Application for a residence card in Poland: which voivodeships Ukrainians do this most often

Mazowieckie Voivodeship remains the absolute leader in the number of applications for a residence card among Ukrainians. Over the past three years, almost 400 thousand applications have been received here. For comparison, in the Świętokrzyskie region, there were only 17 thousand applications during the same period. This is reported by the portal In Poland.

Where the most applications are submitted

According to the Office for Foreigners, from 2023 to 2025, the most active submissions were made in voivodeships with large agglomerations.The spokesman for the office, Jakub Dudziak, noted: «The difference between voivodeships shows which regions are most attractive to foreigners. They strive to go where there are more job opportunities».

The most applications have been submitted in the following regions:

• Mazowieckie – 396 thousand.

• Greater Poland – 182 thousand.

• Lower Silesia – 165 thousand.

For comparison, in the Świętokrzyskie, Opole, and Subcarpathian regions, there were only 17 thousand, 23 thousand, and 24 thousand, respectively.

How long do you have to wait

The legalization process can take a long time: the timeframes vary significantly across different voivodeships. The fastest decisions are made in the Małopolskie administration – on average 172 days. Next are the Warmian-Masurian (201 days) and Lublin (223 days) voivodeships.The longest waits are in Silesia – up to 640 days, Opole – 623 days, and Pomerania – 537 days.

If you are interested in working in Poland, we recommend checking out 350,000 job vacancies on the Layboard portal.

Trend and reason for growth

Statistics show: demand has been actively growing until 2023.In 2019, 250 thousand applications were submitted, in 2021 – 393 thousand, and in 2023 – already 609 thousand. In 2024, the number of applications decreased slightly, but the overall burden on the administration remains high. The reasons are obvious: the pandemic and the beginning of large-scale aggression by the Russian Federation, which caused a large influx of Ukrainians and other foreigners.

Poland plans to digitize the procedure – soon the submission of residency applications will be completely online to reduce queues and speed up processing.