Look inside
The plan for Poland, from the inside
These are all 29 steps of the Poland journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 29
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 36
- Only for your situation
- 7
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Nobody stops you, and that's exactly the trap: Poland has two separate registrations with two separate clocks, and the treaty going round online was reversed in 2022.
- 1.1
Being allowed to stay is not the same as being settled
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Know how tax and healthcare work there
- Lead time
- an evening of research
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Explore the region, and count the winter in
- Lead time
- weeks, preferably with a scouting trip outside summer
- Costs
- a scouting trip is a serious cost item
- 1.4
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.5
The family conversation
- Lead time
- weeks, not hours
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
8 steps
Closing the Netherlands
This is where the money of this journey sits, and the lesson is the reverse of the southern routes: don't apply for a wage tax exemption, because the Netherlands may tax — arrange the credit on the Polish side instead.
- 2.1
Gather your basic documents
- Lead time
- 1-4 weeks
- Costs
- fees per extract, tens of euros in total
1 official source
- 2.2
Arrange the healthcare transition
- Lead time
- apply 6 weeks before departure
- Costs
- the treaty contribution replaces your Dutch premium
2 official sources
- 2.3
Know where you'll pay tax — and don't apply for an exemption
- Lead time
- one good conversation with a tax adviser who knows both countries
- Costs
- adviser's hours — depending on your situation
2 official sources
- 2.4
Deregister and report it to the SVB
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
2 official sources
- 2.5
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few arrangements
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.6
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you fix anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.7
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- adviser's hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.8
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and then one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
5 steps
The move
Within the EU there is no customs, and yet Poland has two clocks for the car that bite each other: twelve months to bring it in duty-free, and thirty days to register it as soon as it's there.
- 3.1
Choose your form of moving and request quotes
- Lead time
- quotes 2-3 weeks; the drive itself one to two days
- Costs
- according to your moving choices
- 3.2
The car: twelve months for the excise duty, thirty days for the registration plate
- Lead time
- decision moment; the registration itself 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- inspection, registration and insurance; the excise duty only if you fall outside the exemption
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
Bringing a pet: chip, rabies jab and the EU pet passport
- Lead time
- start at least three weeks before departure
- Costs
- per animal — chip, vaccination and passport at the vet
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 3.4
Arrange your first accommodation, because the thirty-day clock starts on moving in
- Lead time
- booking can be quick; do it before your departure
- Costs
- falls under "the first months" in your budget
- 3.5
Inform the Dutch tax office: the M return and the provisional assessment
- Lead time
- an evening
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
Phase 4
5 steps
Registration in Poland
Two counters, two clocks, and an order that is fixed: first the address at the municipality, because that is where the PESEL comes from, and only then the right of residence with the voivode.
- 4.1
Zameldowanie: register your address within thirty days, and the PESEL comes with it
- Lead time
- one visit to the town hall, or online
- Costs
- free; an extract of a temporary registration costs 17 złoty
1 official source
- 4.2
Register your right of residence: no later than the day after three months
- Lead time
- an appointment with the voivode, usually to be booked weeks ahead
- Costs
- free
1 official source
- 4.3
Make sure your ground, insurance and means are demonstrable
- Lead time
- an afternoon, if your papers are in order
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.4
Register your S1 with the NFZ
- Lead time
- one visit to the provincial NFZ office
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 4.5
Profil zaufany, mObywatel and the bank
- Lead time
- days
- Costs
- account fees per month
1 official source
Phase 5
5 steps
Arrival
The chain is complete. What remains are the things you don't have to do — the driving licence — and the one land rule you do have to know before you buy.
- 5.1
The driving licence: nothing to exchange
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 5.2
Living and buying: no permit, but the hectare limit
- Lead time
- weeks to months
- Costs
- notary, transfer tax and entry
2 official sources
- 5.3
After five years: permanent residence
- Lead time
- one application, after five years
- Costs
- free
1 official source
- 5.4
School for the children
- Lead time
- enrolment runs per municipality
- Costs
- public education is free; books, meals and outings aren't
Only if this applies to you
- 5.5
Landed
- Lead time
- the moment itself
- Costs
- none
7 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Poland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 2.3 of your plan
Know where you'll pay tax — and don't apply for an exemption
- Lead time
- one good conversation with a tax adviser who knows both countries
- Costs
- adviser's hours — depending on your situation
Since the protocol of 2020 this is a source-state treaty. Article 18 says that pensions and annuities arising in the Netherlands, and payments under Dutch social security legislation, may be taxed in the Netherlands. So the Netherlands simply withholds, and that is no mistake you fix with a form.
Poland taxes alongside as the country of residence, at twelve percent up to 120,000 złoty and thirty-two percent above, with a tax-free allowance of 30,000 złoty — and deducts the Dutch tax from the Polish. If you pay more in the Netherlands than Poland would charge, nothing remains in Poland; if you pay less, Poland tops up. Have that worked out on your amounts, because the difference sits in the rates of two countries at once.
This is step 2.3 of 29. The other 28 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Poland?
All 29 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Poland: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Poland really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
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