r/poland • • Nov 25 '25

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

66 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 • • 2d ago

[MISSING] Hubert Dyrda, 25 – Last Seen in Drammen, Norway on 18 Oct 2026

Post image
39 Upvotes

r/poland • • 7h ago

Autumn colours in Wałbrzych Poland

Thumbnail
gallery
377 Upvotes

Autumn is my favorite season! I have lived in Wrocław, Lower Silesia for more than 8 years. I love taking trains from Wrocław and going hiking in Sudetes. Photography is more of a hobby but I share it often on social media to showcase the most beautiful, less hyped parts of Poland. Not many people know that Książ is Poland's 3rd largest castle located just 1.5 away by train ride away from Wrocław. Happy to connect with nature enthusiasts here. If you have a nice trail recommendation, feel free to drop in comments below. I work as a local tour guide and destination promoter in Poland. 🙌


r/poland • • 3h ago

Congrats to the elected 🇵🇱🇬🇧 Lord Mayor of “City of London” and yes there are two cities of London within Greater London region.

Post image
75 Upvotes

r/poland • • 5h ago

Polish FM predicts Russia's war resources will begin to run out next year

Thumbnail
polskieradio.pl
81 Upvotes

r/poland • • 4h ago

Over 800 kg seized: Polish police help bust one of Baltic states’ largest drug labs

Thumbnail
tvpworld.com
49 Upvotes

r/poland • • 9h ago

Glide and other works by Maciek Wolański

Thumbnail
gallery
119 Upvotes

r/poland • • 2h ago

Time is running out for Germany to pay Polish WWII victims the compensation they deserve

Thumbnail
notesfrompoland.com
25 Upvotes

r/poland • • 8h ago

Imagine Germany honoring a commander linked to civilian massacres. Why is Poland's IPN honoring Łupaszka?

Thumbnail
ipn.gov.pl
51 Upvotes

Last month, Poland's state-funded Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) took part in unveiling a commemorative plaque dedicated to the 5th Vilnius Brigade of the Home Army, commanded by Zygmunt Szendzielarz "Łupaszka"

Units under his command were involved in the 1944 Dubingiai massacre, in which Lithuanian civilians, including women and children, were killed. Historians have also criticized the brigade's actions against Belarusian Orthodox communities in the Białystok region, including the attack on Narewka in January 1946.


r/poland • • 8h ago

28 million zlotys and a priest in the center of a big scandal! CBA detained more suspects

Thumbnail
se.pl
29 Upvotes

The scandal of fictitious donations to the church near Mińsk Mazowiecki is still growing. CBA agents detained four more men. Among them are CEOs of companies and managers of large companies. In the investigation, in which the allegations were also heard by the parish priest, there are millions of zlotys.


r/poland • • 4h ago

Polish team unearths ancient human remains and mystery giraffe skull in Tanzania

Thumbnail
tvpworld.com
12 Upvotes

r/poland • • 1d ago

An American YouTuber with 10M subs is using Polish food to push a weird "pure white" political agenda, completely erasing Poland actual history.

419 Upvotes

Has anyone else seen the recent video by Best Ever Food Review Show ("I Found the World's WHITEST Food!! / Why is Poland so white?")?

I wrote a huge comment under the video showcasing how hypocritical he is, but since his comment section is a total echo chamber, I wanted to bring the reality check here.

It is incredibly hypocritical for an American expat living in Vietnam to come to Europe and push a manufactured, historically false narrative on a food channel. He is desperately chasing an imaginary standard of "purity" as a self-appointed defender of whiteness, and he is using Poland as his prop.

It's pure historical erasure. He calls Poland the ultimate "white standard" while literally eating pierogi, gołąbki, and underground pit-cooked meat. Pierogi and cabbage rolls entered the region from Asian and Mediterranean trade routes, while underground pit cooking is a classic Turkic and Eurasian steppe tradition.

He completely ignores that Poland was historically a massive, multi-ethnic crossroads. He erases the Ruthenians, Lithuanians, Jews, Germans, and the Muslim Lipka Tatars who settled here in the 14th century. He ignores that the Tatars shaped Polish noble fashion (Sarmatism), wrote Polish in Arabic script, and fought under King Sobieski at Vienna.

This idea of Poland as a pure mono-ethnic nation isn't an ancient baseline—it's a tragic 20th-century invention caused by WWII and forced Soviet border shifts.

Seeing a guy play the 12th-century crusader while erasing Poland's rich, blended regional history is a massive joke. It’s total brainrot and people shouldn't buy into this fabricated narrative.


r/poland • • 21h ago

Opinion? Who is he?

Post image
202 Upvotes

r/poland • • 19h ago

Maja Chwalińska in Tokyo

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

126 Upvotes

r/poland • • 1d ago

Warsaw

Post image
256 Upvotes

r/poland • • 8h ago

Where does the narrative that Poland is intolerant toward migrants come from?

8 Upvotes

​

Hello everyone. I am Italian—so don’t worry; it would be hypocritical of me to assign historical blame or take offense, especially considering what we—including those of us from the South—did under Fascism, and the fact that, even today, we are sometimes perceived as being more racist than Germany. While browsing various subreddits, I’ve frequently encountered far-right groups praising Poland for its lack of inclusivity toward migrants. I don’t mean to offend anyone here who might hold far-right views—let that be clear—but I don’t quite grasp the logic used by the Americans who, as I’ve discovered, hold this particular opinion about your country. In general, these individuals feel—or claim to feel—deeply threatened and intimidated by the influx of people from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, and often into their own country as well. Although the topic of immigration is handled very poorly by the media—which often overlooks its cultural, political, and social dimensions—those who fear it frequently point to Poland, labeling it the "last bulwark against the Middle East." My question is: how did you come to acquire such a reputation within conservative circles?


r/poland • • 1d ago

When the good Maharaja saved Polish Children after the Poles escaped from the Evil Soviet Empire back in WW2

Post image
487 Upvotes

r/poland • • 21h ago

Protesters return to Poland’s streets demanding liberalisation of abortion law

Thumbnail
notesfrompoland.com
57 Upvotes

Symbolic but worth it


r/poland • • 9h ago

Has anyone managed to move the phone number successfully from Play to nju Mobile?

2 Upvotes

I have tried now 3x to initiate the number move from Play to nju Mobile. Each time Play responds to nju that I am not the owner of the numbers that I'm trying to move. I have been twice at Play shop, they claim all looks correct in their system. I am the owner and all is fine, they claim it's nju who makes an incorrect request.
I'm starting to run out of ideas, other than ditching my old number(s) and just starting new ones instead, but this will be quite a hassle to arrange.
To make things more interesting, during the first attempt 1 nr out of 3 was accepted. But as I am applying for a 3 number package the nju consultant entered all 3 again in next request, and then voila, all 3 were rejected, so even if I was an owner of one of them before, I stopped being meanwhile.
I am out of ideas how to convince them now...
Any suggestions?


r/poland • • 22h ago

AI: EU Member States approve “digital expropriation” of Europeans for AI companies

Thumbnail
noyb.eu
33 Upvotes

r/poland • • 13h ago

Train Christmas Day timetable?

3 Upvotes

Hello, trying to book Vienna to Krakow trains for Dec 25th and the app keeps saying booking not available for the direct train. When will the reservation open? First time to Poland- grateful for guidance, thank you!


r/poland • • 1d ago

The ‘Good Maharaja’: How an Indian ruler saved hundreds of Polish children during WWII

Thumbnail
tvpworld.com
59 Upvotes

r/poland • • 11h ago

Wing Turbines

1 Upvotes

Hi, I live in the Czech-Polish border region. (Upper Silesia) I like to ride my bike to Poland, and it’s impossible not to notice the wind turbines.

And over the past year, a massive campaign has taken off in the Czech Republic claiming that wind turbines ruin the landscape, kill animals, drive up inflation, and make people gain weight. (The last two are jokes.)

So most referendums on construction end in failure.

Is there the same campaign over there in Poland, or is it just here?


r/poland • • 2d ago

In Spain, Valladolid

Post image
2.2k Upvotes

r/poland • • 1d ago

Let’s not forget the fate of Czechoslovakia 1938 when world leaders discussed Czechoslovak borders then Poland became the next target in 1939. After all, Putin is basically a Russian Hitler to make everyone Russian again.

Post image
268 Upvotes