Who extends the visa

A Schengen visa and a national visa are extended, or the extension is refused, by the voivode competent for the foreigner's place of stay, by a decision (Art. 84 para. 1 of the Act on Foreigners). You submit the application in Poland, during your legal stay.

National visa - conditions

A national visa can be extended when all of these conditions are met (Art. 82 para. 1):

  • an important professional or personal interest supports it, or humanitarian reasons make it impossible for you to leave on time,
  • the events that are the reason for the application occurred independently of your will and could not have been foreseen on the day of submitting the visa application,
  • the circumstances do not indicate that the purpose of stay will differ from the declared one,
  • there are no grounds for which the issue of a national visa is refused.

A national visa is extended once, and the period of stay cannot exceed the period provided for the given visa (Art. 84 para. 2). An exception concerns a foreigner in hospital whose state of health makes it impossible to leave (Art. 84 paras. 3 and 4).

Schengen visa - grounds

The grounds result from the Visa Code (Art. 33). The visa is extended free of charge when, because of force majeure or for humanitarian reasons, you cannot leave the Schengen states on time. It can also be extended for important personal reasons if you present evidence - the fee is then 30 EUR. The competent authority is the authority of the state in which you are when you submit the application.

Deadline and effects of the application

  • Deadline. You submit the application on a form no later than on the day your legal stay expires (Art. 85 para. 1). An application submitted after the deadline ends in a refusal to initiate proceedings (Art. 86).
  • Legal stay. If you submitted the application on time and without formal defects, your stay is legal from the day of submitting the application until the day the decision becomes final. The voivode places a stamp in the passport (Art. 87 para. 1). The protection does not apply when the proceedings were suspended at your request (Art. 87 para. 2).
  • Refusal. After a final refusal decision you have 30 days to leave, and your stay during that time is legal (Art. 299 para. 6 point 1 letter a and para. 7).

Fee

Extending a Schengen visa costs the equivalent of 30 euro, but in the cases under Art. 33 para. 1 of the Visa Code (force majeure, humanitarian reasons) there is no fee. Extending a national visa costs 406 PLN (part III para. 7 of the annex to the Act on Stamp Duty). If the voivode refuses the extension or discontinues the proceedings, the fee is not refunded - this applies to applications submitted from 5 March 2026 (Art. 87a of the Act on Foreigners).

Extension of a stay under visa-free travel

In justified cases the voivode may extend a stay without a visa by a further 90 days, but only when an agreement abolishing the visa requirement provides for it (Art. 300 para. 1). You submit the application in person and justify it, no later than on the last day of the legal visa-free stay - under the rules on the entry/exit system (EES) it is the last working day (Art. 300 para. 2). So do not wait until the last moment. A refusal is made by a decision (Art. 301 para. 1). The rules of entry without a visa are described in the guide visa-free travel.

Before you submit the application, count the days of stay - see 90 days in a 180-day period. If you plan a longer stay, check the residence application during visa-free travel or a temporary residence permit.