Residence permit waiting times in Warsaw
Warsaw applications are handled by the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Office. Official statistics exist for that office, and they are a long way from the formal 60-day decision period.
Short answer
In Warsaw, residence permit proceedings have taken much longer than the formal decision period. Official 2026 data for Mazowieckie Voivodeship reported an average temporary residence proceeding time of 394 days, which is about 13 months.
That figure is for the whole voivodeship, not only the city, and it describes past cases rather than predicting yours.
What official 2026 data says
Official statistics
Average duration of residence proceedings conducted by the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Office:
| Proceeding type | 2026 average | 2023 average |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary residence | 394 days | 153 days |
| Permanent residence | 239 days | 147 days |
| EU long-term resident | 423 days | 211 days |
Source: official response of the Ministry of Interior and Administration to interpellation no. 18089, published by the Sejm in July 2026. 2026 figures are as of 6 July 2026.
The Ministry describes the Mazowieckie office as the most heavily loaded in the country in this area. It attributes the higher 2026 average to the office deciding cases from earlier years: closing long-running cases raises the reported average.
PolandEase explanation
In months, the 2026 averages are roughly 13 months for temporary residence, 8 months for permanent residence and 14 months for an EU long-term resident permit.
The statistics are for Mazowieckie Voivodeship as a whole. Warsaw cases are part of them, but the source does not give a separate figure for the city.
The stages of a Warsaw case
Official procedure
The Mazowieckie office describes these steps after a MOS submission: an email with the case number, a summons to an in-person appointment, processing of the case, and, if the permit is granted, a notice with the date and place to collect the residence card (karta pobytu).
PolandEase explanation
The official averages cover the proceeding as a whole. There is no official breakdown by stage, so we cannot say how much of the time is spent waiting for a case number, for the fingerprint appointment or for the decision. That is the gap the community timeline is meant to fill.
To check your own case, use the inPOL portal or the office’s phone line. Details: MOS application status explained.
How to read these numbers
PolandEase explanation
- Averages describe past cases. The ministry explains the rise in the Mazowieckie average by decisions issued in older cases, which indicates the averages are calculated from cases that were decided. They do not predict a specific case.
- An average can hide a wide spread. Some cases finish far sooner than 394 days and some far later.
- A legal time limit and elapsed time are not the same thing. The 60-day period and the 394-day average measure different things, from different starting points.
- 2026 figures are a part-year. The source gives them as of 6 July 2026.
- These are mostly pre-MOS cases. MOS became mandatory on 27 April 2026, about ten weeks before the data was compiled. Applications submitted through MOS may behave differently, and there is no official data on them yet.
Community-reported waiting times in Warsaw
Community experience
No PolandEase community statistics are published yet.
PolandEase is building a community timeline database so applicants can compare real reported processing times by voivodeship and permit type.
Each anonymous report will record:
- Application type
- MOS submission date
- Case number date
- Fingerprints invitation
- Fingerprints date
- Decision date
PolandEase explanation
We have not added individual reports from forums or Reddit here. When we do, they will be shown as individual examples, never combined into an average.
Related: MOS fingerprints in Warsaw.