What it is. A ponaglenie is a formal demand addressed to the higher authority to find that the office has delayed your case. Legal basis: Art. 37 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (K.p.a.).
This is not legal advice. The guide describes the procedure. For your individual case, consult a lawyer - a list of free help is at the end.
1. Honestly, what to expect
You will most likely be refused. The ponaglenie is decided by the Head of the Office for Foreigners, who is obliged to apply Article 100d, the provision that suspended the running of deadlines. The Ministry of the Interior itself acknowledges that provincial governors often do not even forward such filings, and the Supreme Audit Office found that the share deemed justified has fallen to virtually zero.
So why file it?
Because without a *ponaglenie* you cannot go to court. Under Art. 53 § 2b of the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts, filing a complaint for inaction with a Provincial Administrative Court requires only that a formally complete ponaglenie has been filed beforehand. And the court - unlike the Head of the Office for Foreigners - may refuse to apply Article 100d, and since May 2025 has regularly done so.
The ponaglenie is not the goal; it is the key. It costs nothing and opens a door that is otherwise shut.
A second, less obvious effect. Every ponaglenie filed is an entry in the statistics. The problem is invisible today precisely because so few are filed. Your filing exists in the reports even if it is refused.
2. Who can file
Any party to administrative proceedings - that is, you, if you have applied for a residence permit and no decision has been issued.
Citizenship is irrelevant. A lawyer is not required. There is no fee.
When the 60 days start to run. The Act on Foreigners gives the provincial governor 60 days to decide a temporary residence permit case (Art. 112a(1)). Those 60 days do not run from the day you file: under Art. 112a(2) the deadline "runs from the day on which the last of the following events occurred" (Polish original: „biegnie od dnia, w którym nastąpiło ostatnie z następujących zdarzeń"). Which events count depends on when you filed (Art. 12 of the amending act of 21 November 2025, Dz.U. item 1794: proceedings begun before 27 April 2026 remain under the previous provisions).
Application filed on or before 26 April 2026 (Art. 112a(2) in the consolidated text, Dz.U. 2025 item 1079):
- the foreigner filed the application for a temporary residence permit in person, or appeared in person at the provincial office after filing it, unless the personal-appearance requirement does not apply to that foreigner; or
- the foreigner filed an application for a temporary residence permit that has no formal defects, or the defects were remedied; or
- the foreigner submitted the documents referred to in Art. 106(2)(2), or the deadline set by the governor under Art. 106(2a) lapsed without result (these are the documents confirming the data in the application and the circumstances justifying the application for the permit, which the governor requests within a period of no less than 14 days).
Application filed on or after 27 April 2026 (Art. 112a(2) as amended by the act of 21 November 2025, Dz.U. item 1794, Art. 1 point 15): point 1 was repealed, point 2 is unchanged, and point 3 reads: the foreigner submitted the documents referred to in Art. 106f, or the deadline set by the governor referred to in Art. 106f lapsed without result (Art. 106f is the governor's request to submit documents within a period of no less than 14 days from delivery of the request). For some permits (filed by a host entity, or by a foreigner staying outside Poland) the events are listed in paragraphs 3 and 3a of that article.
The deadline runs from the last of these events. If the governor does not summon you for an appearance, fingerprints or documents, some of the events may never occur, and a court assesses an office's slowness before they occur differently: in judgment II OSK 2921/24 the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) stated that the authority's lack of action in that period "could be assessed not through the prism of inaction (bezczynność) but of excessive delay (przewlekłość)". That is why the template below accuses the office of both. A ponaglenie filed before the 60 days began to run may be left unconsidered by the authority (Art. 37 § 3a K.p.a.), but in judgment II OSK 1087/25 the NSA held that the duty to file a ponaglenie before a complaint is met "already upon filing a ponaglenie free of formal defects".
Practical tip: keep proof of the date of each of these events - confirmation that the application was filed, requests showing the date of delivery, confirmation of your appearance and of fingerprinting (or the passport stamp), your letter supplementing documents together with proof of posting or delivery. The office usually does not say from which date it counts the 60 days, and without the dates you cannot show that the deadline has passed.
3. Where to file - the most common mistake
The *ponaglenie* is addressed to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, BUT sent through the provincial governor handling your case.
This follows directly from Art. 37 § 3(1): "to the higher authority through the authority conducting the proceedings."
So:
- the addressee in the heading - Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców)
- where you send it - your provincial office (urząd wojewódzki)
Sent directly to the Office for Foreigners, it will be returned or forwarded with a loss of time.
The provincial governor is required to forward your filing to the higher authority without undue delay and no later than seven days, together with copies of the case file - and is required to state its own position on it when doing so.
4. What it must contain
The statute requires little, but requires it strictly: the *ponaglenie* must contain a statement of reasons (Art. 37 § 2). Without reasons it is formally defective - and it is precisely formal completeness that opens the route to court.
Mandatory elements:
- Date and place of drafting
- Your details - name, correspondence address, telephone, email
- Addressee - Head of the Office for Foreigners, through the provincial governor
- Case reference number assigned by the office - mandatory
- Title of the document - PONAGLENIE
- Legal basis - Art. 37 § 1(1) or (2) of the K.p.a.
- Reasons - when you filed, how long has passed, what the authority did or failed to do
- Request - a finding of inaction and an order that the case be decided within a set deadline
- Signature
5. How to file
Via e-Doręczenia - fastest; you get proof of delivery immediately. Keep the confirmation.
Via ePUAP - to the provincial office's address.
By registered post with acknowledgement of receipt - keep the receipt; the posting date counts as the filing date.
In person at the registry - ask for a date stamp on your copy.
Do not send it by ordinary email: that is not a valid form of filing.
6. What happens next, and when
7 days - the provincial governor forwards the filing to the Head of the Office for Foreigners together with the case file and its own position.
7 days - the Head of the Office for Foreigners decides and issues a ruling.
In practice these deadlines are exceeded. If there is no reply after a month, that alone is grounds to go to court.
What the ruling contains (Art. 37 § 6): a finding as to whether there was inaction or excessive delay and whether it amounted to a gross violation of the law; where such a finding is made, an order that the authority decide the case within a set deadline, together with an instruction to establish the causes and identify the persons responsible.
That last element is what makes a ponaglenie uncomfortable for the office: it is not an abstract fine but a named official.
7. The next step - court
Refused, or no reply? That is expected. Next:
A complaint for inaction (skarga na bezczynność) to the Provincial Administrative Court, filed through the same provincial office.
It may be filed at any time after the ponaglenie - you do not have to wait for a reply. The court fee is 100 PLN; if your finances are strained you can apply to be exempted.
Upholding such a complaint, the court orders the authority to issue a decision within a specified deadline, states whether the violation was gross, and may impose a fine of up to ten times the national average monthly wage as well as award you a sum of money.
Since May 2025, courts in cases of this kind have regularly refused to apply Article 100d, holding it incompatible with Art. 45 of the Constitution.
An honest word about these rulings. The court did not strike down Article 100d retroactively: the refusal to apply it covers the period from 1 July 2024. The NSA put it this way: "Oceny bezczynności albo przewlekłości w sprawach, o których mowa w art. 100d ust. 1 u.o.p., należy zatem dokonywać z uwzględnieniem zdarzeń zaistniałych od 1 lipca 2024 r." (assessments of inaction or excessive delay in cases under Art. 100d(1) must therefore take into account events from 1 July 2024; II OSK 1087/25; the same sentence, worded "ustawie o pomocy", is in II OSK 2940/24). In judgment II OSK 2921/24 the NSA held that the extension of the suspension of deadlines by the act of 15 May 2024 is "niezgodnego z art. 45 ust. 1 w zw. z art. 31 ust. 3 Konstytucji" (incompatible with Art. 45(1) in conjunction with Art. 31(3) of the Constitution) and refused to apply it.
How these three cases ended for the complainants. In II OSK 2921/24 (application of 20 December 2022, citizen of India) and II OSK 2940/24 (application of 21 June 2023, citizen of Ukraine) the NSA upheld the governor's cassation appeals, set aside the judgments of the Provincial Administrative Court in Gliwice that had found inaction, and dismissed the foreigners' complaints: until 30 June 2024 the deadlines did not run, and by the date of the first-instance judgment 60 days had not yet passed. The foreigners lost both cases. Only the complainant in II OSK 1087/25 (application of 4 March 2024) won: the NSA dismissed the governor's cassation appeal, so the judgment of the court in Poznań stood - finding excessive delay (not a gross violation of the law) and obliging the governor to decide the application within 30 days; after 1 July 2024 the 60 days had passed and the governor had taken no action. Practical conclusion: this line of case law helps when, after 1 July 2024, the Art. 112a deadline has passed and the office did nothing in that time - which is why the dates in the previous section matter so much.
8. Template
Don't want to fill it in by hand? The letter generator inserts your details, the right voivodeship office and its e-Doręczenia address, counts the days and prepares a ready letter to copy or save as PDF.
The document must be filed in Polish. Fill in the fields in square brackets.
[Miejscowość], [data]
[Imię i nazwisko]
[Adres do korespondencji]
[Telefon]
[E-mail]
Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców
ul. Taborowa 33, 02-699 Warszawa
za pośrednictwem:
Wojewoda [nazwa]
[adres urzędu wojewódzkiego]
Sygnatura sprawy: [numer sprawy nadany przez urząd wojewódzki]
PONAGLENIE
Na podstawie art. 37 § 1 pkt 1 i 2 ustawy z dnia 14 czerwca 1960 r.
- Kodeks postępowania administracyjnego wnoszę ponaglenie na bezczynność
i przewlekłe prowadzenie postępowania przez Wojewodę [nazwa] w sprawie
o udzielenie mi zezwolenia na [pobyt czasowy / pobyt stały / pobyt
rezydenta długoterminowego UE], prowadzonej pod sygnaturą [numer].
Wnoszę o:
1) stwierdzenie, że organ dopuścił się bezczynności i przewlekłego
prowadzenia postępowania, oraz stwierdzenie, że miało to miejsce
z rażącym naruszeniem prawa;
2) zobowiązanie organu do załatwienia sprawy w wyznaczonym terminie;
3) zarządzenie wyjaśnienia przyczyn i ustalenia osób winnych
bezczynności lub przewlekłości.
UZASADNIENIE
Wniosek o udzielenie zezwolenia na [rodzaj zezwolenia] złożyłem/złożyłam
w dniu [data] w [nazwa urzędu wojewódzkiego].
[Describe in order what happened - for example:]
- w dniu [data] złożyłem/złożyłam odciski palców;
- w dniu [data] uzupełniłem/uzupełniłam dokumenty na wezwanie organu;
- w dniu [data] otrzymałem/otrzymałam stempel w paszporcie;
- ostatnim ze zdarzeń z art. 112a ust. 2 ustawy o cudzoziemcach było [zdarzenie]
w dniu [data] - od tej daty liczę termin 60 dni;
- od dnia [data] organ nie podjął żadnych czynności w sprawie.
Od złożenia wniosku upłynęło [liczba] dni, tj. [liczba] miesięcy.
Zgodnie z art. 112a ust. 1 ustawy z dnia 12 grudnia 2013 r.
o cudzoziemcach decyzję w sprawie udzielenia zezwolenia na pobyt czasowy
wydaje się w terminie 60 dni. Zgodnie z art. 35 § 3 k.p.a. załatwienie
sprawy wymagającej postępowania wyjaśniającego powinno nastąpić
nie później niż w ciągu miesiąca, a sprawy szczególnie skomplikowanej
- nie później niż w ciągu dwóch miesięcy.
Organ nie poinformował mnie o przyczynach zwłoki ani nie wskazał nowego
terminu załatwienia sprawy w trybie art. 36 § 1 k.p.a.
Mam świadomość, że organ może powołać się na art. 100d ustawy z dnia
12 marca 2022 r. o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem
zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa. Wskazuję jednak, że Naczelny Sąd
Administracyjny w wyroku z dnia 19 maja 2025 r. (sygn. akt II OSK 2921/24)
w ramach rozproszonej kontroli konstytucyjności odmówił zastosowania tego
przepisu w okresie po 30 czerwca 2024 r. jako niezgodnego z art. 45 ust. 1
w związku z art. 31 ust. 3 Konstytucji RP oraz z art. 47 w związku
z art. 52 ust. 1 Karty Praw Podstawowych Unii Europejskiej, a w wyrokach
z dnia 13 czerwca 2025 r. (sygn. akt II OSK 2940/24) i z dnia 16 lutego
2026 r. (sygn. akt II OSK 1087/25) podtrzymał to stanowisko: bezczynność albo przewlekłość
ocenia się z uwzględnieniem zdarzeń zaistniałych od 1 lipca 2024 r.
Przewlekłość postępowania powoduje dla mnie wymierne skutki:
[describe your own - for example: brak możliwości wyjazdu poza granice
Polski, utrudnienia w zmianie pracodawcy, brak zdolności kredytowej,
niepewność co do dalszego pobytu].
Wobec powyższego wnoszę jak na wstępie.
....................................
[podpis]
Załączniki:
1. Kopia potwierdzenia złożenia wniosku
2. [other documents, if any]9. Where to get free help
SIP - Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej (Warsaw) - free advice on migration law.
Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka - legal assistance programme.
Nieodpłatna pomoc prawna - the state system of free legal aid; book through your municipality's website or by phone. Available regardless of citizenship, on a declaration of financial hardship.
Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich (Commissioner for Human Rights) - does not litigate individual cases, but accepts complaints and demands explanations from authorities. Free of charge; form at bip.brpo.gov.pl.
Based on the law in force as of August 2026. Check that the provisions are current before filing.