When deciding to hire a foreigner, it is worth bearing in mind the obligations of the employer that should be fulfilled so that such cooperation proceeds in accordance with the law and does not give rise to negative consequences. Initially, the number of formalities that should be fulfilled in connection with the employment of a citizen of a non-EU country may seem overwhelming.<\/p>\n
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Therefore, in order to make the process easier for you, below we will explain the issues that every employer who decides to cooperate with an employee who is a citizen of a non-EU country should remember about.<\/p>\n
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Before you sign an employment contract with an employee, you should first pay attention to two very important formal issues: the basis for legalizing residence and the basis for legalizing the foreigner’s work. So, at the outset, it is worth asking yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n
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and<\/p>\n
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Before establishing cooperation, it is imperative that you verify whether the employee has both of these documents – it is essential for legal employment of a foreigner.<\/p>\n
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To make sure that the documents possessed by the prospective employee are a sufficient basis for employment, below you will find a detailed discussion of legalization of residence and work.<\/p>\n
Moving on to discuss the first of the two aforementioned issues, i.e. the legality of the hired employee’s stay in Poland, pay attention to the fact that before signing a contract you should verify whether your prospective employee has the appropriate documents allowing for a lawful stay in the country.<\/p>\n
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This is because, under the Act of 20 March 2025 on the Labour Market and Employment Services, which entered into force on 1 June 2025 and replaced the former Law on Employment Promotion and Labor Market Institutions referenced in the original article, a foreigner who is a citizen of a country that is not a member of the European Union or the European Economic Area is entitled to work in the territory of the Republic of Poland if he\/she has a work permit and a valid residence permit in Poland.<\/p>\n
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Among the documents that are valid permits, legalizing the stay in Poland, one should indicate, among others, documents such as:<\/p>\n
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In addition, a foreigner who does not have any of the above-mentioned documents, but moves on the basis of visa-free movement using a biometric passport, stays in Poland legally. You can find a list of countries whose citizens can travel visa-free here.<\/p>\n
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Remember, however, that not every residence permit entitles a foreigner to work in Poland. If your prospective employee shows you documents, i.e. a tourist visa or a temporary residence permit due to circumstances requiring a short-term stay, you will not be able to hire them on this basis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be added that citizens of Ukraine and Belarus are in a special situation, but more about this later in the article.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the employee you intend to hire has an adequate basis for legal residence, you can proceed to obtain a work permit. It should be noted that a work permit is always obtained for a specific employer and for a specific position. There is no blanket work permit that entitles you to work for any employer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This area is now governed primarily by the Act of 20 March 2025 on the Conditions for the Admissibility of Entrusting Work to Foreigners in the Territory of the Republic of Poland. All applications and supporting documents must be submitted exclusively through the praca.gov.pl electronic system \u2014 filings made on paper or through any other channel are left without consideration<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moving on to this aspect, as an employer you must take care to obtain the appropriate work permit for the prospective employee. Among the documents that allow a foreigner to legally work in Poland are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is worth bearing in mind that obtaining each of the above-mentioned documents involves a separate procedure, which may require the submission of additional documents.<\/p>\n Since 1 June 2025, before the foreigner starts work, the employer must submit a copy of the signed contract to the authority that issued the permit or registered the statement. If the contract exists only in a foreign-language version, the employer must obtain a sworn Polish translation and keep it for the duration of the employment plus two further calendar years (a bilingual contract removes the need for a separate translation).<\/p>\n A work permit is issued at the request of the entity entrusting work to a foreigner, i.e. the employer. Competent in this matter, as a rule, is the voivode appropriate for the seat or place of residence of the entity entrusting work to a foreigner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All applications must be filed via the applicant’s individual account on the praca.gov.pl portal, which is also used to deliver decisions, explanations and other correspondence electronically (mandatory since 1 June 2025).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This issue was regulated by the Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy of July 22, 2022 on work permits and declarations of entrustment of work to a foreigner, which was superseded, with effect from 1 December 2025, by new implementing regulations issued under the Act of 20 March 2025 on the Conditions for the Admissibility of Entrusting Work to Foreigners. SITE FIX: confirm and cite the exact title(s) of the new regulation(s) before publishing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to this regulation, an entrepreneur wishing to employ a foreigner must first of all obtain a type A or B work permit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The former applies to a foreigner who performs work on the territory of the Republic of Poland on the basis of a contract with an entity whose registered office or place of residence or branch, plant or other form of organized activity is located on the territory of our country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A B-type permit, on the other hand, applies to a foreigner who performs work consisting in performing functions in the management board of a legal person entered in the register of entrepreneurs or being a capital company in organization, or managing the affairs of a limited partnership or a limited joint-stock partnership as a general partner, or in connection with granting him\/her a power of attorney, and stays in the territory of the Republic of Poland for a period exceeding a total of 6 months in any consecutive 12-month period.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A work permit is always issued for a fixed period, with type A being issued for a period of no more than 3 years, while type B may be issued for a period of 3 years, unless the legal entity employs more than 25 people, in which case the permit may be issued for a period of no more than 5 years.<\/p>\n NEW limit since 1 June 2025: regardless of the above, a work permit may be issued for no more than 1 year where: the employer has been operating for less than a year; the role is for no more than half of a full-time equivalent; the permit concerns a managerial\/corporate-function role; or the permit concerns a posted (delegated) worker (Arts. 34, 38 and 43 of the new Act).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both types of permits may be subject to renewal, but an application in this regard must be submitted no earlier than 90 and no later than 30 days before the expiration of the permit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The permit is issued in the form of an administrative decision, which is subject to appeal to the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy. It is filed through the voivode who issued the decision, within 14 days of its delivery to the party.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since 1 June 2025, the application, any explanations, the appeal itself and all related correspondence must be filed electronically through the applicant’s account in the praca.gov.pl system.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The labour market test has been abolished. In its place, a starosta (at the request of the director of the local powiatowy urz\u0105d pracy) may designate, for a given poviat, a list of occupations for which work permits will not be issued because of a difficult local labour-market situation (e.g. a high unemployment rate or mass layoffs).<\/p>\n Such a list requires a positive opinion from the poviat labour-market council and approval from the voivode, who takes into account state security, migration policy and the labour-market needs of the voivodeship. The consolidated list is maintained by the minister competent for labour and published on praca.gov.pl and in the ministry’s Public Information Bulletin.<\/p>\n An employer no longer applies for a separate starosta opinion \u2014 it only needs to confirm that the intended occupation is not on the published exclusion list.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A test by the district starosta will not be required for foreigners employed on the basis of a statement on the entrustment of work, i.e. citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, who have been included in the simplified procedure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The opinion of the starosta is also not required for foreigners who represent deficit occupations. These include, among others, certain groups of engineers and construction workers, specialist doctors, nurses, caregivers of the elderly or programmers and IT systems development specialists.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The test is also not applied to graduates and doctoral students of universities in Poland, the European Union and the European Economic Area who plan to work in Poland. The exemption also covers workers from third countries who have legally resided in Poland for 3 years before applying for a work permit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A\u00a0written employment contract is now required as a rule for foreign workers generally, whereas previously it was mandatory only for those who needed a work permit or a declaration. Management-board members, commercial proxies and holders of similar corporate-function roles remain exempt from this written-form requirement.<\/p>\n In addition to verifying the above-mentioned two formal aspects, it is also worth paying attention to ensuring that all documents related to employment at your workplace are made available to the prospective employee in a language he or she understands. So make sure that not only the employment contract, but also the applicable labor and salary regulations or collective bargaining agreement are made available to the employee in a language familiar to the employee<\/strong>. Note – this does not mean that the text of these documents must be in the native language of the employee in question. If he speaks English, for example, then the documents can be presented to the employee in that language.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If your future employee has an adequate basis for legal residence and employment in Poland, there is nothing stopping you from signing the contract and enjoying the established cooperation after translating the employment contract and other documents regulating working conditions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you are wondering whether your prospective employee has the right documents or you are not sure if you have completed all the necessary formalities, feel free to contact us.<\/p>\n In connection with the events that took place behind the eastern border of our country, the legislator has introduced special rules for the stay and employment of citizens of Ukraine and Belarus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Citizens of Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ukraine sub-section below reflects the original March 2022 wording of the special assistance act. It has since been amended several times (most recently with effect from 30 September 2025) and the dates quoted are no longer current. Update using the current consolidated text of the Act of 12 March 2022 on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine, as amended.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You need to know that in connection with Russia’s attack on Ukraine, special provisions were introduced with regard to citizens who were forced to leave that country and cross the Polish border.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Accordingly, the legal status of citizens of Ukraine is regulated by the law of March 12, 2022 on assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of that country, known as the “specustawa” (a normative act that, for a certain period of time, excludes the application of existing regulations).<\/p>\n This act has been amended repeatedly since 2022, most recently with effect from 30 September 2025.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On its basis, the provisions on the conditions for recognition of stay in Poland as legal do not apply to citizens who have:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, the above-mentioned exclusion will apply if a citizen of Ukraine:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As most recently amended, with effect from 30 September 2025, the legal stay of Ukrainian citizens (and specified family members) who came to Poland from 24 February 2022 onward in connection with the war has been extended until 4 March 2026; for certain categories whose documents were extended in connection with the war, legal stay is recognised until 4 March 2027, and an application to legalise residence may be filed at any point during that period.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The stay of a child born on the territory of the Republic of Poland by its mother, after the date specified above, is also considered legal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be remembered that whenever the law refers to a citizen of Ukraine, it is also understood to mean a spouse of a citizen of Ukraine who does not have Ukrainian citizenship, if he or she arrived on the territory of the Republic of Poland from the territory of Ukraine in connection with the hostilities conducted on the territory of that country and is not a Polish citizen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also, if a citizen of Ukraine holding a Pole’s Card, left Ukraine in the period from February 24, 2022, and then arrived legally on the territory of the Republic of Poland and declares his\/her intention to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland, his\/her stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland is considered legal for the period described in the current, amended deadlines above. f This rule applies mutatis mutandis to members of such a person’s immediate family.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The above-described rules for legalizing the stay of Ukrainian citizens in the territory of Poland are closely linked to solutions facilitating their adaptation in the labor market of our country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Based on the provisions of the special law, the Polish labor market has been opened to war refugees from Ukraine. This is because they can take up employment on very liberal terms.<\/p>\n The 30 September 2025 amendment further simplified access to the labour market for Ukrainian citizens.<\/p>\n According to the special law – a citizen of Ukraine, who entered Poland due to warfare and declares his\/her intention to stay on its territory, is entitled to work on the territory of the Republic of Poland, if:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The time limit for the performance of this obligation is 14 days from the date of taking up work by a citizen of Ukraine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The obligation to notify, does not apply to the case in which a citizen of Ukraine performs work on the territory of the Republic of Poland on the basis of statements or work permits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be emphasized that the notification in question entitles the foreigner to perform work without the obligation to have a work permit or statement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It takes place through an ICT system – praca.gov.pl.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The submission of a notification on taking up employment by a citizen of Ukraine is not subject to any fee.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be noted that any change of employer by a foreigner requires a new notification, while it is not possible to withdraw or cancel a notification that has already been submitted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be remembered that each conclusion of a subsequent contract with a foreigner, involves the submission of a new notification of employment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the time limit for submitting the notification has expired and the employer has not done so, it is necessary to re-employ the foreigner concerned. This means that it is necessary to establish a new contract for his\/her employment, from which the new period of 14 days provided for submitting a notification of entrustment of work to a foreigner will be counted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Citizens of Belarus<\/strong><\/p>\n The political and social situation in Belarus, in particular the rigged presidential elections in August 2020, has caused a huge increase in emigration from that country to Poland. To deal with this phenomenon, since July 2022, the Polish government has significantly facilitated the legalization of stay of Belarusian citizens residing in our country, on the basis of so-called humanitarian visas (visa symbol D21, issued for one year), introducing a special procedure for them to obtain temporary residence permits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Humanitarian visas allow citizens of other countries to stay legally on the territory of Poland and take up work without the need to obtain any additional permits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The conditions for the issuance of humanitarian visas are defined by the Law on Foreigners, according to which – a foreigner is granted a residence permit for humanitarian reasons on the territory of the Republic of Poland, if the obligation to return:<\/p>\n 1) can be made only to a country in which:<\/p>\n 2) would violate his\/her right to family or private life, or<\/p>\n 3) would violate the rights of the child to a degree that significantly endangers their psychophysical development. The competent authority for the issuance of humanitarian visas is the chief of the Border Guard after conducting proceedings to oblige the foreigner to return.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To obtain a humanitarian visa, it is necessary to submit the appropriate application. For this purpose, you need to fill out and sign the visa application form, which is available on the website of the relevant consulate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The procedure for obtaining a residence card for Belarusian citizens who are staying on the basis of a visa issued for humanitarian reasons was introduced by the Decree of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of June 14, 2022 on citizenship, the possession of which entitles foreigners to apply for a temporary residence permit. It came into effect on July 9, 2022.<\/p>\n The application forms\/procedure for this permit are now governed by the Regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of 10 April 2026 on applications for a temporary residence permit \u2014 check the current text before republishing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be noted that the condition for the granting of a temporary residence permit under the terms of the above-mentioned legal act is that a citizen of Belarus must have resided in the territory of Poland on the basis of a national visa issued for humanitarian purposes immediately prior to the application for its granting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You need to know that a temporary residence permit is granted for the period of time necessary to realize the purpose of the foreigner’s stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland, but no longer than 3 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A temporary residence permit is granted or denied by the voivode competent for the foreigner’s place of residence, by way of a decision.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be noted that the foreigner is required to submit an application for a temporary residence permit in person, no later than on the last day of his\/her legal stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland.<\/p>\n The underlying exemption is now found in the new Act on the Labour Market and Employment Services (in force since 1 June 2025), which replaced the Law on Employment Promotion and Labor Market Institutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be emphasized that on the basis of the Law on Employment Promotion and Labor Market Institutions, the holder of this type of permit is exempt from the obligation to have a work permit, so he\/she can perform work fully legally without the need for having this document.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It should be added that as of January 1, 2023, a foreigner who has been granted the temporary residence permit in question has the option of applying for a Polish foreign travel document.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When deciding to hire a foreigner, it is worth bearing in mind the obligations of the employer that should be fulfilled so that such cooperation proceeds in accordance with the law and does not give rise to negative consequences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","sip_alt_url":"","sip_en_pl_url":""},"categories":[1146],"tags":[23,184,185,186,246,372,421,503,682,731,732,922],"specialization":[1130],"practice_area":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment","tag-additional-documents","tag-employment-of-a-citizen-of-a-non-eu-country","tag-employment-of-a-foreigner","tag-employment-of-citizens-of-ukraine-and-belarus","tag-immigration-regulations-update","tag-labor-market-test","tag-national-visa","tag-permission-to-work-in-poland","tag-recruitment-of-foreign-workers","tag-schengen-visa","tag-seasonal-work-permit","tag-visa-requirements-for-non-eu-employees","specialization-employment-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/2668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"specialization","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialization?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"practice_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawaryn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/practice_area?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Types of documents that enable working in Poland<\/h2>\n
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Who issues the work permit?<\/h2>\n
What are the types of work permits for foreigners?<\/h2>\n
What is the legal form of work permits for foreigners and the appeal procedure?<\/h2>\n
Labor market test<\/h2>\n
Is it always necessary to conduct a labor market test?<\/h2>\n
Additional documents<\/h2>\n
Special rules of residence and employment of citizens of Ukraine and Belarus<\/h2>\n
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