Can a Ukrainian buy a flat in Poland? UKR status, CUKR and transfers from Ukraine

Yes, a citizen of Ukraine can buy a flat in Poland without an MSWiA permit, without a residence card and without Polish citizenship. The Act exempts the purchase of a self-contained residential unit from the permit requirement for foreigners of any nationality, and there is no exception for Ukrainian citizens (legal status as of October 2026). UKR status and the CUKR card do not affect the right to buy as such. A permit is needed for a house with land or a plot, and for a flat only in the border zone, which does not include Warsaw.

If you have lived in Warsaw since 2022, rent a flat and are thinking about your own, you are not alone. According to the MSWiA report for 2025, among foreign private individuals it was citizens of Ukraine who bought the most flats in Poland: 548,079.79 m² out of 1,002,719.19 m², or 54.66% of the total area. Below you will find the documents, transfers from Ukraine, prices and paying a developer in stages.

Does a Ukrainian need an MSWiA permit for a flat?

The general rule of the Act on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners (consolidated text Dz.U. 2017 poz. 2278) is that a foreigner, meaning a person without Polish citizenship, needs a permit from the minister of the interior to acquire real estate (art. 1). Art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 1, however, makes an exception for a self-contained residential unit. Together with it you can buy a parking space or a share in a garage without a permit, provided they serve your housing needs (pkt 1a).

The exception does not apply in the border zone or to agricultural land of more than 1 ha (art. 8 ust. 3). Warsaw is not in the border zone: in the Mazovian Voivodeship it covers only the municipalities of Sarnaki and Stara Kornica.

The relief for citizens and businesses of the European Economic Area and Switzerland (art. 8 ust. 2) does not cover Ukrainians. That is why a house or a plot requires an MSWiA permit, and a purchase made without a required permit is invalid (art. 6 ust. 1).

Even where no permit is needed, the notary enters your citizenship in the deed and sends an extract to MSWiA within 7 days (art. 8a). The ministry keeps a register of such purchases (art. 8 ust. 4). According to the MSWiA report, in 2025 foreigners concluded 17,720 flat transactions in Poland, with and without a permit. Warsaw accounts for 3,137 such entries, of which 2,999 concern private individuals.

UKR status, residence card, PESEL: does your status affect the right to buy?

Your status does not affect the right to buy a flat as such. The special act on assistance to citizens of Ukraine (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 337, as amended) contains no separate rules on acquiring real estate, so the provisions of the 1920 Act apply. This is our reading of the provisions as of October 2026. You can buy a flat with UKR status, with a CUKR card and with any other residence card.

Status matters for other things: the legality of your stay and the documents needed for the transaction. Several things changed in 2026:

• The basis of UKR status. Since 5 March 2026 it has been art. 106 ust. 1 of the Act on granting protection to foreigners (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 862): the stay is legal for as long as the EU Council decision on temporary protection is in force. By Decision 2026/1912 of 30 July 2026 the EU extended protection until 4 March 2028. For new applicants the decision added a condition of confirming that military obligations have been met. It does not apply to people who had protection on 30 July 2026 and keep it without a break. Check current information on the UdSC website.
• PESEL UKR. Anyone who received it only on application, without a passport, had to confirm their identity with a valid passport by 31 August 2026. For those who did not manage it, the status changed to NUE from 1 September 2026 and temporary protection was lost.
• The CUKR card. This is a temporary residence permit for 3 years. Applications have been accepted since 4 May 2026 electronically only, through MOS. According to UdSC, you can apply until 4 March 2027. The conditions are UKR status on 4 June 2025 and on the day of application, without a break for at least 365 days. The fee is PLN 340 plus PLN 100 for the card, and the Act allows 180 days for a decision.

One caveat for those who want to buy but spend part of the year in Ukraine. Temporary protection ends after you leave Poland for more than 30 days (art. 109b). The CUKR card is withdrawn after a departure of at least 6 months (art. 42t ust. 1 pkt 3 of the special act, legal status as of October 2026).

A house or a plot: when is an MSWiA permit still needed?

For a house with land and for a plot on its own, a citizen of Ukraine needs an MSWiA permit. Without one, such property can be bought only after 5 years of residence from obtaining a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status (art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 2). UKR status and CUKR are not a permanent residence permit, so this relief does not yet cover you.

The permit is issued if the purchase does not threaten state security and you show a link with Poland (art. 1a). Among the circumstances confirming such a link the Act lists a temporary residence permit, except those issued under art. 176 and 181 ust. 1. CUKR is such a permit, so in our reading of the Act it can confirm the link. Whether MSWiA will count UKR status alone, the Act does not say expressly. A plot for your own needs may be no larger than 0.5 ha.

Costs and deadlines as of October 2026:

• the stamp duty is PLN 1,570 for the permit and PLN 98 for a promesa;
• the permit is valid for 2 years and cannot be extended, the promesa is valid for a year;
• processing usually takes 2 to 4 months¹.

The permit gives the right to buy a specific property and no other rights.

Money from Ukraine: can you transfer funds to buy a flat abroad?

Resolution No. 18 of the NBU Board of 24 February 2022 (in the version in force from 17 September 2026) prohibits cross-border transfers in point 14, apart from a list of permitted cases. That list does not expressly include “purchase of a flat abroad by a private individual”, and the word “real estate” does not appear in the text of the resolution at all. Nor does it allow transferring funds to your own account abroad.

Payments abroad from accounts at Ukrainian banks are subject to monthly NBU limits that depend on the type of account and payment. These rules change often, so check the current amounts with your bank and on bank.gov.ua before you build a payment schedule.

The resolution therefore contains no separate permission for a private individual to transfer money to buy a flat abroad. Before the transaction, ask your bank which operations it will carry out. We do not suggest any workarounds.

What documents will the notary and the bank ask for: passport, PESEL, NIP, source of funds?

Under the Act on counteracting money laundering (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 644, art. 2 ust. 1 pkt 13 and 18), a notary selling real estate and an agent are obliged institutions. They must:

• establish and verify your identity: they record your name, citizenship, PESEL (or, where there is none, the date and country of birth), the series and number of your identity document and your home address, if the institution knows it (art. 36);
• establish the beneficial owner and the purpose of the transaction, and check the origin of the funds “in justified situations” (art. 34);
• not carry out the transaction if verification cannot be completed (art. 41).

The notary notifies the General Inspector of Financial Information (GIIF) within 7 days of every notarial deed worth more than EUR 15,000. From 30 June 2026 the notification includes the address, the number of the land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta), the area, the number of rooms and the floor.

What this means for your family:

• PESEL. With UKR status you already have it. A private individual without a business uses the PESEL as a tax identifier, and only those who are required to have a NIP provide one (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 151, art. 3). A separate NIP is therefore usually not needed to buy a flat, but confirm this with the notary.
• If a family member has no PESEL. A foreigner receives it automatically when registering a stay of more than 30 days, or on application at any municipality if the law requires a PESEL. The application is submitted in person (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 384). With neither a PESEL nor a place of residence in Poland, a NIP is obtained by filing form NIP-7 at the Second Tax Office Warszawa-Śródmieście.
• Source of funds. The Act sets no list of documents. Keep bank statements to hand showing where the money comes from, especially if it arrived in instalments from Ukraine.

How much does a flat in Warsaw cost and what is added to the price?

As of October 2026 the latest published NBP data cover the second quarter of 2026 (file of 7 August 2026). These are gross prices, including VAT, in multi-family buildings within the city limits:

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns. →

Year on year (Q2 2026 against Q2 2025, our calculation from NBP data), asking prices on the primary market rose by 6.91% and transaction prices by 2.42%. On the primary market a transaction is on average PLN 1,704.79/m² below the asking price, or 9.22%. NBP revises data for past quarters, so we give the figures as they stood in August 2026. Prices of specific developments with the data date are in new flats in Warsaw in the catalogue, and district medians are on the page flat prices in Warsaw.

What is added to the price of a flat (legal status as of October 2026):

• Notary. The developer agreement and the purchase are concluded as a notarial deed, and the notary will give you the amount before the transaction. From 19 November 2026 the notary will charge the parties an extra fee for placing documents in the electronic Central Repository of Electronic Extracts of Notarial Deeds for MSWiA. Its amount is to be set by an MSWiA regulation, which did not yet exist on 27 September 2026.
• Agent. On the secondary market, the fee and who pays it are set in the brokerage agreement. On the primary market we do not charge you a fee (details below).
• MSWiA permit. For a house or a plot there is PLN 1,570 of stamp duty. For a flat there is no such item.

A developer flat in instalments: how does the payment schedule work?

Paying in instalments for a new flat means you pay the developer in parts as construction proceeds. It is not a loan. The rules are set by the Developer Act (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 880), legal status as of October 2026:

• the money goes into a bank escrow account (mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy) in line with construction progress, after each stage is completed (art. 8);
• the schedule has at least 4 stages, each worth 10% to 25% of the value of the whole investment (art. 24 ust. 2);
• the amount, dates and method of payment are set out in the agreement itself (art. 35 ust. 1 pkt 9);
• from an open account the bank pays the developer no earlier than 30 days after the agreement and only after checking that the stage is complete (art. 16 ust. 1);
• the agreement is concluded only as a notarial deed (art. 40 ust. 1);
• a reservation fee, if any, may not exceed 1% of the price of the flat (art. 32 ust. 2).

For a Ukrainian family the link with the previous section matters. If part of your money is still in Ukraine, compare the instalment schedule with the transfers your bank will allow within the monthly NBU limits. For more on the mechanism itself, see the guide how paying a developer in instalments works.

If you are a foreigner and do not read Polish

The developer agreement (umowa deweloperska) is concluded only as a notarial deed, and the notary is required by law to verify your identity and record your citizenship. Prepare in advance your identity document, your PESEL and bank statements showing the origin of the funds. We are also an obliged institution and carry out the verification described above, so we tell you beforehand which documents to prepare. We serve you in 7 languages, including Ukrainian and English.

Does buying a flat give a right of residence or citizenship?

No. The Act on foreigners (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1079) contains, as of October 2026, no basis for a residence card tied to real estate. The grounds for temporary residence there are different: work, business activity, study, family and a few others. Even an MSWiA permit to buy gives no rights beyond the right to buy a specific property.

The right to stay in Poland is still given by UKR status, CUKR or another residence card, not by a flat. Citizenship is a separate procedure under a separate act, and in the acts we checked buying a flat is not linked to it. We describe the general rules for all foreigners in the guide on whether a foreigner can buy a flat in Poland.

How much does an agent cost?

As of October 2026:

• primary market: we do not charge you a fee for help with buying a flat from a developer;
• secondary market: the fee and who pays it are set in the brokerage agreement before work begins;
• plots: the same, in the brokerage agreement.

Before your first visit we register you with the developer as our client, and we can go to the sales office (biuro sprzedaży) with you. How we work is described on the page how we help when you buy from a developer.

FAQ

Can I buy a flat with UKR status without a residence card?

Yes. A foreigner of any nationality buys a self-contained residential unit in Warsaw without an MSWiA permit (art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 1 of the Act on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners, legal status as of October 2026). A residence card is not needed. The notary records the details of your identity document and the PESEL number that a person with UKR status already has. In 2025 foreigners concluded 17,720 flat transactions in Poland.

How much is an MSWiA permit for a house or a plot?

The stamp duty is PLN 1,570 for the permit and PLN 98 for a promesa, that is a promise to issue the permit (legal status as of October 2026). The permit is valid for 2 years and cannot be extended, while the promesa is valid for a year. A flat in Warsaw needs no permit, so these costs apply only to a house with land or a plot on its own.

Will I lose UKR status if I go to Ukraine after buying?

Temporary protection ends after you leave Poland for more than 30 days (art. 109b of the Act on granting protection to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, legal status as of October 2026). The CUKR card is withdrawn after a departure of at least 6 months. The flat itself neither keeps nor restores your status, so plan your trips with these deadlines in mind.

Can I buy a developer flat in stages, without a mortgage?

Yes. You pay the developer in instalments as construction progresses, into a bank escrow account (mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy). The schedule has at least 4 stages, each worth 10% to 25% of the value of the whole investment (art. 24 ust. 2 of the Developer Act, legal status as of October 2026). The dates and amounts are set out in the developer agreement (umowa deweloperska), concluded as a notarial deed.

Do I need a NIP to buy a flat?

A private individual who runs no business and is not a VAT payer uses the PESEL number (art. 3 ust. 1 of the Act on the rules of registration and identification of taxpayers, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 151, legal status as of October 2026). Only those who are required to have a NIP provide one. A separate NIP is therefore usually not needed to buy a flat, but confirm this with the notary before the transaction.

This text is for information only and is not legal advice. Legal status as of October 2026.

Have you chosen a new flat in Warsaw and are heading to the developer’s sales office? Write to us before the visit: we will register you with the developer as our client. Before the meeting we will go through the information prospectus (prospekt informacyjny) and the draft agreement with you, point out what to ask the developer or a lawyer, compare the instalment schedule with your transfers from Ukraine and tell you which documents on the origin of the money to prepare. We do not charge you a fee for help with buying a flat from a developer. Our fee on the primary market arises from agreements with developers.

Jawno · +48 692 649 839 · infojawno@gmail.com