Residence card for Ukrainian students in Krakow: 2026 Guide

The most important document is a certificate of admission to studies or continuation of studies. Remember that officials in Krakow require a document issued on an official form, which specifies:

• year and semester of studies,
• the date of the start and planned completion of education,
• mode of study (full-time, part-time),
• information about the payment for studies.

If you study at the Jagiellonian University, AGH University of Science and Technology, University of Economics or Cracow University of Technology, the deans of these universities are very familiar with these patterns. However, you must make sure that the certificate bears the signature of the authorized person and the seal of the university. In the case of paid studies, it is necessary to attach proof of payment of the fee for the current semester or academic year.

Proof of financial resources

As a student from Ukraine, you must prove that you have the means to live in Krakow, pay for your studies and return to your country. The minimum amount you need to show is the sum of:

1. Living expenses: minimum PLN 776 net for each month of stay (for a period of at least 15 months or for the entire duration of the academic year).
2. Return costs: in the case of Ukrainian citizens, it is PLN 200.
3. Housing costs: you must add the amount of rent for renting a room or a fee for a place in a dormitory (e.g. in the AGH UST Student Campus or Jagiellonian University student dormitories).

Example: If you rent a room in Krowodrzy for PLN 1200 per month, your monthly financial minimum is PLN 1976 (PLN 776 + PLN 1200). You can document these funds with a Polish bank account statement (from the last 3 months), a certificate of a scholarship or a credit card statement.

Health insurance and accommodation

The application must include proof of health insurance. The surest form accepted by the office in Krakow is an agreement with the National Health Fund for voluntary health insurance with a confirmation of payment of the last premium. Private policies are also accepted, as long as they cover the costs of inpatient and outpatient treatment in Poland.

When it comes to accommodation, you must present a document confirming your place of residence in Krakow. It can be:

• A lease agreement for an apartment (e.g. in districts such as Czyżyny, Podgórze or Grzegórzki).
• A certificate from the student dormitory on the allocation of a place with information on the amount of fees.
• Lending of premises (lending agreement required ).

Registration of the application via the MOS portal and a visit to Przybyszewskiego Street

The Małopolska Voivodeship Office uses the MOS (String Service Module) system. This is where you fill out the application in electronic form, which allows you to avoid errors in your personal data. Once you have completed the application, you will need to print it, sign it, and make an appointment to submit your fingerprints.

In Krakow, appointments are booked online through the system. Due to the large number of students from Ukraine, the dates may be distant, so it is worth starting the process a few months in advance. If you do not manage to book an appointment online, you can send the application by post (by registered mail with a return receipt to the address: Basztowa 22, 31-156 Kraków – although the operations department is located at Przybyszewskiego Street). The date of sending the letter at the post office is considered the date of submission of the application, which legalizes your stay until the decision is issued.

Stamp duties for the residence card

The issuance of a residence card for a student is associated with official costs:

• PLN 340 – stamp duty for granting a temporary residence permit.
• PLN 100 – fee for issuing the plastic card itself (paid after receiving a positive decision).

The payment should be made to the account of the Krakow City Hall, and not to the account of the Voivodeship Office. You must attach the proof of payment (confirmation of the transfer) to the application. If your financial situation is extremely difficult, you can apply for a card fee waiver, however, this is rarely the case for students demonstrating the required means of subsistence.

Verification procedure and waiting time in Krakow

Once you apply, your case will receive a number, and you will have access to online status tracking. The Voivodeship Office in Krakow checks the authenticity of your documents and consults the Border Guard, the Police and the Internal Security Agency.

During the procedure, you may be asked to:

• Submission of a current certificate of grades (study course card).
• Update bank statements.
• Explanations of Study Breaks.

The waiting time for a decision in Krakow is currently from 4 to even 9 months. During this time, your stay is fully legal on the basis of a stamp in your passport (or confirmation of sending the application by post), but traveling outside the borders of Polish (outside the Schengen area as part of visa-free travel) may be difficult.

Specifics of stay for students from Ukraine with UKR status

If you have a PESEL UKR, your situation is specific. You can apply for a residence card, but you are not obliged to do so as long as your temporary protection is extended by law. However, the decision to obtain a residence card is beneficial if:

• You want to be sure of the stability of your stay regardless of the changes in the special act.
• You are planning to take up a job in Krakow that requires long-term confirmation of resident status.
• You intend to travel around Europe without having to monitor the visa-free day limits.

Remember that as soon as you receive your residence card, your UKR status expires automatically, and you switch to the general rules of residence for foreigners.

Specific tips for students in Krakow

• Check the stamps: Make sure that the certificate from the university has an issue date not older than 30 days at the time of application.
• Sworn translations: If you have documents in Ukrainian (e.g. birth certificate, if required to confirm family ties), they must be translated by a sworn translator entered on the list of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Poland. In Krakow you will find many Ukrainian translators in the vicinity of the Old Town and Grzegórzki.
• Photocopies and originals: Always have a set of originals for inspection and one photocopy of each document with you. The official must confirm that the copy is true to the original.
• Photos: You need 4 current photographs measuring 35 mm x 45 mm, taken no earlier than 6 months ago. Near the office on Przybyszewskiego Street, there are several photo points specializing in photos for residence cards.
• Mail: If you are sending the application by post, do it at a Poczta Polska branch. Send it “with a yellow stanza” (confirmation of receipt) – this is your most important proof of the legality of your stay in the event of a Border Guard check in Krakow.

Differentiation between the mode of study and access to the Krakow labour market

If you are studying full-time at one of Krakow’s public universities (e.g. Jagiellonian University, Cracow University of Technology) or non-public ones, your residence card will contain the annotation “access to the labour market“. This means that you can work in Krakow without any additional permits, with any employer, on the basis of the card itself and a valid student ID.

In the case of part-time studies, the situation is different. While you can still get a residence card, it doesn’t automatically entitle you to work. In such a scenario, your employer in Krakow will have to apply for a declaration of entrustment of work or a work permit, unless you have UKR status, which gives you these rights under the special act. When choosing the path of legalization, always check whether the certificate from the dean’s office clearly specifies the mode of study, as a mistake in this regard may result in the issuance of a card without the desired annotation.

How to correctly calculate the cost of living in Krakow?

When verifying financial resources, the office in Krakow does not take into account declarations, but hard evidence in the form of contracts and bills. You must prove that after paying the rent and utilities, you are left with an amount of at least PLN 776 per person.

In Krakow, documenting the costs of living is as follows:

• Private apartment (e.g. Krowodrza, Ruczaj): You must present a lease agreement that specifies the rent for the landlord and administrative fees. The official may ask for the last confirmations of transfers for utilities (electricity, gas, internet) to verify the real burden on your budget.
• Dormitories (e.g. AGH UST Student Campus, Fafik, Żaczek): A certificate from the administration of the student dormitory is required about the amount of the monthly fee. This is the easiest form to document, as the amount is fixed and usually includes all utilities.
• Lending a place to family or friends: If you live free of charge, you must present a lending agreement and a statement from the owner of the apartment about covering operating costs. In this case, your monthly living expenses are PLN 0, which makes it much easier to demonstrate the income criterion.

Formal deficiencies and summonses from the office at Przybyszewskiego Street

Submitting an application is just the beginning. The communication system of the Małopolska Voivodeship Office is based on calls to fill in formal deficiencies. You will receive them by letter to your address in Krakow. The most common gaps that students from Ukraine have to fill are:

• No set of photocopies of the passport: You must photocopy all the saved pages of your foreign passport, including those with entry stamps and visas.
• Outdated certificate of non-arrears with tuition fees: If your studies are paid, the office may ask you to show proof of payment for the next semester in the middle of the procedure (e.g. after 4 months).
• Errors in Appendix No. 1: It is a document filled in by the university. A common mistake is the lack of a stamp of the person signing the document or entering the wrong REGON number of the university.

You usually have only 7 or 14 days from the date of receipt of the letter to fill in the gaps. Exceeding this deadline results in leaving the application unexamined, which in practice means the need to start the whole process from scratch and the risk of illegal stay.

The Pole’s Card and the student procedure in Krakow

If you have a Pole’s Card as a student from Ukraine, your path in Krakow is much simpler and cheaper. Instead of applying for temporary residence (student card), you can apply for permanent residence right away.

1. Fee waiver: An application for permanent residence on the basis of the Pole’s Card is free of charge (you do not pay PLN 340).
2. Monetary benefit: When studying in Krakow and applying for permanent residence, you can apply for 9 months of financial support for Pole’s Card holders, which makes it much easier to stay in the city.
3. No need to show funds: With permanent residence with the Pole’s Card, you do not have to prove that you have PLN 776 for each month of stay, which is the biggest barrier for many students.

You submit this application to the same department at Przybyszewskiego Street, but on a different form.

Change of address and university while waiting for a decision

Krakow’s student life can be dynamic – moving between districts or changing the field of study (e.g. moving from the Pedagogical University to the University of Technology) are frequent situations. Any such change must be reported to the office in writing.

• Change of address: Submission of the “Notice of Change of Address for Delivery” is crucial. If the office sends a summons to the old address in Podgórze, and you already live in Krowodrzy and do not pick it up, the letter will be considered served (the so-called fiction of service). This may lead to a refusal to issue the card.
• Change of University: If you are changing universities, you must provide a new certificate of admission to study and a settlement from your previous institution. If the break between studies at one university and another was too long, the voivode may consider that the purpose of your stay has ceased and issue a negative decision.

Departures from Polish during the procedure (Status “on the stamp”)

Many students from Ukraine wonder if they can visit their family home while waiting for a residence card in Krakow. The moment of submitting the application (confirmed by a stamp in your passport or confirmation of posting from the post office) legalizes your stay only in Polish territory.

• Return to Ukraine: You can go to Ukraine, but the stamp in your passport does not entitle you to re-enter Polish. To return to Krakow, you must have a valid visa, active UKR status or use visa-free travel days (90 days for every 180 days).
• Travelling around Schengen: The stamp itself does not give the right to travel to Germany, France or other Schengen countries. A valid residence card or visa is required for such trips.

Collection of the residence card at the Małopolska Voivodeship Office

After receiving a positive decision (the so-called decision to grant a temporary residence permit), you have to wait for the document itself to be personalized. In Krakow, this process usually takes from 2 to 4 weeks from the moment the decision becomes final and the payment of the fee of PLN 100 for issuing the card.

You will be notified of the pick-up date by SMS. Pick-up takes place in person at 4 Przybyszewskiego Street. You need to bring:

1. A valid foreign passport.
2. Confirmation of payment of the fee of PLN 100 for the issuance of the card.
3. Previous residence card (if it was issued earlier).

Your fingerprints will be verified again during pickup to confirm your identity. From that moment on, the residence card becomes your main identity document in Poland, which, together with your passport, allows you to cross borders.

Frequently asked questions about the Krakow residence card

As a student from Ukraine, can I work in Krakow while waiting for a card?

Yes, full-time students in Poland are exempt from the obligation to have a work permit. If you have UKR status, you also have free access to the labour market.

Do I need to be registered in Krakow to apply?

Registration is not obligatory for the application itself, but you must have a legal title to the premises (e.g. a lease agreement). The office verifies whether you actually live at the indicated address in Krakow or the surrounding area.

What should I do if I change universities during the procedure?

You must immediately notify the Małopolska Voivodeship Office. You will need to provide a new certificate from your new university (e.g. when moving from PK to AGH). The basis for the stay remains the same, but the documentation must be up to date.

How long does my passport have to be valid?

The passport should be valid for at least the period for which the residence card is to be issued. It is recommended that the validity period be a minimum of 12-18 months at the time of application.

Is the residence card issued for the entire period of study?

Usually, the first residence card for a student is issued for a period of 15 months. Subsequent cards can be issued for a period of up to 3 years, if documents from the university allow it.

Summary and next steps

The process of obtaining a residence card in Krakow requires a lot of meticulousness from a student from Ukraine. The key to success is to collect full financial and academic documentation before visiting the office on Przybyszewskiego Street. Remember to regularly check the mailbox at the address indicated in the application – failure to respond to the call of the office within 7-14 days results in the application being left unexamined. If you have already completed a certificate from the university and have confirmation of financial resources, do not hesitate and register your application in the MOS system today.