# Permit Barometer: decision times for residence and work permits in Poland, by voivodeship

A text version of the Krakspire Permit Barometer (https://krakspire.com/barometer/), built from the same data as the page. Every figure is given with its source and the date it refers to.

Temporary residence: the average wait for a decision runs from 249 days in the fastest voivodeship to 680 in the slowest. Average of the 16 voivodeships: 427 days (Office for Foreigners, decisions issued January 1 – September 28, 2026).

## Temporary residence permits (karta pobytu)

Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, decisions issued January 1 – September 28, 2026. Average of the 16 voivodeships: 427 days.

| Voivodeship | Days to a decision | Applications per decision | Applications | Decisions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Śląskie | 680 days | 1.03 (Queue growing) | 23,368 | 22,661 |
| Pomorskie | 622 days | 1.52 (Queue growing) | 27,134 | 17,796 |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 547 days | 1.28 (Queue growing) | 9,469 | 7,411 |
| Lubuskie | 519 days | 1.25 (Queue growing) | 16,289 | 13,057 |
| Opolskie | 498 days | 0.81 (Queue shrinking) | 5,756 | 7,115 |
| Podlaskie | 470 days | 1.20 (Queue growing) | 4,729 | 3,925 |
| Zachodniopomorskie | 461 days | 1.18 (Queue growing) | 18,593 | 15,700 |
| Mazowieckie | 425 days | 2.21 (Queue growing) | 92,570 | 41,871 |
| Lubelskie | 389 days | 1.71 (Queue growing) | 10,392 | 6,087 |
| Łódzkie | 383 days | 1.40 (Queue growing) | 32,586 | 23,215 |
| Wielkopolskie | 343 days | 0.91 (Queue shrinking) | 46,421 | 51,235 |
| Dolnośląskie | 329 days | 0.83 (Queue shrinking) | 35,655 | 43,218 |
| Świętokrzyskie | 328 days | 1.18 (Queue growing) | 3,121 | 2,649 |
| Podkarpackie | 313 days | 1.39 (Queue growing) | 5,728 | 4,112 |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 278 days | 0.91 (Queue shrinking) | 5,364 | 5,908 |
| Małopolskie | 249 days | 1.24 (Queue growing) | 35,689 | 28,755 |
| Poland (average of 16 voivodeships) | 427 days | 1.27 (Queue growing) | 372,864 | 294,715 |

migracje.gov.pl, sampled November 10, 2026. Applications per decision: applications received divided by decisions issued, 2026 so far. Above 1.00 the queue is growing, below 1.00 it is shrinking. In the Poland row, applications and decisions are the sums of the 16 voivodeships.

## Permanent residence permits

Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, decisions issued January 1 – September 28, 2026. Average of the 16 voivodeships: 336 days.

| Voivodeship | Days to a decision | Applications per decision | Applications | Decisions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Opolskie | 607 days | 0.78 (Queue shrinking) | 278 | 358 |
| Podlaskie | 505 days | 0.98 (Queue shrinking) | 312 | 320 |
| Śląskie | 447 days | 0.85 (Queue shrinking) | 849 | 1,000 |
| Zachodniopomorskie | 415 days | 0.79 (Queue shrinking) | 477 | 601 |
| Lubelskie | 408 days | 1.36 (Queue growing) | 642 | 471 |
| Dolnośląskie | 405 days | 0.62 (Queue shrinking) | 1,309 | 2,098 |
| Pomorskie | 377 days | 1.07 (Queue growing) | 776 | 723 |
| Podkarpackie | 353 days | 1.03 (Queue growing) | 331 | 322 |
| Łódzkie | 328 days | 1.21 (Queue growing) | 900 | 743 |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 268 days | 1.24 (Queue growing) | 214 | 173 |
| Mazowieckie | 250 days | 0.69 (Queue shrinking) | 3,612 | 5,242 |
| Świętokrzyskie | 245 days | 0.85 (Queue shrinking) | 97 | 114 |
| Wielkopolskie | 233 days | 1.11 (Queue growing) | 1,162 | 1,043 |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 194 days | 1.01 (Queue growing) | 388 | 386 |
| Lubuskie | 174 days | 0.86 (Queue shrinking) | 360 | 418 |
| Małopolskie | 169 days | 1.23 (Queue growing) | 1,773 | 1,439 |
| Poland (average of 16 voivodeships) | 336 days | 0.87 (Queue shrinking) | 13,480 | 15,451 |

migracje.gov.pl, sampled November 10, 2026. Applications per decision: applications received divided by decisions issued, 2026 so far. Above 1.00 the queue is growing, below 1.00 it is shrinking. In the Poland row, applications and decisions are the sums of the 16 voivodeships.

## EU long-term resident permits

Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, decisions issued January 1 – September 28, 2026. Average of the 16 voivodeships: 435 days.

| Voivodeship | Days to a decision | Applications per decision | Applications | Decisions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pomorskie | 799 days | 1.38 (Queue growing) | 1,116 | 810 |
| Opolskie | 787 days | 1.30 (Queue growing) | 515 | 396 |
| Śląskie | 668 days | 0.85 (Queue shrinking) | 1,247 | 1,461 |
| Podlaskie | 517 days | 1.32 (Queue growing) | 175 | 133 |
| Dolnośląskie | 500 days | 0.87 (Queue shrinking) | 3,046 | 3,482 |
| Zachodniopomorskie | 469 days | 1.02 (Queue growing) | 1,615 | 1,591 |
| Mazowieckie | 445 days | 1.41 (Queue growing) | 4,469 | 3,170 |
| Lubuskie | 423 days | 0.86 (Queue shrinking) | 972 | 1,132 |
| Podkarpackie | 375 days | 1.66 (Queue growing) | 298 | 179 |
| Lubelskie | 361 days | 1.98 (Queue growing) | 441 | 223 |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 359 days | 1.49 (Queue growing) | 892 | 598 |
| Wielkopolskie | 341 days | 1.03 (Queue growing) | 2,841 | 2,760 |
| Łódzkie | 278 days | 1.38 (Queue growing) | 2,130 | 1,538 |
| Świętokrzyskie | 272 days | 0.87 (Queue shrinking) | 121 | 139 |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 240 days | 1.49 (Queue growing) | 278 | 186 |
| Małopolskie | 122 days | 1.23 (Queue growing) | 2,986 | 2,422 |
| Poland (average of 16 voivodeships) | 435 days | 1.14 (Queue growing) | 23,142 | 20,220 |

migracje.gov.pl, sampled November 10, 2026. Applications per decision: applications received divided by decisions issued, 2026 so far. Above 1.00 the queue is growing, below 1.00 it is shrinking. In the Poland row, applications and decisions are the sums of the 16 voivodeships.

## Work permits

For a Polish employer, the voivodeship is where the employer is based, not where the worker lives.

| Voivodeship | Days to a decision, 2025 | Permits issued, 2025 | Oświadczenia registered, 2025 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lubuskie | 157 | 3,006 | 11,750 |
| Dolnośląskie | 143 | 11,232 | 24,087 |
| Mazowieckie | 99 | 55,291 | 79,403 |
| Łódzkie | 97 | 28,144 | 27,129 |
| Pomorskie | 96 | 15,011 | 30,043 |
| Wielkopolskie | 95 | 19,653 | 32,415 |
| Śląskie | 88 | 22,102 | 27,978 |
| Zachodniopomorskie | 72 | 13,730 | 10,068 |
| Świętokrzyskie | 61 | 4,351 | 2,255 |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 58 | 2,019 | 5,478 |
| Opolskie | 57 | 7,598 | 9,452 |
| Małopolskie | 50 | 33,698 | 21,282 |
| Podkarpackie | 50 | 3,376 | 4,158 |
| Podlaskie | 46 | 13,619 | 12,724 |
| Lubelskie | 42 | 6,936 | 15,678 |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 39 | 11,759 | 14,194 |
| Poland (the ministry’s national figure) | 82 | 251,525 | 328,094 |

Average days from application to the first-instance decision that closed the case, refusals included, for decisions issued in 2025. Poland as a whole: 82 days, the ministry’s own figure, not the plain average of the 16 regions. Oświadczenia take about 7 days. An average of completed cases, not a forecast for yours.

Sources: MRPiPS. Days: reply of October 8, 2026 to our request for public information, data as of January 26, 2026. Counts via psz.praca.gov.pl, permits January 26, 2026; oświadczenia February 16, 2026. Published twice a year.

## Where the numbers come from

- Days to a decision: Wydział Analiz i Statystyk, Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców, by written request, renewed each quarter. An average of completed cases: many applicants waited longer. Not a forecast for any case, and no office is bound by it. The statutory term for these proceedings is currently suspended.
- Queue direction: UdSC statistics on migracje.gov.pl, read from its public JSON API: applications received divided by decisions issued, for the permit type shown, year to date, unadjusted. The API counts only by year, so we sample weekly; the series starts on 23 September 2026.
- Work permits: Days to a decision per voivodeship: Departament Rynku Pracy, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, by written request, for decisions issued in 2025. For a Polish employer, the voivodeship is where the employer is based. Permit and oświadczenia counts: the ministry’s published releases on psz.praca.gov.pl.
- Not shown: International protection (decided by the Szef UdSC, not the voivodes) and Border Guard cases (enforcement, not a permit). Also oświadczenia by voivodeship: the ministry holds those times per county labour office only.

## Citing this

Krakspire Permit Barometer, krakspire.com/barometer/, retrieved [date].

Free to cite and quote, with attribution and a link. Questions about method, or a correction: hello@krakspire.com.

The same figures as CSV: https://krakspire.com/data/permit-barometer.csv