booking" to file | you had to hunt for a queue slot | not needed - file any day |
| In-person visit remains for | submitting all documents + biometrics | biometrics only |
| Who sets the visit date | the applicant, hunting for a slot | the office itself, via eDoręczenia |
| Time to the in-person visit | unpredictable, weeks of hunting | date in the wezwanie, at least 7 days after its delivery |
| Correspondence with the wojewoda | paper letters | eDoręczenia and email, reply deadline in each wezwanie |
| Proof of legality | a stamp in the passport | zaświadczenie of filing via MOS |
The main takeaway from the table: the effort shifted. Energy used to go into simply getting into the office. Now getting in is easy - what is hard is filling in the wniosek correctly and not missing the wojewoda's request in eDoręczenia.
When it is worth involving a lawyer
You can file a first wniosek through MOS v2.0 yourself if the basis is simple (work at a large employer experienced with foreigners), you already have Profil Zaufany and a PESEL, and there are no problems from the past - refusals or returns.
It is worth going to a lawyer if: you are applying on the basis of family or business, there was a refusal or a returned wniosek in the past, your employer is hiring a foreigner for the first time, you have nuances (an overstayed visa, a trip during examination, a change of employer), the termin or decyzja are dragging on abnormally, or you simply want an outcome rather than an attempt. Check the timing separately if the end of your old card is approaching - see the piece on extending the karta pobytu in 2026: when to file.
At LegalWin we have handled legalisation in Poland since 2019. We run the case from the first consultation to the złożenie of a correctly prepared wniosek, watch eDoręczenia for you, monitor the biometrics termin, and prepare a ponaglenie if things drag. If you want to know the budget in advance, see the breakdown of how much a karta pobytu costs in Warsaw in 2026.
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This article is for general guidance. Specific timelines and decisions depend on your situation. For individual cases, consult a lawyer for an assessment.
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