Residence card in Wrocław: how the Lower Silesian office works

Who the Lower Silesian Voivode handles

The office is chosen by where you actually live, not by your employer's or university's address. So it is not only Wrocław residents who apply to the Lower Silesian Voivode, but everyone living in the voivodeship: in the counties around the city (wrocławski, oleśnicki, oławski, trzebnicki, średzki), in the copper belt around Legnica, Lubin and Głogów, near Wałbrzych and Świdnica, in the Jelenia Góra valley or the Kłodzko area.

Plac Powstańców Warszawy 1: Hall A and its two desks

The address is pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 50-153 Wrocław. The department deals with both Polish citizens and foreigners, so it is easy to end up in the wrong queue. Foreigners go to Hall A, choose “Cudzoziemcy” at the ticket machine and then one of two services:

• “Informacja” (desk 1) – questions about your case, help understanding a letter from the office;
• “Załączniki” (desk 18) – as the name says, for people bringing documents for their case. If you are unsure which ticket to take, start with Informacja.

Both desks are open Monday to Friday, 8:00–16:00, and until 18:00 on Wednesdays (public holidays excepted). The long Wednesday helps if you cannot get time off in the morning. Before leaving home, check the DUW live queue page to see how many people are waiting.

The infoline for third-country nationals, 71 701 11 00, answers during the same hours. Current contact details are on the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Office website.

Legnica, Jelenia Góra, Wałbrzych: DUW branch offices

The cudzoziemcy-info page still describes booking residence visits both in Wrocław and in these three branches. A branch is part of the same office; the decision is always the Lower Silesian Voivode's.

For applications filed in the new MOS, however, the place of your fingerprint appointment is stated in the summons. If you live near Jelenia Góra and the letter sends you to Wrocław (or the other way round), call the infoline first and ask about a change – do not simply turn up at another location. Branch addresses are listed on the DUW branches page.

Which DUW online systems you actually need today

Over the years DUW built several tools of its own, and some descriptions on its website predate the new MOS (27 April 2026). This is the current picture:

MOS has no appointment calendar. If you find instructions saying “MOS first, then Przybysz, then a visit”, treat them as the old procedure and, when in doubt, ask the infoline whether they still apply to your case.

A DUW case in stages: from bank transfer to card pickup

1. Two transfers before MOS. Stamp duty goes to Gmina Wrocław, the 100 zł card fee to the voivodeship office (accounts below). Save the confirmations as files – you attach them to the application.
2. The form, plus an attachment from your Wrocław employer or university. You log in through login.gov.pl and complete the application; the employer or university receives a link from the system to its own attachment, valid for 30 days. Without the signed attachment you cannot send. Our MOS guide walks through the form.
3. UPO, then the certificate. The UPO arrives at once. Once a DUW officer has checked the application, a certificate of filing (zaświadczenie) appears in MOS; it replaces the old passport stamp.
4. Fingerprint summons. It comes outside MOS, at least 7 days ahead, and names the place: Wrocław or a branch. Bring your original passport. Children under 6 and people with a specialist doctor's certificate that they cannot attend are exempt.
5. Supplementing documents. You get at least 14 days. Paper documents can be handed in at the “Załączniki” desk in Hall A unless the letter says otherwise.
6. Decision. It arrives by post or e-Doręczenia. You have 14 days to appeal – see refusal and appeal.
7. Card pickup. When the office tells you the card is ready, you fill in the form at kartypobytu.duw.pl, receive a date by e-mail and collect the card at DUW on that day.

Missing the summons, refusing fingerprints or not showing your passport ends the case: the proceedings are discontinued (umorzenie). Formal defects left uncorrected mean the application is left unexamined.

Two accounts: Gmina Wrocław and DUW

• Stamp duty (340 zł for general temporary residence and the CUKR card, 440 zł for residence and work or an EU Blue Card, 640 zł for permanent residence and EU long-term resident): Gmina Wrocław, PKO BP, 82 1020 5226 0000 6102 0417 7895.
• Card fee (100 zł; 50 zł for, among others, children under 16, secondary-school pupils and students): Dolnośląski Urząd Wojewódzki, NBP O/O Wrocław, 41 1010 1674 0005 9222 3100 0000.

The classic mistake is sending both payments to one account. Compare the numbers with the DUW bank accounts page just before paying. For applications filed from 5 March 2026, stamp duty is not refunded after a refusal or discontinuation – so settle the legal basis first and pay second.

How long a DUW decision takes

DUW publishes no average processing times. The law gives 60 days for temporary residence and six months for permanent residence, but under art. 100d of the special act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens (extended by Dz.U. 2026 poz. 203) those limits do not run until 4 March 2027 – for every foreigner. What that means if you live in Wrocław:

• a formal reminder (ponaglenie) sent “because 60 days have passed” will hardly change anything before that date;
• plan a job change, a long trip or a new lease with a buffer of several months;
• an application filed on time and without defects keeps your stay legal until the final decision, but the MOS certificate does not let you cross borders.

More on realistic timing: residence card processing time.

Students, employees, families and CUKR in Lower Silesia

Students at Wrocław universities

The university signs an electronic attachment in MOS. Warn the international student office that the link will come by e-mail, especially in September, the busiest month. Your card costs 50 zł. Details: residence card for studies.

Employees of Wrocław-area companies

For residence and work, the employer completes attachment no. 1. The starosta's labour-market information is no longer needed, but if on the filing date you are in Poland on, say, a tourist visa from another Schengen country, the voivode may refuse to open proceedings. See temporary residence and work; HR teams should read the employers' page.

Families

A parent creates sub-accounts for children in MOS. If a family member is still abroad, the family reunification application is still filed on paper – see family reunification.

Ukrainian citizens

CUKR card applications are accepted in MOS from 4 May 2026 to 4 March 2027; fees go to the same Lower Silesian accounts. Conditions: the CUKR card.

MaViAl: an office in Wrocław

MaViAl is first of all a software development company; residence support is our second key service line. Our office is in Wrocław, so cases before the Lower Silesian Voivode are everyday work for us. Before you pay stamp duty that the office will not refund, we check the legal basis and documents. Then we prepare the MOS data with you (you log in and sign yourself; we never take your login), chase the employer's or university's attachment, prepare you for the summons and, within the agreed scope, answer letters from DUW. We work in Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and English.

Full support starts from 1490 zł; other options, including in-person meetings, are on the prices page. How cooperation works step by step is described on residence card help in Wrocław, and you can book through contact. We do not promise decisions or deadlines.

Frequently asked questions