Polish B1 for
long-term EU residence

To get a long-term EU resident permit in Poland (zezwolenie na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE), you need to prove Polish at level B1 or higher. Most people do this through the state exam in Polish as a foreign language. Below: what the law requires, how the B1 exam is structured and how to prepare for its least predictable part, the oral one.

Who needs Polish B1

According to the Office for Foreigners (UdSC), the long-term EU resident permit requires at least 5 years of uninterrupted legal stay in Poland and, among other conditions, proof of Polish in one of these ways:

• an official confirmation of Polish at level B1 or higher (poświadczenie znajomości języka polskiego);
• a certificate or diploma from a school or university in Poland or abroad where teaching was in Polish.

Children under 16 are exempt. The permit itself is issued indefinitely, while the residence card that goes with it is valid for 5 years. The full list of conditions is on the UdSC page.

What the exam is

It is the state exam in Polish as a foreign language (egzamin z języka polskiego jako obcego). It is run by authorised organisations (podmiot uprawniony): universities, schools and language centres. The State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language prepares the tasks and issues the certificates. If you pass, you receive a certificate (certyfikat znajomości języka polskiego).

You register with the organiser, not with the Commission. The organiser enters you in the Commission's database no later than one month before the exam, so register well in advance. The Commission publishes the session dates; the fee is set by the organiser.

What the B1 exam consists of

The exam procedure is set out in the regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 14 February 2025 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 217). For adults at B1:

The oral part follows the written part, on the same day or the next. In the oral part you draw one of the task sets, and the Commission specifies the time for each task in the set itself. There is a break of at least 10 minutes between written modules. You may not bring any reference materials or communication devices into the room.

What score you need

To pass B1 you need at least 50% in each module of the written part and in the oral part. This is stricter than A1 and A2, where 50% is counted across the whole written part. Failing one module, for example grammar, means failing the exam even if the other modules went well.

Papers are marked on site. The organiser gives you the result in writing within three days of receiving the exam record from the examining board. The Commission issues the certificate within 30 days of receiving the record, and the organiser hands it over. Within 21 days of getting your result you may ask to see a copy of your paper.

What changes in 2027

On 1 January 2027 an amendment to the Polish Language Act comes into force (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 676), Among the changes: candidates are grouped by age, 16 and over and under 16, and a fee of 100 złoty will be charged for issuing a certificate. The exam procedure itself will be set by a new regulation. Anyone registered for the exam before 1 January 2027 takes it under the previous rules (Article 3 of the amendment). If you register later, check the rules with your organiser.

What you need to be able to say at B1

The B1 standard in the annex to the regulation describes speaking skills like this: talking fluently in typical situations without hindering communication; starting, ending and joining a conversation; talking about your interests, experiences, plans and dreams; giving and justifying an opinion; describing and recounting events; briefly summarising a text you have read; asking for repetition or clarification when you have not understood. Your native accent may be noticeable but should not get in the way of understanding.

How to prepare for speaking

Speak out loud every day. The oral part lasts up to 15 minutes, and long pauses are what stands out most in it. 15–20 minutes of speaking a day does more than an hour of exercises once a week.

Practise the statement types from the standard. Talking about yourself and your plans, describing a photo or a place, summarising a film or an article with a short comment, giving a justified opinion, a phone call, an everyday dialogue: in a shop, at the doctor's, with a landlord.

Learn linking phrases. Moim zdaniem… (In my opinion…), Z jednej strony…, z drugiej strony… (On the one hand…, on the other hand…), Dlatego… (That is why…), Na przykład… (For example…). They make your answer coherent and buy you a second to think.

Learn to ask for clarification. The standard explicitly requires asking someone to repeat or explain: Przepraszam, czy może Pan powtórzyć? (Sorry, could you repeat that?), Co to znaczy? (What does that mean?).

Record yourself. Set a timer for 2–3 minutes, talk on a topic and listen back. You will hear where you stop and which forms you mix up.

Starting from zero? See Polish for beginners: essential phrases.

How Talkfirst helps

Talkfirst has no mock B1 exam, and we do not issue certificates. Talkfirst trains what is hardest to build on your own: speaking. You talk out loud with an AI conversation partner in Polish on everyday topics or in scenes, and after each conversation you see your pauses, mistakes and better ways to say things, explained in English. You can set B1 as your goal with your exam date, and Talkfirst works out how many minutes of speech a week you need. More on the spoken Polish page.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: UdSC, long-term EU resident permit; regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 14 February 2025 on exams in Polish as a foreign language (§ 5, 14, 16, 17, 23, 25, 27 and Annex 1); act of 30 April 2026 amending the Polish Language Act. Checked on 3 October 2026.