Your MOS application is submitted. You paid PLN 440. You uploaded every scan. And then — nothing. Three weeks of silence. You finally call the urząd and hear: "We're waiting for Annex 1 from your employer." Your employer has never heard of it. And the clock on your legal stay is ticking. This is the story of how one unsigned form — a document your employer fills out, not you — becomes the single biggest bottleneck in a karta pobytu (Polish residence permit) application for work.
As of 27 April 2026, all applications for temporary residence and work permits go through MOS (Moduł Obsługi Spraw), and Annex 1 is now a mandatory electronic step that your employer must complete before your application can move forward. If they don't know what to do, or they fill it in wrong, your entire case stalls. This guide tells you exactly what the letter must contain, what mistakes derail cases, and how to walk your HR through it in plain language.
What Is Annex 1 — and Why Your Employer Controls It
Annex 1 (Załącznik nr 1) is the employer's electronic declaration attached to your karta pobytu application for work. It is not a free-form support letter. It is a structured form inside the MOS system that your employer must complete and digitally sign before your application proceeds. The urząd uses it to verify three things: that you have a genuine purpose of stay, that your salary meets the legal minimum, and that your health insurance is in place through employment.
Here's how the process works technically: when you submit your application in MOS, the system automatically emails your employer at the address you provided. That email contains a unique link. The employer clicks it, logs into MOS with their own Profil Zaufany (trusted profile), qualified electronic signature, or personal signature, and then fills out the annex form. They sign it digitally. Only after they do this does your application move to the review stage. If the employer misses the email, never signs it, or signs it with errors, your case sits in a queue — going nowhere. See the official MOS Q&A at mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl
This is why we always tell applicants: before you submit anything in MOS, have a conversation with your HR department or employer. Make sure they know the email is coming. Make sure they have a Profil Zaufany set up. Make sure the person who will sign has authority to represent the company. A two-minute conversation before submission saves weeks of silence after.
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What Fields the Employer Must Fill In — Every Required Element
The Annex 1 form inside MOS is not a blank page. It's a structured template with specific mandatory fields. But your employer still needs to know what information to have ready before they open the link. Missing or incorrect data in any field can cause a wezwanie — a formal correction request from the urząd — which typically gives you 7 days to respond, or your case is frozen.
Here is every element the employer must provide:
- Company legal name exactly as it appears in KRS (for companies) or CEIDG (for sole traders). No abbreviations unless they are in the official registration.
- NIP number — the employer's tax identification number. Must be current and active. Wrong NIP is one of the top rejection triggers.
- REGON number — statistical registration number. Required alongside NIP.
- KRS or CEIDG number — the company registry entry. For incorporated companies (sp. z o.o., S.A.) this is KRS; for individuals running a business it is CEIDG.
- Your job position / title — must match exactly what is stated in your employment contract. If your contract says "Warehouse Operative" and Annex 1 says "Logistics Specialist", the urząd will flag the discrepancy.
- Type of contract — umowa o pracę (employment contract), umowa zlecenie (civil-law mandate contract), or other. This determines how the salary minimum is calculated.
- Gross monthly salary — must be stated in PLN. As of 1 January 2026, the minimum is PLN 4,806 gross/month (PLN 31.40/hour for mandate contracts). Any salary below this means your application will be refused.
- Working hours — full-time (pełny etat) or part-time fraction (e.g. ½ etatu). If part-time, the minimum salary is proportionally reduced but your stated salary must still meet the proportional floor.
- Place of work — the physical address where the work is performed. Remote work must be addressed carefully; some urzędy require a registered office address and a separate explanation for remote arrangements.
- Contract duration — the start date and (if applicable) end date. For open-ended contracts, the end date field is left blank or marked "nieokreślony". The permit granted will not exceed 3 years.
- Health insurance confirmation — for employees on umowa o pracę, this is automatic via ZUS contributions. The employer confirms this by completing the relevant section. For mandate contracts, health insurance coverage must be separately documented.
One thing many employers miss: the person signing Annex 1 must have legal authority to represent the company. If the HR manager is not listed as an authorized representative in KRS, they cannot sign on behalf of the company — the CEO or a notarially authorized proxy must sign instead. This sounds administrative but it causes real delays when an HR manager signs, the urząd checks the KRS, and the signature doesn't match.
The official checklist for work-based residence permit documents is available at gov.pl/web/cudzoziemcy. Cross-reference it against what your employer is preparing.
The 5 Mistakes That Stall Cases for Months
We see the same errors come through our office week after week. Each one is avoidable. Each one costs the applicant weeks or months — sometimes the entire application window.
- Wrong or outdated NIP. Companies sometimes change their NIP after restructuring. The NIP in Annex 1 must match what is currently active in the KRS/CEIDG database. A one-digit typo causes a mismatch flag that can take weeks to resolve.
- Salary stated in net instead of gross. The legal threshold is gross. A salary of PLN 3,600 net looks like it might be fine, but at PLN 4,400 gross it falls below the 2026 minimum of PLN 4,806. Always confirm the gross figure.
- Position title doesn't match the employment contract. The urząd compares Annex 1 to your contract. If they don't match exactly, you get a wezwanie. Your employer then has 7 days to re-sign with the corrected title — but first they have to understand what went wrong.
- Employer misses the MOS email. MOS sends the Annex 1 link to the email address you entered in the application. If that's a general company inbox that nobody monitors, the email sits unread for weeks. Always confirm the exact email address with HR before submitting.
- Unauthorized person signs. If the signer isn't listed in KRS as an authorized representative, the urząd will invalidate the annex. The company then needs to re-sign with the correct person — or provide a power of attorney.
Practical tip: Before submitting your MOS application, send your HR manager this checklist: (1) Set up or confirm Profil Zaufany, (2) Check your company's KRS for who can sign, (3) Confirm the email address for the MOS link, (4) Have your NIP, REGON, and KRS numbers ready, (5) Confirm the gross monthly salary is above PLN 4,806. Fifteen minutes of preparation saves two months of waiting.
What If Your Employer Refuses or Can't Complete Annex 1?
This is less common but it happens. Sometimes an employer simply doesn't want to deal with the Polish bureaucracy. Sometimes a company is dissolving. Sometimes HR is overwhelmed and keeps postponing. None of these situations is a dead end — but each requires a different response.
If your employer refuses outright, your first option is to find alternative employment before your current visa or stamp expires, and begin a fresh application with the new employer. The second option, if you already have a pending application, is to file a formal notification of change of employer — but this only works under specific conditions and the new employer must still complete Annex 1.
If your employer is simply slow, you can contact the urząd to flag the delay. In some voivodeships, the urząd will send a reminder notice to the employer. But you cannot force them to sign, and the legal responsibility for the application timeline ultimately falls on you.
If your company closes mid-application, your case becomes a karta pobytu after employer change situation — a separate procedure that requires specific documents and timing. We've handled many of these cases. They are solvable, but they need to move quickly.
Read also: 5 Karta Pobytu Mistakes That Cost Foreigners Months in Poland (2026) — many of them trace back to the employer side of the application.
After Annex 1 Is Signed — What Happens Next
Once your employer completes and signs Annex 1 in MOS, your application moves from "waiting for employer" to "under review" status. The urząd (your regional Urząd Wojewódzki) then begins substantive review of your case. Processing times in 2026 range from 3 months in the best-case voivodeships to 11–14 months in Mazowieckie (Warsaw area). The stamp (pieczątka) placed in your passport on the day you submitted gives you continued legal right to stay and work throughout the wait.
If the urząd needs anything further, they will send a wezwanie do uzupełnienia — a formal notice to provide additional documents or corrections, typically within 7 days. Missing this deadline can suspend your case. Watch your MOS account and the email address you registered with.
For a complete picture of what happens after submission — including how to track your case status — see Karta Pobytu Online via MOS in 2026: Every Step, PLN 440 Total, No Paper. And for real data on how long your voivodeship takes, Karta Pobytu Wait Times by Voivodeship in 2026 gives the honest numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
My employer has never heard of Annex 1. How do I explain it to them?
Tell them: "When I submit my residence permit application through the Polish government's MOS system, you'll receive an email with a link. You need to log in with your Profil Zaufany or company signature, fill in my employment details — position, salary, contract type — and sign it electronically. Without this, my application cannot proceed. The whole process takes about 15 minutes." If they need official confirmation, point them to mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl.
What if my employer already signed Annex 1 but put the wrong salary?
The employer cannot edit a signed annex — they must re-sign a corrected version. Contact the urząd handling your case and explain the error. They will reopen the annex step or issue a wezwanie asking the employer to resubmit. Do this quickly — urząd correspondence has strict response deadlines. If the salary stated in Annex 1 is below PLN 4,806 gross (the 2026 minimum), your application will be refused at that stage.
Can my employer write a separate support letter instead of Annex 1?
No. Since April 2026, the Annex 1 electronic form in MOS is mandatory and cannot be replaced by a free-form letter. Some urzędy previously accepted paper letters for certain permit types, but this is no longer the case for work-based applications. A paper letter from your employer is not a substitute and will not satisfy the requirement. Annex 1 is the legal document.
I work for two employers. Do both of them need to complete Annex 1?
Yes. If you work for multiple employers simultaneously, each one must complete their own Annex 1 in MOS. You provide each employer's email address in your application, and MOS sends separate links. The salary threshold applies to each employment relationship individually — the urząd does not combine income from multiple employers to reach the minimum wage floor.
My employer is abroad. Can a foreign company complete Annex 1?
If your employer is a foreign company legally operating in Poland (registered in KRS or conducting business through a branch), they can complete Annex 1. If the company has no Polish legal presence, the situation is more complex — you would likely need a different permit type (such as a business permit rather than an employment-based one). Speak to an immigration specialist before applying in this situation, as the wrong permit category causes refusal regardless of how well Annex 1 is completed.
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