Guides

Mail after moving in Poland: forwarding, storage and poste restante

The essentials: Use forwarding for eligible mail sent to an old address, storage for extra collection time, or poste restante for items addressed to a chosen post office. Official procedural mail has exclusions: update authorities separately.

Published 27 Oct 2026, 01:55 CET · By Expats Poland Editorial Team

Wall-mounted letterboxes in a Warsaw apartment block, an illustrative photograph from 2020

Moving between flats in Poland creates an awkward gap: you have handed back the old keys, but somebody may still send a letter to that address. A holiday or a temporary stay elsewhere creates a similar problem. Poczta Polska has several services that can help, but they do different jobs and have important exclusions.

The main choices are Dosyłanie, forwarding eligible mail to another address; Przechowywanie, extending storage for eligible items awaiting collection; and poste restante, having a sender address an item directly to a chosen post office. None should be treated as a universal change-of-address service for every courier, authority and legal proceeding.

This guide was checked on 26 October 2026 against Poczta Polska's service pages, current request form and universal-service regulations dated 1 February 2026. Before ordering, confirm the terms for your particular item and destination. The safest moving plan combines postal arrangements with direct updates to important senders.

Cover: wall-mounted letterboxes in a Warsaw apartment block, LoMit, 20 September 2020, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; the adapted image is shared under the same licence. Illustrative, not a post-office collection counter.

Choose the service that matches the problem

Use the following distinctions before opening a form:

You have moved, and mail is still being sent to your former address: ask about Dosyłanie. You specify the old address and the forwarding destination for eligible items.
An eligible item is awaiting collection, but you need more time: ask about Przechowywanie. This is storage after the normal collection period, not delivery to your holiday address.
A sender has not posted the item yet, and you want to collect it at a particular post office: consider poste restante. The sender must address it correctly from the start.

Do not substitute a parcel-locker address or a random post-office street address without checking the service. A parcel sent through another courier follows that operator's arrangements. Poczta Polska's forwarding request does not automatically rewrite the delivery address on every online shopping order.

Dosyłanie: forwarding after a move

Poczta Polska describes Dosyłanie as redirecting eligible items addressed to you at the old address to the destination you provide. Its online page says delivery timing depends on the type of item, such as an economy or priority letter or postal parcel. Forwarding is not a promise of next-day arrival.

The request can run for up to 12 months from submission. The operator says you may make a further request, but each subsequent period must also be no longer than 12 months. Treat it as a bridge while you update addresses, not a reason to leave old records unchanged indefinitely.

Check the recipient details carefully. Use the name and address corresponding to the incoming mail, including the flat number and postcode. If you are arranging mail for several household members or a business, ask the post office how each addressee must be included. Do not assume a request in your name covers every person who used to live with you.

If the new destination is outside Poland, confirm availability, charges and handling for that exact route before relying on forwarding. The general service description is not enough to establish every international arrangement.

The biggest exception: official and court correspondence

The operator's forwarding page and current request form exclude letters in criminal, civil, administrative, administrative-court and tax proceedings, and financial-discipline cases. The service page also lists Pocztex and certain other postal products among exclusions.

This is the point most likely to matter to an expat with a pending residence, tax or court matter. Do not assume that a forwarding instruction means an authority now knows your new address. Notify the relevant office, court or representative through the required channel and keep proof. Check the rules for the particular proceeding rather than guessing that ordinary postal arrangements stop a legal deadline.

If you find an awizo, the notice of attempted delivery, identify the sender and collection deadline promptly. A holiday booking or a postal storage request is not evidence that a procedural deadline has been extended. Our court-letter guide explains why those documents need separate attention.

The practical rule is to keep two lists: ordinary senders to update, and active official matters requiring their own address notification. A postal service helps with the first list; it does not replace the second.

How to submit and confirm a request

Poczta Polska's forwarding and storage pages offer online forms. They say identity must be authenticated using profil zaufany, the trusted profile, or in person at the relevant post office. The forwarding page says an electronic message will identify the offices where in-person confirmation can be completed.

Do not mistake filling in an online form for completing every activation step. Read the resulting message, finish any identity check and retain the acceptance confirmation. If you cannot use a trusted profile, ask the office about the in-person route rather than abandoning the task or using somebody else's login.

The current paper form contains a customer confirmation section. It also says the request operates from the day after acceptance. Plan ahead, and check what acceptance date applies if you submit online and verify identity later. Avoid promising a sender that mail posted today is already covered when the request has not been accepted.

The form includes an optional consent to share change-of-address-request information with other postal operators. Read that choice separately. It does not remove the need to update senders and check other operators' actual services.

Free online submission does not mean free forwarding

The service pages distinguish the cost of submitting a request from the cost of handling items. They say electronic submission has no request fee, while submitting at a post office carries a one-off 6 zł fee. Forwarding charges depend on the type of item.

The universal-service regulations say forwarding fees are normally paid by the addressee when collecting each forwarded item. They also provide an exception: Poczta Polska does not charge for forwarding within the delivery area of the same delivery post office. Ask whether that exception applies to your two addresses instead of assuming every move within the same city qualifies.

Before agreeing, ask what you may pay for the mail you expect. If you receive frequent parcels, a no-fee online form does not by itself make the overall service inexpensive. Directly updating the sender may be simpler for future items. Check the applicable tariff rather than relying on a price quoted for a different postal product.

An archival red Poczta Polska posting box, not a collection counter or current service timetable — Archival Poczta Polska posting box, 24 April 2007. Diego from Torino, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Resized. Its visible labels are not current service instructions.

Przechowywanie: extra time, with limits

Poczta Polska's storage page explains that eligible items can be kept for up to 14 additional days, counted from the day after their collection period expires. Its headline describes storage that can reach four weeks after the first attempted delivery, but that is not a fresh four-week extension for every item.

The service concerns notified unregistered items that do not fit into the letterbox and registered items, with exclusions. The page excludes special-procedure correspondence, Pocztex and several other categories. Read the conditions for your actual item. The universal-service regulations also say a post office may refuse storage where it lacks capacity.

Storage is not free simply because the online request is free. The operator says the charge depends on the storage period and is collected when the item is picked up. Its page gives daily examples, but ask for the applicable tariff and total period rather than treating an example as a quote for every item.

The current combined form treats postal money orders differently: it lists a maximum additional storage period of 7 days, compared with 14 for the specified mail items. If you are waiting for a money order, make that clear when asking for help. Do not use a parcel rule by analogy.

If forwarding and storage are requested together, the form says items are stored at the forwarding destination. Confirm which office will hold them so you do not return to the wrong location.

Poste restante: arrange the address before posting

Poste restante is a different arrangement. The sender addresses the item for collection at a named post office. The current regulations give the order of information:

Your first name and surname, or the addressee's full business name.
The words poste restante.
The correct postcode and official name of the post office that will issue the item.

Ask the office for its exact official addressing details and check opening hours before giving them to a sender. An approximate neighbourhood name is not a substitute for the correct branch name and postcode. Also confirm the collection period, identity document requirements and suitability of the intended product before posting.

Poczta Polska's explanatory material says items addressed this way are charged at the selected service's normal price without an extra poste-restante surcharge. That does not make postage free, and it does not turn a post-office collection address into proof of residential address for an unrelated purpose.

A moving-day checklist that avoids surprises

Before returning your old keys, record which mail you are expecting and who sends it. Update banks, insurers, employers, subscriptions and other important senders directly. For official cases, follow the relevant notification procedure and save acknowledgements. Keep any postal forwarding acceptance alongside those records.

Check that your new flat number and postcode are correct and that you can access the new letterbox. Agree practical arrangements with the landlord if the box is unmarked or the key is missing. Do not rely indefinitely on the next tenant opening or forwarding your private correspondence.

After the move, monitor whether eligible letters arrive as expected. If something is missing, ask the sender for the posting date, product and tracking number where available. Establish the facts before deciding that forwarding failed: an excluded item, another courier or an incorrect address may need a different solution.

Frequently asked questions

Does Dosyłanie update my address with immigration authorities?

No. It is a postal forwarding request, with important exclusions for procedural mail. Notify the relevant authority separately using its required process and keep confirmation.

Is mail forwarding free if I order online?

Online request submission has no request fee according to the service page. Handling forwarded items may still cost money; the regulations provide a same-delivery-office-area exception. Check your actual route and items.

Can I extend collection for every letter while travelling?

No. Storage has eligibility rules, maximum periods and exclusions, including special-procedure correspondence. Check the actual item and do not assume legal deadlines are extended.

Can I use poste restante by writing any post office's street address?

Use the required addressing format and the office's official name and postcode. Confirm the details, collection period and document requirements with the chosen office before the sender posts.

Does one request automatically cover my family and all couriers?

Do not assume so. Confirm how each addressee is covered and check each operator. Update important senders directly instead of treating forwarding as a universal household address change.