After arrival in Poland

SIM card. Buy a prepaid SIM from Orange, Play, Plus or T-Mobile at the airport, a kiosk or a phone shop. By law a prepaid SIM must be registered to your ID, so keep your passport handy. You will need a Polish number for flats, banks, doctors and apps.

From Chopin Airport. SKM trains S2 (to Śródmieście, about 20 minutes) and S3 leave from the station under the terminal; bus 175 runs to the centre, and night bus N32 after 23:00. The airport is in fare zone 1, so an ordinary 75-minute ticket is enough. From Modlin, take the shuttle bus to Modlin station and the Koleje Mazowieckie train, or a direct coach.

Tickets and getting around. Jakdojade plans routes and sells tickets; most buses and trams have machines that take contactless cards. Validate a paper ticket as soon as you board. For a longer stay, a 30- or 90-day pass on the Warsaw City Card is much cheaper. Bolt, Uber and FreeNow are widely used; for intercity trains use the Koleo or PKP Intercity apps.

Paying. Cards are accepted almost everywhere. If a card machine or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, choose PLN: the conversion offered is usually poor.

More: Warsaw public transport (ZTM)

Search on Otodom, OLX Nieruchomości, Morizon and Gratka, and in Facebook groups for expats and flats in your city. Ask in our community too. Stay somewhere short-term first, and don’t sign a 12-month lease from abroad.

The advertised rent is often not the full cost. Ask for the total monthly cost („Jaki jest całkowity miesięczny koszt mieszkania?”). Typical items:

• czynsz najmu: rent to the landlord
• czynsz administracyjny: building charges
• media: utilities such as electricity (prąd), gas (gaz) and internet
• kaucja: deposit, usually one to two months’ rent
• prowizja: agency commission

Sign a written rental agreement (umowa najmu), and ask the landlord to agree in writing to your address registration: you need it for the next step. Never pay a deposit before you have seen the flat and checked that the person has the right to rent it (their ID and proof of ownership).

If you are not an EU citizen, you must register your address at the gmina office where you live (in Warsaw, your district office) no later than the 4th day after moving in. EU citizens have 30 days. Stays of up to 30 days do not need registration. Non-EU citizens cannot do this online: go in person.

Bring the registration form, your passport, your visa or other document allowing your stay, and your rental agreement or the owner’s written confirmation that you live there. Registration is free; a certificate of registration costs 17 zł.

Your PESEL number (Polish ID number, needed for doctors, banks, contracts and online services) is assigned automatically when you register. If you cannot register, you can apply for a PESEL at the gmina office, stating why you need it.

Official information: gov.pl · Zielona Linia: PESEL

Bank account. PKO Bank Polski, Pekao, Santander, ING, mBank, Millennium and BNP Paribas open accounts for foreigners. Bring your passport, visa or residence document, Polish phone number, address and employment contract. A PESEL makes it much easier.

Profil Zaufany (Trusted Profile) is your free digital signature for government services, and the usual way to sign a residence permit application. You need a PESEL. The easiest way to get it is through your bank’s online banking; you can also confirm it at ZUS, a tax office or a municipal office.

mObywatel. With a PESEL you can also use the government app for documents and official letters.

To stay longer than your visa allows, apply for a temporary residence permit before your current legal stay ends. Since 27 April 2026 most applications are submitted only online, through the MOS portal.

1. Create an account on mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl and log in through login.gov.pl.
2. Fill in the form for your purpose of stay (for most of us, work). You can save it and come back later.
3. Your employer or university completes and e-signs their annex through a link MOS sends them. Your application can’t go ahead until they do.
4. Upload 2 recent photos, scans of every page of your passport and your documents (contract, rental agreement, insurance).
5. Pay the fees and upload the confirmations: stamp duty of 440 zł for a combined residence and work permit or 340 zł for most other temporary permits, plus 100 zł for the card (50 zł reduced rate, for example for students). The two fees go to different accounts.
6. Sign with your Trusted Profile or a qualified e-signature and submit. Keep the confirmation of submission with your passport: it replaces the old passport stamp.
7. You will be called to the voivodeship office (in Warsaw: Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki) for fingerprints, with your original passport.
8. Processing can take several months. Once approved, collect your karta pobytu in person.

A few cases, mostly family members applying from outside Poland and intra-company transfers, are still on paper. MOS is free; you do not need a paid agent. If you change employer, address or job conditions, check whether you must tell the office.

Official information: Zielona Linia: MOS · gov.pl: fees

Most non-EU citizens need permission to work: a work permit, or a residence permit that allows work. Do not assume a visa gives an unrestricted right to work. The employer applies for the work permit; since 1 June 2025 only electronically, through praca.gov.pl.

When you start a job, check your contract, salary and payment date, your ZUS (social insurance) and health insurance registration, and your tax details. Your employer deducts tax monthly; the annual tax return (PIT) is due by 30 April and is easy to file online in e-Urząd Skarbowy.

Students: from 1 July 2026, full-time students may work without a work permit only if they study at a public university or an institution approved by the Ministry of the Interior. Ask your university’s international office.

Official information: Zielona Linia · praca.gov.pl

If you are employed, your employer registers you with ZUS and your public health insurance (NFZ) is paid from your salary. Your spouse, children and parents living with you can be covered too. If you are not covered, you can buy voluntary NFZ insurance at your regional NFZ branch, or take a private policy. Visa holders generally cannot use public health care for free without insurance.

With NFZ insurance, sign up with a family doctor (lekarz rodzinny) at a local clinic (przychodnia POZ) by filling in a short declaration. You need a referral from that doctor for free specialist visits. Many employers also offer private packages (Medicover, LUX MED, Enel-Med), useful for quick appointments in English.

Pharmacies (apteka) are everywhere; many medicines need a Polish prescription (e-recepta). Emergency: call 112 (English is usually available).

More: migrant.info.pl

A nursery (żłobek) may take children from about six months; places are in demand, so register early. Children usually move to preschool at about 2.5 years, do one preparatory year (zerówka) and start Grade 1 of primary school at 7.

• Polish public schools are free, including textbooks. Each gmina assigns a school by your address; Grade 1 applications go through the municipal online system in February–March.
• Polish private schools follow the national curriculum with more flexible methods, roughly 18,000–40,000 PLN a year.
• International and bilingual schools (IB, British, American, or Polish with STEM in English) take pupils all year round, roughly 40,000–60,000 PLN a year in primary.

Planning to stay long-term? A public or bilingual school helps children learn Polish. Planning to move on? An international school may be easier. Ask any school about support for foreign pupils.

A driving licence from outside the EU stays valid in Poland for 6 months from the start of your residence here. If you live in Poland for at least 185 days, you must exchange it for a Polish licence.

You need a sworn translation of your licence into Polish, a photo, proof of legal stay and your ID. If your licence is not in the format of the Geneva or Vienna road traffic conventions, you must also pass a theory test. In Warsaw, apply at your district office (book a visit online).

Official information: Warszawa 19115

• Sundays: most large shops are closed on most Sundays. Small Żabka shops and petrol stations stay open.
• Parcels: InPost Paczkomat lockers are the easiest way to receive online orders. Allegro is the big Polish online shop.
• Food: Glovo, Wolt, Pyszne.pl and Uber Eats deliver. Indian groceries are sold in specialist shops across Warsaw; ask the community for favourites.
• Learn Polish: you can get by in English, but even a little Polish opens doors and helps you feel part of the place, not just live in it.

Embassy of India, Warsaw

• Address: ul. Myśliwiecka 2, 00-459 Warszawa · Tel. +48 22 540 00 00
• Emergency helpline for Indian nationals: +48 606 700 105
• Consular services: cons.warsaw@mea.gov.in · Passports: ppt.warsaw@mea.gov.in
• Documents accepted Monday–Friday, 9:30–11:30; collection 16:00–17:00; payment in cash (PLN)

indianembassywarsaw.gov.in

Embassy of Bangladesh, Warsaw

Bangladesh has an embassy in Warsaw. Check its current address and consular hours on the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs website before visiting.

• 112: emergency (police, ambulance, fire)
• 19115: Warsaw city helpline, also online at warszawa19115.pl
• +48 22 490 20 44: information line for foreigners living in Poland, migrant.info.pl
• Kraków and Wrocław run free information points for foreigners (help with PESEL, registration, work, housing and health care).
• Fundacja MMEI: information and support with residence, work, study and integration, fundacjammei.org