You married and changed your surname. You collected a new passport. You moved to another city. Three ordinary events, each carrying its own set of duties towards the wojewoda - different duties, on different deadlines, and half of them go unperformed simply because nobody explained them.
The general rule: you have 14 days to file for a replacement card from the day the circumstance arises, and the change of data or place of stay is notified to the wojewoda separately.
What requires a new card, and what does not
| Event | New card | Notify the wojewoda | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change of surname (marriage, divorce) | yes | yes | update |
| Change of first name or citizenship | yes | yes | update |
| New passport | no | yes | no |
| Moving to a new address | no | yes | new notification |
| Significant change in appearance | yes | no | no |
| Damaged card | yes | no | no |
| Loss or theft | yes | yes | no |
The detail that saves confusion: the residence card does not show your address. A move is not solved by a new card but by a new registration and a notification.
Loss and theft run their own course with a police report - covered separately.
Changing your surname after marriage
The most common scenario, in order:
- The marriage is registered and you collect a marriage certificate from the civil registry.
- If you married abroad, transcribe the certificate into the Polish registry first - Polish authorities will not otherwise see the new surname. How transcription works.
- A new passport in the new surname, from your country's consulate.
- The replacement application through MOS v2.0, within 14 days of the change.
- Updating the registration, PESEL data, and your bank and tax records.
Sequence matters. An application filed with an old passport and a new surname on the certificate is a textbook cause of a formal request for documents and two lost months.
A new passport
The passport number is not printed on the card, so the card stays valid. However:
- the wojewoda must be notified of the new travel document;
- at the border the officer compares card and passport, and mismatched data invites questions;
- at the next application - renewal, permanent residence, citizenship - the old number leaves a gap in your history.
A practical tip: keep the old passport with all its stamps. When continuity of residence is counted for permanent residence or EU long-term resident status, it is often the only evidence of your departures and returns.
Moving
The card stays the same, but three duties follow:
- New registration at the new address - within four days for third-country nationals. We handle it in one to two days.
- Notifying the wojewoda if your case is still pending. Otherwise a formal request goes to the old address and returns undelivered, while the response deadline keeps running.
- Updating the address at the tax office (form ZAP-3), at ZUS, at your bank, and in CEIDG or the KRS if you run a business.
The third point is not formally about the card, but it is why people miss tax office letters. Correspondence sent to the address on file counts as delivered.
Replacement costs
| Situation | Fee |
|---|---|
| Replacement due to changed data | PLN 100 |
| Replacement after culpable loss or destruction | PLN 150 |
| A further culpable loss | PLN 300 |
| Notifying the wojewoda | PLN 0 |
| Updating the registration | PLN 0 |
Add the cost of transcribing a certificate (PLN 50 per copy) and of a new consular passport.
What we do
- Reviewing the situation - what exactly changed and which three or four actions follow from it.
- Transcribing a foreign certificate of marriage, birth or divorce into the Polish registry.
- Filing the replacement application through MOS v2.0 with the full pack.
- Notifications to the wojewoda, ZUS, the tax office, KRS and CEIDG so letters do not go astray.
- Updating registration and obtaining certificates under the new data.
Workflow details are on the page about our residence card support in Warsaw.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I miss the 14 days? Formally it breaches the duty. Practically, a card with stale data creates problems during checks, at the border and at your next application. We have not seen fines for lateness, but we have seen refusals over mismatched data.
Does the replacement change the card's validity? No. The new card runs for the remainder of the original period; replacing data is not an extension.
Do I have to give fingerprints again? Yes, biometrics are taken again on replacement. The appointment is booked through MOS.
My surname changed but the card is still the old one. Can I work? Yes - the permit and the employment relationship continue. Show the employer your marriage certificate so HR records match reality.
My surname is transliterated differently in my passport and in Polish documents. A classic problem, solved by transcription into the Polish registry with the correct spelling fixed. The discrepancy will surface at the permanent residence or citizenship stage regardless.
Must I notify the wojewoda once my case is decided? For changed data and a new travel document, yes. It takes one letter and closes future questions.
None of these procedures is difficult. What gets difficult is skipping them: mismatched data surfaces a year or two later, usually at the permanent residence stage, when fixing it costs real time.
Tell us what changed: we will draw up the list of actions and handle them as one package, including the karta pobytu replacement after a change of data.
This material is informational. Consult a lawyer about your situation.
Related materials:
- How to get a karta pobytu: the procedure step by step - the overview, from grounds to collecting the card