Poly(styrene sulfonate) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) layers have been adsorbed supplementarily on polyelectrolyte capsules. The permeability of the original capsules consisting of four layer pairs was of the order of 10(-5) m/s for fluorescein. They were also permeable for macromolecules. Polyelectrolyte layers adsorbed afterwards reduced the permeability by three orders of magnitude for small molecules. These findings are interpreted as a resealing of pores, induced by the osmotic stress during fabrication.