Who Polish law treats as a foreigner
Under Polish law a "cudzoziemiec" (a foreigner) is anyone who does not hold Polish citizenship. Companies registered abroad count too, and so do Polish companies controlled from abroad.
That definition says nothing about where you live. You can have spent fifteen years in Warsaw, hold a permanent residence card, pay Polish tax and speak the language, and you are still a foreigner for this particular law. Residence does matter later on, because five years of it can remove the permit requirement for land. But it never changes whether the law applies to you.
If you hold EEA or Swiss citizenship, this page is already over
Citizens and businesses from the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and from Switzerland can buy any property in Poland without asking anyone. Any type, any size, anywhere in the country, farmland included.
There is no application, no fee and no waiting. If this is you, the rest of this page is background reading rather than something you need to act on.
A flat needs no permit. A house with land does.
If you are not an EEA or Swiss citizen, Polish law lets you buy a self-contained dwelling unit (in Polish, a samodzielny lokal mieszkalny) with no permit at all. That is a normal flat in a block, which is what most foreigners buying in Polish cities are buying.
A garage, or a share in one, bought for your own housing needs is exempt on the same terms.
A house is a different matter, because a house comes with the land under it, and land is what the law is actually about. Buying a house, a plot, or anything else that is not a flat means applying to MSWiA for a permit first.
Both exemptions come with one geographic condition: the property must lie outside the border zone (strefa nadgraniczna). Inside it, even a flat needs a permit.
What you buy alongside the flat
The flat itself is exempt. What is sold with it may not be.
Polish flats are routinely sold together with a parking space in the underground garage, a storage cage in the basement, or a share in the access road and the land around the building. Depending on how each of those is set up in the deed — as part of the dwelling unit, or as a separate share in land — the purchase can stop being the simple exempt case and start needing a permit.
You cannot tell from the listing, and the seller will usually not know either. The person who can tell you is the notary, and the moment to ask is before you sign anything, not on the day of the deed. Send them the draft and ask the question directly: does anything in this transaction fall outside the dwelling-unit exemption?
When land stops needing a permit
The permit requirement for land is not permanent. Polish law drops it for foreigners who have put down roots, and the test is residence rather than citizenship.
Inheritance is a separate case entirely: a statutory heir inherits without a permit, whatever the property is.
- Five years of continuous residence in Poland, holding a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status — no permit needed for land outside the border zone
- Two years instead of five, if you are buying jointly with a Polish spouse and the property becomes joint marital property
- Statutory heirs of the seller, where the seller had owned the property for at least five years
- Inheritance or a testamentary bequest to a statutory heir — no permit, regardless of the type of property
What it costs and how long it takes
The application fee is 1,570 zloty. There is also a cheaper preliminary option: a promesa, a written promise that the permit will be granted, which costs 98 zloty and is valid for one year. It is useful when you have found a property but the deal is not yet certain.
The ministry does not grant permits automatically. It has to be satisfied that the purchase threatens neither defence, state security nor public order, and you have to show a genuine connection to Poland: work, family, residence or business. Polish law firms that file these applications put the usual wait at three and a half to four months. That is their working experience, not a deadline the ministry is held to.
Since 1 January 2025, correspondence in these cases is served electronically through the state e-delivery service, unless you ask for a paper decision before it is issued.
Where this comes from
This page describes the position as at 19 August 2026. It explains the rule in general terms and is not legal advice about your purchase. A Polish notary or lawyer is the person to confirm how it applies to the property you are actually buying.
- Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA), gov.pl — the official description of the permit, the exemptions and the fees
- biznes.gov.pl — the government business portal, on acquisition of property by foreigners
Frequently asked questions
I have lived in Poland for ten years. Am I still a foreigner for this law?
Yes, if you do not hold Polish citizenship. The law defines a foreigner by citizenship, not by where you live. Long residence does not change that classification — but after five years of continuous residence with a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status, it does remove the permit requirement for land.
Does a Ukrainian citizen need a permit to buy a flat in Poland?
No. Ukraine is outside the European Economic Area, so the general permit requirement applies. But the exemption for a self-contained dwelling unit applies to every foreigner alike, whatever their citizenship, as long as the flat is outside the border zone. A house with land is the case that would need a permit.
I am buying a flat with a parking space in the garage. Is that still exempt?
Often yes, but not always, and it depends on how the parking space is written into the deed rather than on what the listing says. Ask the notary to check the draft deed before you commit.
Can the ministry refuse?
Yes. A permit is a decision, not a formality. The ministry must find that the purchase does not threaten defence, state security or public order, and that it does not conflict with social policy or public health, and you must demonstrate genuine ties to Poland.
What is the border zone, and how do I know if a property is in it?
The border zone is a strip of Polish territory along the state border, defined by regulation. Property inside it needs a permit even when it is an ordinary flat. If you are buying near a border, treat this as a question for the notary rather than something to work out from a map.