Poland to scrap address registration, shift to PESEL residence address by 2028

Poland’s Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA) announced that the official address of registration and the address for correspondence will be removed from the civil‑registry system. From 2028, citizens will report their actual place of residence in the PESEL register, a change that can be made through the mObywatel mobile application. The reform is intended to eliminate the long‑standing “registration fiction,” improve the accuracy of demographic statistics, streamline administrative and tax procedures, and give property owners better control over who is listed as residing in their units.

The government will also introduce criminal liability for false statements about one’s residence. Local‑government bodies such as the National Association of Local Government Organizations (OPOS) and the Silesian Association of Municipalities have long advocated for the change, citing problems with incomplete data that hinder enforcement, tax allocation, and spatial planning. Industry analysts, including Andrzej Prajsnar of RynekPierwotny.pl, say the shift could have significant effects on the real‑estate market and municipal planning.

The new system will automatically synchronize residence data across state registers, simplifying updates for citizens and improving the reliability of population statistics used by the Central Statistical Office (GUS).