r/poland Nov 25 '25

A comprehensive guide for EU foreigners moving to Poland - START HERE.

55 Upvotes

Hello, I have seen many folks coming to Poland from the EU and being completely lost on what kind of legal procedures they have to do in order to start their residence in Poland. Be that you come here to study, work or live with your spouse there are several things I hope this guide will be able to cover.

!PLEASE NOTE!
This guide is meant only for citizens of the European Union and citizens of countries that are members of the European Economic Area. Some of the parts of this guide will be similar for non-EU foreigners but some will not. In general, the info posted here is only fully up to date if you are a citizen of the EU/EEA
!PLEASE NOTE!

0. Introduction and general info

Poland is divided into 16 voivodeships which are further subdivided into powiats, which means something like 'county' and these are further made out of municipalities - pol. gmina, or cities - pol. miasto. Large cities however are both powiat and miasto so in case of Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków etc. city office (pol. urząd miasta) will also perform duties of powiat office (pol. starostwo powiatowe). In case of Warsaw - urząd dzielnicy meaning district office will serve as city office.

All of the below information covers only EU/EEA citizens. If you are non-EU, majority of the below information will not be correct for your case.

I strongly recommend reading all of the parts linked below apart from car and pets stuff, if those do not concern your case.

I. Registering your residence and making your stay in Poland legal.
II. Obtaining health insurance
III. Using healthcare
IV. Taxes
V. Digital log-in and services
VI. Cars and licenses
VII. Banks and mobile phones
VIII. What to do when I leave Poland?
IX. Pets

If you have any additional questions or remarks, please do not hesitate to comment, I will be happy to help for as long as I'm going to visit this platform and expand this post. I hope you all have a great day and life in general. Thanks for reading, stay safe.


r/poland 6h ago

Lol

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213 Upvotes

r/poland 11h ago

Poland’s BLIK starts blocking payments to illegal gambling sites

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420 Upvotes

r/poland 14h ago

Important day.

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249 Upvotes

r/poland 11h ago

The Palmiry massacres - the first act of the Nazi and Soviet extermination of the Polish elites

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147 Upvotes

r/poland 50m ago

PM36 with aerodynamic casing, World Exhibition in Paris, 1937

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Upvotes

r/poland 16h ago

Who among you knew that we have one of the lowest shares of people using alcohol daily in Poland compared to Europe?

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275 Upvotes

r/poland 14h ago

Poland bans smartphones in primary schools as new academic year begins

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110 Upvotes

r/poland 14h ago

I left Poland as a kid and have lived in the US since. I'm in Poland now on vacation and it's making me really consider moving back here. Good idea?

105 Upvotes

I left for the US when I was 9, which was some 28 years ago, and haven't been back in 20 years.

Poland has astounded me so far. I haven't been to very many places, but where I've been (Gołdap, Augustów, Suwałki, and Ełk) have been amazing. I'm staying in Płaska, and this feels like where I'd like to retire, lol. The kayaking and biking opportunities here make anything I have back in the US seem like a pale comparison. My uncle has a house on the lake, and he just goes kayaking whenever he wants. It's been amazing. And so many forest roads to bike on!

I'm an active person and don't like cities anymore, so this little haven of a town is literally paradise, but I'm only here for 2 weeks and the weather is still nice, so my perspective is limited. Is it really this nice here all the time outside of winter?

I've loved all the forests, the lakes, the canals, the safe biking paths, the quiet, the people, the lack of people, and the prices.

I work remote and get paid in dollars, and while it's not a lot of money, I'd probably be making 10k-15k pln a month if I moved here. Would I be comfortable if I lived this far outside the cities?


r/poland 7h ago

Polish education ministry rules out changes to religion classes despite bishops' appeal

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30 Upvotes

r/poland 3h ago

My friend disappeared

12 Upvotes

My friend disappeared. I last saw him a month ago and wrote to him after that. Then last week he saw my messages (or at least someone on his phone did) but he never answered, which he never did before. I wrote to him again on Sunday and Monday and now my messages are not even delivered. I asked a common acquaintance and for him it's also the same.

He lost his father just a bit more than a month ago, so he was not in an awesome state the last time I saw him.

I know his name and phone number, but not his address or his employer (I forgot the name).

What would someone do here in this case?

Who can I contact?


r/poland 1d ago

How english VS polish speakers see these words

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2.5k Upvotes

r/poland 13h ago

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, thus beginning World War II. Presented here are photos from albums of German soldiers who directed the attack from East Prussia

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74 Upvotes

r/poland 15h ago

Poland marks 87 years since World War II began

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82 Upvotes

Poland marked the 87th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk warning that recent suspected acts of sabotage across Europe showed the need for greater Western unity. 

The anniversary ceremony began shortly before 4:45 a.m., the time when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish military depot at Westerplatte on September 1, 1939. 


r/poland 7h ago

Nationwide phone ban takes effect as Polish schools return

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17 Upvotes

Poland began the new school year on Tuesday with nationwide restrictions on mobile-phone use in primary schools and preschools taking effect for the first time.  

Primary-school pupils are now barred from using phones and similar electronic devices during lessons, breaks and other school activities. Preschool children are prohibited from bringing such devices to preschool.  

Exceptions apply for educational purposes, urgent contact with parents, immediate threats to health or life, and certain health, disability or special-needs cases.  

Upper-secondary schools are not covered by an automatic nationwide ban but can introduce their own restrictions through their school rules.  


r/poland 5h ago

Sułoszowa, Poland

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6 Upvotes

r/poland 17h ago

A wave of changes in Polish schools is unavoidable. 800 thousand children will disappear

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48 Upvotes

Polish schools are facing a demographic shock. Within 15 years, the number of children aged 7-14 may fall by more than 800 thousand. Both the choice of the first and the second option means high costs.


r/poland 4h ago

Whats going on this week? Trying to book a cheap hotel and its like Bethlehem, 0AD.

3 Upvotes

Poznan, Bydgoszcz, Warsaw... Everywhere! [Insert Gary Oldman Die Hard gif]


r/poland 1d ago

A young man followed and shouted at me and my wife after getting off a tram

87 Upvotes

My wife and I are foreigners living in Poland, and we’re still learning Polish, so we didn’t understand everything that was being shouted at us. Something happened recently that made us quite uncomfortable.

A young man (looks like a high school or university student) got off a tram and appeared to point at an Indian woman (she looks like from South Asia) nearby. Shortly after that, he started following us while we were jogging. He was shouting several things in Polish at us, but we couldn’t understand most of it.

He continued following us while shouting, which made us uncomfortable and a little scared. We didn’t confront him because we didn’t know what he was saying or what he might do.

Me and my wife were from Southeast Asia . Because he appeared to target an Indian woman before following us, we’re wondering if this was some kind of racist or anti-foreigner harassment.

I’m not trying to generalize about Polish people. We’ve had plenty of normal and positive interactions in Poland. I’m genuinely just trying to understand what happened.


r/poland 1d ago

It was the Solidarity Movement that ended WW2 for Poland 1989 as liberation against the evil Soviet Empire.

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132 Upvotes

r/poland 2h ago

How high are the chances of facing consequences for torrenting Polish media?

0 Upvotes

I found torrents for both seasons of 13 Posterunek, which I'd like to watch, but I'm not sure if it's still dangerous to download. Looking at how difficult it can be to find the series, I'm assuming uploads are being monitored and removed to this day. My ISP is T-Mobile if that matters.


r/poland 2h ago

I dislike shopping, and every store I walk to is a bad experience in it's own unique way.

0 Upvotes

This post is just a rant about my shopping experiences in different stores.

I walk into Zabka and everything is turbo expensive, and the cashiers are rude. I walk into Biedronka, and it's a huge fucking mess. I walk into a Delikatesy, it's usually a mess too. Lewiatan is okay, but it doesn't have a lot of products (I've only been in three of them). The only stores that I actually seem to like are Kauflands. I've been in three or four, and they are always clean and not messy, with lots of products, and extra things like the bakeries, lockable shelves to put your stuff into when you go shopping, and I feel like they have the best discounts of all aforementioned.


r/poland 10h ago

“Poland: From a Constitutional Tribunal Crisis to a Crisis of Mutual Recognition”

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6 Upvotes

r/poland 3h ago

Looking for a Warsaw Caregiver.

1 Upvotes

Hello.

My grandfather (85M) unfortunately has not been doing so well recently and my mother wanted to hire a helper. He's a big guy and my grandmother isn't able to help him walk so much.

Does anyone know of a service or caregiver in Warsaw that can help? I looked a little online and used AI but didn't find anything that seemed like a fit.

Thanks so much ❤️

Requirements is male and speaks Polish.


r/poland 1d ago

Polish minister hails ‘undisputed economic success’ as he kicks off G20 meeting

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66 Upvotes

Finance Minister Andrzej Domański said Warsaw is seeking greater influence in “shaping the global economic order.”