Temporary residence permit on account of other circumstances (researcher who has completed research and is seeking work or planning to start a business)
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy ze względu na inne okoliczności (naukowiec po zakończeniu badań poszukujący pracy lub planujący rozpoczęcie działalności gospodarczej) as of 2026-04-07[1] Recorded from the statutory chapter or article heading; the Office for Foreigners' own procedure page uses the same wording. Diacritics as published. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Temporary residence permit on account of other circumstances (researcher who has completed research and is seeking work or planning to start a business) as of 2026-08-24[3] Working translation of the Polish statutory name. Poland publishes no official English text of the Act on Foreigners, so this is marked a translation, not an official English name. |
| Legal basis | Ustawa z dnia 12 grudnia 2013 r. o cudzoziemcach, art. 186 ust. 1 pkt 7, art. 188 ust. 1a i 2b, art. 190 pkt 3 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1079, as updated to 2026-04-07) as of 2026-04-07[1] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-04-07[1] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-04-07[1] |
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| Minimum age | Not applicable Art. 186 ust. 1 pkt 7 imposes no minimum age. A minor's application is filed by a parent or guardian under art. 105 ust. 3, which is a procedural rule rather than an age threshold. |
| Criminal-record condition | No as of 2026-04-07[1] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | 9 months as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 190 pkt 3: 9 months, granted once, immediately after the research or development work ends. |
|---|---|
| Renewable | No as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 190 pkt 3 grants the permit jednorazowo – once only. |
| Renewal duration | Not applicable The permit is granted once and is not renewable. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-08-07[6] Art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 14 of the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for the admissibility of entrusting work to foreigners gives the holder of this permit free access to the Polish labour market (swobodny dostęp do rynku pracy): no work permit, no employer tie, no hours cap. Art. 186 ust. 1 pkt 7 is named in that list; pkt 6, the graduate job-search permit, is not. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 212 ust. 2 does not name this permit among the excluded stays. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-04-07[1] The purpose is looking for work or preparing to start a business. |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-04-07[1] None is imposed. Sourced absence on art. 188's closed condition list. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-04-07[1] The applicant must have held a research permit immediately before applying, and art. 3 pkt 8 defines a naukowiec as holding at least a master's-equivalent title. Art. 188 ust. 2b adds a document from the Polish scientific unit confirming that the research or development work has ended. |
| Employer sponsorship | No as of 2026-04-07[1] No sponsor at this stage; the former hosting unit only certifies that the research has ended. |
| Own means requirement | 1 × social-assistance income criterion, single-person household per month as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 188 ust. 1a pkt 3 with ust. 6: funds for maintenance and return above the social-assistance income criterion; pkt 2 also requires secured accommodation. |
| Paid in-country | No as of 2026-04-07[1] There is no remuneration during the job search. |
| Job-search route | Yes as of 2026-04-07[1] A standalone job-search instrument, as redefined at schema v1.0 (G9). |
Process
| Where to apply from | in-country only as of 2026-04-07[1][3] Art. 105 ust. 1: the foreigner files the application in person, no later than the last day of their legal stay in Poland. There is no consular stage for this permit. The pending amendment carried in the consolidated text rewrites art. 105-106a and moves filing into the Office for Foreigners' electronic Moduł Obsługi Spraw (MOS); the Office's own procedure pages already describe electronic filing through MOS. The entry-into-force date is to be announced by communique under art. 17 of the Act of 21 November 2025 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1794). |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | 60 days as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 112a ust. 1: the decision is issued within 60 days. Art. 112a ust. 2 starts the clock at the last of the qualifying events – a formally complete application and (until the pending amendment removes it) the applicant's personal appearance – so it is not a 60-day clock from lodging. |
| Observed processing time | Not established from a qualifying source No official observed-duration statistics were located for this permit; the Office for Foreigners publishes the statutory deadline, not outturn times. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-04-07[1] The Act on Foreigners attaches no minimum-presence or maximum-absence condition to holding a temporary residence permit. What it does attach, in art. 101, is withdrawal where the purpose of the stay ceases or the conditions of the grant are no longer met – a purpose test rather than a day count. The 6-month and 10-month absence limits recorded at country level under permanent_residency.absence_rules bite on the qualification for the EU long-term resident permit, not on this permit. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 159 ust. 1 pkt 1 lit. hc: a family member of a holder of a permit under art. 186 ust. 1 pkt 7 may be granted a temporary residence permit for family reunification with no prior-residence condition on the sponsor. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child as of 2026-04-07[1] Art. 159 ust. 3: a spouse in a marriage recognised by Polish law, and minor children (including adopted children) of the foreigner, of the spouse, or of either where dependent and under their actual parental authority. Minority is assessed at the date the application is filed (ust. 3a). |
| Family may apply at the same time | No as of 2026-04-07[1] The Act attaches no rule allowing this family member's application to be joined to the principal's; art. 168 ust. 4 and 4a name only the ICT, Blue Card and researcher permits. |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-08-07[6] Art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 17 of the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for the admissibility of entrusting work to foreigners: a holder of a temporary residence permit granted under art. 159 ust. 1 of the Act on Foreigners has free access to the labour market (swobodny dostęp do rynku pracy) – no work permit, no employer tie, no hours cap. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 6 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-04-07 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-24 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Ustawa z dnia 12 grudnia 2013 r. o cudzoziemcach — tekst ujednolicony (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1079)
Kancelaria Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-23 · Amended by pl-aliens-act-amendment-2025-1794, pl-work-admissibility-act-2025 - [2] Rozporządzenie Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji z dnia 26 lipca 2022 r. w sprawie opłat pobieranych w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej od cudzoziemców za wydanie i wymianę dokumentów (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 1583)
Kancelaria Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2022-07-26 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [3] Zezwolenie na pobyt czasowy — praca: katalog zezwoleń
Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców — Moduł Obsługi Spraw · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [4] Akt prawny: ustawa o cudzoziemcach (Dz.U. 2013 poz. 1650) — metadane ELI, w tym wykaz aktów wykonawczych i aktów zmieniających
Kancelaria Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej — API ELI · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [5] Ustawa z dnia 16 listopada 2006 r. o opłacie skarbowej — tekst ujednolicony (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1154), załącznik część III
Kancelaria Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [6] Ustawa z dnia 20 marca 2025 r. o warunkach dopuszczalności powierzania pracy cudzoziemcom na terytorium Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej — tekst ujednolicony (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 621, 1794, z 2026 r. poz. 203, 473, 734)
Kancelaria Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-05-16 · Accessed 2026-08-24