What insurance do you need for a residence card in Poland in 2026?

Public NFZ insurance

Public health insurance is provided by NFZ (the National Health Fund). Contributions are usually paid to this fund through ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution). For employees, the employer handles this. Entrepreneurs register themselves, while students are registered by their university. If you or your employer pay health insurance contributions, this is sufficient to apply for a residence card.

How can you check?

• If you have a Profil Zaufany electronic signature, visit the government website pacjent.gov.pl, find “Moje konto” and check “Twoje ubezpieczenie zdrowotne”. If it says that NFZ confirms your insurance, everything is in order. Then obtain confirmation of your insurance from ZUS or your employer and submit it to the office.
• If you do not have a Profil Zaufany, visit your nearest ZUS office or ask your employer whether health insurance contributions are being paid for you.

If contributions are not being paid, you can visit an NFZ branch and sign a voluntary health insurance agreement. However, the cost is quite high - in 2026 it is PLN 835 per month (PLN 55.8 per month for students). An alternative is a private insurance policy, which is often cheaper.

Buying private health insurance

Private medical insurance is offered by companies such as PZU, AXA, Allianz, Warta, Compensa and others. Bear in mind that not all insurance policies are suitable for a residence card.

Legal requirements for insurance

• the insurer must be approved by the Polish authorities;
• the policy must be issued in Polish;
• the sum insured must be at least EUR 30,000;
• the policy must cover emergency hospital treatment;
• it must cover transport to the country of residence for medical reasons;
• it must cover costs related to the death of the insured person;
• the insurer must settle treatment costs directly with the medical facility on the basis of an invoice;
• the insurance must be taken out with an insurer recognised by Polish offices.

Our Wiener insurance meets all the requirements above, which you can check yourself in the General Terms and Conditions of Insurance.

Another requirement of offices dealing with the legalisation of foreigners’ stay is proof of payment for the insurance. With our insurance, there is nothing to worry about - the policy itself confirms that the premium has been paid in full.

How long do you need insurance for?

Under the regulations, insurance should cover the entire planned stay in Poland. In practice, it may be checked in two situations:

• when entering Poland;
• while your residence card application is being processed.

Lawyers dealing with foreigners’ residence matters recommend keeping insurance valid throughout the administrative proceedings. If an official notices that you have no valid insurance or your policy has expired, they may issue a refusal at any time. If the proceedings take longer, buy a new policy in advance and submit it before the previous one expires.

How do you buy private insurance for a residence card?

1. Choose the start and end dates of your insurance cover. In 2026, residence card applications in most Polish cities take six months or longer, so it is worth buying an annual policy straight away to avoid having to submit a new document later.
2. To buy insurance, enter your details and pay by bank card or BLIK. Your PDF policy will be sent immediately to the email address provided.

In accordance with the requirements of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the PDF is password protected. The password is your date of birth. For example, if you were born on 19 February 2001, the password is 20010219. For convenience, you can later remove the password in a PDF viewer or using free online tools.

How do you prove to the office that you have insurance?

The insurance policy is sent as a PDF - this electronic file is the original document. You can attach it to your residence card application in MOS 2.0, and this is usually sufficient proof of insurance.

However, as each foreigners’ office in Poland may interpret the rules slightly differently, for peace of mind it is worth printing the policy and submitting it again when you visit the office to provide fingerprints.

How much does insurance for a residence card cost?

The price depends on the policy period. The longer the cover, the lower the cost per day. An additional discount applies to policies lasting more than six months, so it is often better value to buy cover for more than 180 days - for example, a full year (or even 182 days).

You can also choose any dates and insurance period yourself.

Additional cover options

Remember that in our calculator you choose the insurance period and scope of cover yourself. If you practise extreme sports or do heavy physical work, you can extend your policy. You can also add personal accident (NNW) and civil liability cover - in that case, the insurer will cover damage you cause to other people. Remember to read the General Terms and Conditions of Insurance, available in the “Documents” section of our website.