We handle the sworn translation, the application, filing by power of attorney and the confirmation from your home country - for UK, US, Ukrainian, Turkish, Indian and other non-EU licences
We run the exchange of a foreign driving licence for a Polish one from the first document check to pickup. We tell you up front whether a theory test applies, order the sworn translation, prepare the wniosek and the declarations, book the visit and file at the district office of Biuro Administracji i Spraw Obywatelskich for the part of Warsaw you live in. Then we chase the confirmation from the country that issued your licence. Our fee starts at 1,800 PLN, and the state fee for the licence is 100 PLN. A non-EU licence is valid in Poland for 6 months from the start of your permanent or temporary stay. Licences from Vienna Convention countries - the UK, Ukraine, Türkiye, Georgia and others - are exchanged without an exam when they match the convention model. The rest need the theory part of the state exam at WORD. There is no practical test in an exchange, and EU licences do not have to be exchanged at all.
The exam question is decided by the country and the model of the licence, not by the category. Licences that match the model and data set required by the Vienna Convention are exchanged directly, the rest after the WORD theory test (Art. 14 of the Drivers Act).
A UK licence issued up to 31 December 2020 stays valid in Poland for as long as it runs and does not have to be exchanged. One issued later is valid for 6 months from the start of your stay. The UK ratified the Vienna Convention in 2018, so a photocard that matches the convention model is exchanged without a test.
No obligation to exchange: the licence is valid in Poland until it expires. You can exchange on request, and after expiry with a Polish medical certificate. The office confirms the data electronically through the European driving licence network.
A Vienna Convention country: exchange without an exam, for the categories shown on the licence. If you hold temporary protection you do not have to exchange at all. Regulation (EU) 2022/1280 recognises Ukrainian licences without a translation for as long as that protection lasts, currently until 4 March 2028.
All parties to the Vienna Convention, so no exam. The office asks the issuing authority or the country's diplomatic mission to confirm the licence. Belarusian citizens holding a humanitarian visa, or a temporary residence permit granted after one, are exempt from that confirmation.
Türkiye acceded to the Vienna Convention in 2013: exchange without an exam. If the office finds that an older-format licence does not match the convention model, it will require the theory test. We check this before filing.
None of these is a party to the Vienna Convention. Where the office decides the licence does not match the model and data set required by the convention, you sit the theory part of the state exam at WORD before the exchange. No practical test and no driving-school course are required.
If Poland has granted you refugee status, asylum, subsidiary protection, a humanitarian residence permit or tolerated stay, the office does not ask your home country to confirm the licence. The original is kept in your Polish driver file instead of being sent back.
An international driving permit cannot be exchanged. Only a national licence can, and you hand it in when you collect the Polish one.
The office produces the licence within 9 working days, counted from the day your home country confirms the data and the fee is paid. The confirmation itself can take several weeks.
We check the country, model, expiry date and categories of your licence, your basis of stay and your address. By the end you know whether a theory test applies and which office takes your file.
A tłumacz przysięgły translates the licence into Polish. A copy of the licence has to be permanently attached to the translation - the regulation requires it.
We prepare the wniosek o wydanie prawa jazdy, your declaration of living in Poland at least 185 days a year, a copy of your residence card or visa, a 35×45 mm photo and the power of attorney if we file for you.
In Warsaw that is the delegatura of Biuro Administracji i Spraw Obywatelskich for the district you live in, booked through rezerwacje.um.warszawa.pl. Elsewhere it is the wydział komunikacji of the starostwo or city office. The clerk only inspects the original licence and hands it back.
The office writes to the authority that issued the licence, or to that country's diplomatic mission. You may also supply the confirmation yourself, including one issued by your embassy. We track the reply and, if it stalls, obtain the document from our side.
Only for licences that do not match the Vienna Convention model. The office creates your PKK candidate profile within 2 working days and we book the test with its number: 32 questions, 25 minutes, 68 out of 74 points to pass. WORD Warszawa runs it in Polish, English, German and Ukrainian.
Once the data is confirmed and the 100 PLN fee is paid, the office orders the card. You can follow the status on info-kierowca.pl. At pickup you hand in the foreign licence, and the office sends it back to the issuing country through its diplomatic mission.
The list follows the City of Warsaw requirements. We prepare the application and the declarations.
Where a licence exchange actually stalls, and what the Warsaw office asks for.
The 9 working days the office quotes do not run from filing. They run from the day your home country confirms the licence data and the fee is paid. The request goes to the authority that issued the licence or to that country's diplomatic mission, and the answer can take several weeks. The regulation lets the applicant supply the confirmation personally, and a document from the embassy counts. When the reply drags, we go that way instead of waiting.
Art. 14(2e) of the Drivers Act says it outright: a licence is not exchanged when its data cannot be confirmed or when the entitlement has been withdrawn. The office also compares your papers with your passport and sends a formal request to fix any gaps. So before filing we check how your name, date of birth and licence number appear in the licence, the passport and the translation. A refusal can be appealed to the Samorządowe Kolegium Odwoławcze within 14 days.
The 2025 regulation exempts three groups. People granted refugee status, asylum, subsidiary protection, humanitarian stay or tolerated stay in Poland. Belarusian citizens with a humanitarian visa or a temporary residence permit granted after one. And drivers whose licence comes from a country where an armed conflict is under way, provided they show that they work or worked as a driver for a Polish haulier, with a contract or an employer's statement. In those cases the foreign licence stays in the Polish driver file.
You can only file at the delegatura of Biuro Administracji i Spraw Obywatelskich for the district you live in: Śródmieście takes applications at ul. Kruczkowskiego 2, Mokotów handles licences at ul. Wiktorska 91a. The clerk checks your meldunek in the system. Without one you need another document showing you live at that address, such as a tenancy agreement, and those cases are assessed one by one. Expect to show the original licence, your residence document and a 185-day declaration made under criminal liability.
Bringing an international driving permit: it cannot be exchanged, only a national licence can. Filing an expired licence without a medical certificate: since 17 December 2025 it can be exchanged, but only with the documents needed to extend its validity and after the issuing country confirms the data. An ordinary translation instead of a sworn one, or a sworn one with no copy of the licence attached. A photo older than 6 months or in tinted glasses. And a surprise at pickup: the office carries the expiry date over from your foreign licence, so if that has a year left, the Polish one will also run for a year, not fifteen.
A common belief is that category B goes through without a test while C and D need one. The Act looks at something else: whether the licence matches the model and data set required by the Vienna Convention. If it does, every category on it transfers without an exam. If it does not, you sit the theory part only: at WORD Warszawa that is 56.98 PLN, 32 questions and 25 minutes. There is no practical part in an exchange. To drive C or D for a living you will also need Kod 95, which is a separate procedure.
Fixed retainer per stage. The state fee, the sworn translation and the WORD test are paid at cost.
* Above is what LegalWin charges. Paid separately: the 100 PLN state fee for the licence, a sworn translation (priced from a scan of your licence), 17 PLN stamp duty on the power of attorney and, if it applies, the theory test at WORD Warszawa at 56.98 PLN (2026 rate). A medical (up to 200 PLN) or psychological exam (150 PLN) is needed only in specific cases.
Our fee starts at 1,800 PLN; the exact amount depends on whether the WORD theory test applies. For that we check your licence and basis of stay, order the sworn translation, prepare the application and the declarations, book the visit, file the documents and run the case until the licence is issued. Paid separately: 100 PLN for the licence, the sworn translation (priced from a scan of your licence), 17 PLN stamp duty on the power of attorney and 56.98 PLN for the test at WORD Warszawa if it applies.
Leave a request: we check your country, category and stay status, tell you whether a theory test applies, which office to file with and how long the confirmation from your home country may take.
