In a judgment of 5 October 2026, the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) set aside the judgment of the Voivodeship Administrative Court (WSA) in Warsaw and the decision of the Head of the Office for Foreigners, both of which had treated our Client’s appeal as filed too late. The NSA confirmed: if the electronic confirmation of receipt (EPO) does not match the notes on the envelope, any doubt must be resolved in the foreigner’s favour. The judgment is final, and our Client has regained the right to have the appeal heard on its merits.
The facts
The Mazowiecki Voivode refused to grant our Client a temporary residence permit. The decision was sent by registered mail using the POLECONA-E service – without a paper return slip, but with an electronic confirmation of receipt (EPO).
The Client never received the letter. Earlier, when notifying the office of his new address, he had mistakenly given the wrong ending of the postal code. The letter was returned to the sender, and the Voivode deemed the decision delivered under the so-called substitute (fictitious) service rule – Article 44 § 4 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (k.p.a.).
The Client learned about the decision only after the deadline had passed. We filed an appeal together with a request to restore the deadline.
Two lost rounds
The Head of the Office for Foreigners refused to restore the deadline and declared the appeal late. In the authority’s view, the letter had been correctly notified twice and the wrong postal code did not prevent delivery.
The WSA in Warsaw dismissed our complaint. The court relied on the EPO, which showed that the letter had reached the correct post office and that two notices had been left.
We did not give up and filed a cassation appeal with the NSA.
What the NSA found
The NSA noticed a detail missed by both the authority and the first-instance court: the envelope itself bore a note of the first notice only, plus the return to sender. There was no note of the second notice. The EPO, however, recorded that a second notice had been left.
The court’s reasoning rests on four key points:
The EPO does not replace the registered letter itself. It replaces only the addressee’s signature on the paper return slip. The primary proof of the second notice remains the postal worker’s note on the envelope.
The EPO is not the sole proof of proper delivery. A court cannot rely solely on a printout from the postal operator’s system if other documents in the file contradict it.
Fictitious service must be applied strictly. Substitute service is effective only if it is established beyond any doubt that all conditions of Article 44 § 1–3 k.p.a. were met, including the second notice.
Doubts are resolved in favour of the party. In light of the principle of citizens’ trust in the State (Article 2 of the Polish Constitution and Article 8 § 1 k.p.a.), a discrepancy between the EPO and the envelope must be resolved in the foreigner’s favour.
The NSA’s conclusion: the Voivode’s decision was never effectively served, so the deadline for the appeal never started to run. The appeal could not have been late. The NSA set aside both the WSA judgment and the decision of the Head of the Office for Foreigners, and awarded our Client reimbursement of the court costs.
What this means in practice
The case now goes back to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, who must deal with our Client’s appeal. But the judgment matters for every foreigner who has “missed” a decision sent by post:
Your deadline may not have expired. A decision deemed served “by notice” is not always validly served. Check this before you assume the case is lost.
The envelope matters, not just the EPO. Review the case file and compare the notes on the returned envelope with the EPO printout. Any discrepancy can decide the outcome.
Report your change of address carefully. Give the full and correct address, including the postal code. A mistake does not lose the case by itself, but it makes your defence harder.
Act fast. You have 7 days from the moment the obstacle ceased to file a request to restore a deadline (Article 58 § 2 k.p.a.).
Don’t stop at the first court. In this case both the authority and the WSA sided with the office – only the NSA sided with the foreigner.
Need help?
If you have received a decision declaring your appeal late, or found out about a refusal you never received – contact us. We will review your case file and check whether the decision was validly served.
Book a consultation · trylinska@t-immigration.com · +48 798 107 769
