A letter from a Polish authority you don't understand: what to do

The thing Turkish speakers living in Poland bring us most often is not a question but an envelope. In Polish, official, usually with an authority's logo and an abbreviation nobody recognises. The text inside is generally simpler than you fear; the real problem is not the text but the deadline the letter carries. This article is about not missing that deadline: the awizo rule, which day the clock starts, which letters are urgent, and where the letter now arrives if you own a company.

Short answer: Collect a registered letter waiting at the post office before you know what it is; after 14 days it counts as delivered whether you read it or not. Look for three things: who wrote it, what they want, and within how many days. The deadline runs from the day after you receive the letter. If in doubt, treat it as urgent and send us a photo; you get a reply in Turkish within 24 hours, and the first letter is free.

The envelope first, then the letter: the awizo rule

Polish authorities send important correspondence by registered post. If you are not at home, a small notice (awizo) is left in your mailbox and the letter waits at the post office. The rule is in article 44 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (KPA): the letter waits 14 days; the first notice gives 7 days, then a second notice is left, and the total never exceeds 14 days from the first notice. At the end of the fourteenth day the letter goes back to the authority and is legally deemed delivered to you — even if you never read it. This is called "doręczenie zastępcze". Not collecting a letter does not stop its deadline; it starts the deadline without you seeing it.

Hence the first rule: if a registered letter is waiting at the post office, go and collect it before you know what it is. Postponing it because it might be bad news is the most common mistake made by people who say they are "stuck in Poland".

If you own a company, the letter may no longer come to the mailbox

Every company registered in the KRS since 2025 receives an electronic delivery address (e-Doręczenia) at registration; for companies registered earlier the obligation started in April 2025. Since 2026, authorities send correspondence that requires proof of delivery to this electronic inbox. A message in that inbox that nobody opens counts as delivered on the day after 14 days have passed; a paper envelope may never arrive.

If you own a company, do two things today: assign an administrator to the e-Doręczenia inbox and make sure its notification e-mail goes to an address someone actually reads. A good share of the "we never got a letter but a fine arrived" cases we see begin in an electronic inbox nobody was watching. Correspondence about your residence application, meanwhile, has come through the MOS system since 2026; watch those notifications with the same seriousness.

Who wrote it, what they want, by when

When you have the letter, look at three things; the rest is detail.

The sending authority is in the top corner and largely tells you the topic. Residence and work-permit matters come from the voivodeship office (Urząd Wojewódzki), insurance and contributions from ZUS, tax matters from the tax office (Urząd Skarbowy), company-register matters from the registry court (Sąd Rejonowy, KRS).

What is requested is usually in the middle of the text, around "wzywa się" (you are called upon), "należy" (it is required) or "w terminie" (within the deadline). Authorities mostly want one of three things: a missing document, a payment, or your position on a decision.

The deadline is the most important line and is almost always in days: "w terminie 7 dni", "w terminie 14 dni". For requests to complete a filing, the law requires the authority to give at least 7 days; it may give more and may extend before the deadline ends, but never less than 7. Appeals against decisions usually have 14 days, and a decision becomes final once that passes.

Which day the deadline starts

This is the most misunderstood rule. Under article 57 of the KPA the deadline starts the day after you receive the letter; the day of delivery does not count. The date the letter was written is irrelevant. If the last day falls on a Saturday or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the end of the next working day. If you reply by post, the day you hand it in at a Polish post office keeps the deadline; the day it reaches the authority does not matter.

Example: you received the letter on Tuesday 3 March, deadline 7 days. It starts on 4 March and ends at the end of Tuesday 10 March. If you left the same letter at the post office and it was deemed delivered after 14 days, the 7-day deadline started the day after that fourteenth day — without you ever seeing the letter.

Which letters are urgent

Not every official letter carries the same weight. Urgent: a request to complete a missing document in an application of yours (short deadline; miss it and the application is dropped), a negative decision (14 days to appeal), a payment demand or late-interest notice, a debt or registration warning from ZUS, a request for explanations from the tax office. Not urgent: information letters, confirmations of decisions, annual reminders.

The distinction is not always easy. When unsure, treating a letter as urgent is far cheaper than missing it.

What to do, what not to do

Before you try to answer the letter yourself, make sure what it says; translation apps often mistranslate official Polish, and the difference between "required" and "may be required" is the fate of an application. Put the deadline in your calendar immediately, counted from the day after delivery. Keep the original letter and the envelope; the authority will later ask for the case number (numer sprawy), and the envelope proves the delivery date. Do not spend days trying to reach the authority by phone; in Poland communication with authorities is in writing, and what is said on the phone is not binding.

Related reading: Company address and virtual office in Poland · After forming a company in Poland: CRBR, ZUS, VAT calendar

Frequently asked

I received the letter late and the deadline seems to have passed. Is it over?

Not always. Where a letter was sent to a wrong address or delivered late through the post office's error, the deemed-delivery rule does not apply and the deadline can be reinstated (przywrócenie terminu); that requires evidence that it was not your fault and an application within 7 days. This step requires legal representation; we run it with a licensed partner.

The letter is in Polish. Can I reply in Turkish?

No. Correspondence with authorities is in Polish; a Turkish or English submission is not processed. We prepare the reply in Polish and, where needed, add document translations by a sworn-translator partner.

I never opened the e-delivery inbox and a fine arrived. What now?

First open the inbox and sort every message by date; let's establish which deadlines have passed and which are still open. For a fine whose deadline has passed, the appeal route and any reduction depend on the authority and the amount; we assess it with the accountant or lawyer partner.

What we do

At Senavia we built a line for exactly this: you send a photo of the letter on WhatsApp, and within 24 hours we write back in Turkish what it is, which authority wants what, the deadline and the reply route we recommend. The first letter is free. If a reply has to be written, we coordinate it; where legal representation is required, our licensed partner steps in and we tell you so upfront. The authority always makes the decision.

Sources

• Code of Administrative Procedure (KPA) — ISAP, Sejm
• e-Doręczenia: key information for businesses — gov.pl
• Electronic delivery act (ustawa o doręczeniach elektronicznych) — ISAP, Sejm
• MOS (Moduł Obsługi Spraw) — Office for Foreigners (UdSC)

Last checked: 26 September 2026. This article is general information; your own case needs assessment by a licensed partner.

If the letter is in your hands, don't wait; the deadline is not waiting for you to read it. Send a photo of the letter on WhatsApp or see the "I'm in Poland" page.

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This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Basis: Polish Code of Administrative Procedure (KPA) articles 44, 57 and 64; e-Doręczenia and MOS practice as of September 2026. For your own case the last word rests with a licensed partner.