ePuap in Poland

ePuap in Poland. What if I would have told you, that you can arrange big part of your official matters related with Polish bureaucracy, online without leaving your warm and cozy flat? Also if you are Pole living abroad who for example needs to request new ID. No standing in the queues and no need to visit office on your own. Request made while sitting on your sofa with a cup of warm coffee in your hand. Too good to be true? It is happening already, and it is called ePuap.

• What is the ePuap?
• ePuap and trusted profile (profil zaufany)
• What are the benefits from ePuap?
• Verification process

ePuap – what is it?

ePUAP in Poland is an Electronic Platform of Public Administration Services, which is a coherent and systematic action program designed and developed to allow public institutions make their electronic services available to the public. Public, means for us – regular citizens. The website www.epuap.gov.pl enables defining citizen and businesses service processes, creates channels of access to different systems of public administration and extends the package of public services provided electronically.

I took this information from official English version of ePuap page. Bad news here, is that this is all what they have in English. On this moment (December 2020), ePuap service is delivered in Polish only. It does not change the fact, that we still can use official gov webpage combined with live translation which will help you with understanding steps to follow in case of not speaking polish. Below quick guide, how to set it up properly via Chrome Browser.

You might ask in here, what is the actual list of a things which I can arrange via ePuap. List below:

• Apply for an ID card
• Enroll your child in kindergarten
• Deregister the sold car
• Report the birth of a child
• Get a “Big Family Card” (Kart Dużej Rodziny)
• Check the balance of the retirement and contribution account at ZUS
• Register for permanent or temporary residence
• Set up a business
• Check the number of penalty points at your driving license
• Apply for a funeral grant
• Apply for a baby bonus and 500+
• Enter in the register of voters
• Make a PIT tax declaration

I am publishing only the most popular cases here since the full list in constantly under development. Therefore, I encourage you to visit the “Service Catalog” (Katalog Spraw) on official webpage, which can be arranged from ePuap level.

Trusted Profile (Profil zaufany) / ePuap in Poland

In order to use ePuap platform, you need to have a cyber “trusted profile” (profil zaufany). Trusted profile aka. eGO is a free method of confirming the identity of a Polish citizen in electronic administration systems. In this case, it is a free alternative to old fashion paid qualified signature. As you may expect, such profile is directly connected with your PESEL number.

Mentioning PESEL, there are few things whcih you need to prepare to requet trusted profile, except obvious things as name, second name and your email. I am talking about PESEL and polish phone number. If you are not polish and you do not have valid PESEL number, just click on the link here to read my other post about PESEL itself. If you have all required data, just follow up with point number “one” on uPuap portal, which is: “Create an account”. As you do this, you will be redirected to point number 2, so you can validate your identity in a Confirmation point. I need to mention here, that confirmation points, are placed not only in Poland but almost every country on the world. I checked the possibilities to find confirmation points outside of Poland. Great majority of them is placed in Polish Embassies or Consulates.

Confirmation point alternative

You may also use an alternative, which allows you to open trusted profile a little bit easier and with skipping 2^nd level of verification, which is visiting confirmation point. You may do it online via bank which accepted already your identity document. I made separate post about banking, where I listed banks which allow you to create and use trusted profile on their behalf. Just click here, to read my article about banking in Poland. This might help you with choosing proper bank account, if you don’t have one yet or change it, if your bank does not support trusted profile and ePuap.

I advise to use option with a bank as the primary one, since in some of the cases, civil servant from mentioned confirmation point might need to call you in order to confirm your identity. Off course, often happens, that they do not speak English, which is still common issue with older generation of officials in Poland. I am not giving any excuses here, since it goes already into better direction. Anyway, if you would like to know more about English language used by older Polish generation, I encourage you check my other post, where I tried to explain it. Just click here to open it in a new tab.

Is this working?

Recently I sold a car and I managed to fill in proper ePuap request online within 10 minutes. My friend, who still lives in Netherlands, requested new ID card via internet and he picked it up from embassy. I also have a nephew, who was born in a pandemic. His dad managed to deal with child registration and 500+ application via internet as well. I also know few people, who opened own business via ePuap on behalf of trusted profile. So, yes – it is working.

Where do we need to pay attention? Data which you provide in there, must be true. Also, as with every single portal like this, you need to pay attention to the places where you use it. Your login and password in case of the ePuap and trusted profile may do a lot of good but in a hands of a 3^rd person, it may cause a lot of damage to you as well. So do not share your data with any 3^rd parties, as you would not do it with your bank account credentials. Also, do not use connection with public open networks. In case of your own confidential private data and credentials – safety goes first.

Summary of ePuap in Poland

ePuap and trusted profile are pretty fresh services available for us, regular citizens. These systems supposed to help us with managing bureaucracy in a less complicated manner. Portals are still developing but I see already big potential in digital bureaucracy. This is a great alternative for regular government offices. I hope it will help you a little with you regular activites.

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