About Maria Mirek Expertise POLISH LAW; matters related to legal aspects of immigration to Poland; residency, work
permits, polish citizenship, real estate law, corporate law.
Experience I'm a Polish lawyer experienced in the above fields practicing with Polish law office and also operating my own legal services office (www.mwc-legal.com). For past 2 years I have served as consular associate in the Consulate of the Republic of Poland in the USA.
Education/Credentials Law School (University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland) 2001-2006
Past/Present Clients Individuals and corporate Clients from USA, Canada, Australia
Question Hi, I am a Indian Government servant in police department, i want to work in poland, in company or to do business later whether i am eligible to work in Poland? for how many years of work permit will i get? and Is it possible to get citizenship of poland?
Bhavesh Jadhav
Police Sub Inspector
India
Answer Hello,
Thank you for your question.
Immigration to Poland for non-EU citizens is mainly based on the employment. This means that, you may be allowed to move to Poland once you find an employer and go through work permit and temporary residency processes. In order to apply for Polish Citizenship, you would have to legally leave in Poland for more than 5 years and hold a permanent residency here. The process for nomination of Polish Citizenship may take up to 3 years and is very difficult.
If you wish to come to Poland in near future, I suggest to concentrate on finding an employer and go through work permit process.
Below, please find summary of those procedures.
1. Introduction
Since Poland joined the European Union on 1st May 2004, Polish regulations regarding employing foreigners had to be adjusted to European Union’s directives. The basic principle Poland had to implement was the freedom of movement of the EU citizens.
In recent years the freedom of movement of the EU citizens has given Poles the opportunity to travel and work without any restrictions in almost all EU countries, which in turn brings about the need to employ in Poland people who are not EU citizens.
The issue of employing foreigners in the Republic of Poland is briefly discussed below. This issue is extremely complex due to the currently applicable regulations. The rules for a foreigner's employment in Poland depend on their nationality or profession.
2. General Rules.
The general rule applicable under current regulations is the admissibility of foreigners’ work in Poland subject to obtaining a proper permit. The authority empowered to issue such permit is the province governor (voivode) “wojewoda” whose jurisdiction covers employer headquarters.
The following groups of foreigners are excused from obtaining work permit:
- Refugees
- Individuals who have a valid permit to settle in Poland
- Individuals who have a valid permit for tolerated residence. Additionally, the regulations, in principle, exempt the following groups of foreigners from the obligation to obtain the permit
- EU citizens and citizens of the states with which the EU has signed an agreement on freedom of movement of people
- Members of families of the said foreigner, who either work or run business in Poland
- Citizens of neighbor countries (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus) for the period of 6 month
The applicable Act on employment promotion does not include a closed list of professions for which a permit is not required. Instead, the Act refers to other Acts regulating employment of particular categories of employees, e.g. university teachers and researchers.
3.Visa for employment purposes.
The employment protection Act provides that obtaining a work permit by a foreigner is conditioned by obtaining a prior promise of work permit for individuals who do not have an adequate visa or permit for residence for a definite period. Pursuant to these regulations, a foreigner coming to Poland should receive a residence visa, depending on the purpose of his/her arrival. Residence visas include also the tourist visa, research visa and the visa for employment purposes. Granting a visa for employment purposes is conditioned by presenting by the applicant of a promise of granting a work permit in Poland.
The visa for employment purposes is valid for the period for which the employer has promised to employ the foreigner or for the period indicated in the statement of intention to employ. If a foreigner on the day of placing an application holds an adequate visa or residence permit, then the employer can apply for granting of a work permit without the need to prior obtaining of promise.
4. Rules and procedures for work promises and permits to foreigners.
Detailed regulations providing for the rules and procedures for granting promises and permits are included in executive regulations for the employment protection Act. During the promise granting procedure, the situation at the local labor market must be taken into consideration. In this context, the basic obligation of the employer is to notify the locally labor office about a job vacancy and also advertise job offer either in the daily newspaper or in the Internet. Job offer is placed in the labor office for 30 days. The province governor shall reject an application for work promise, if the employer unreasonably refuses to employ unemployed Polish citizen with qualifications needed who answers to the published job offer.
A promise shall also be rejected when:
- The employer has violated regulations of the Act within one year before the application placing or whose activity is inadequate for the post or kind of work offered to the foreigner.
- The foreigner was sentenced to imprisonment and, if the penalty is suspended, then until the expiry of the suspended penalty period, and to parties to proceedings for deportation from Poland.
- The foreigner has not received residence visa.
After the work promise was granted and foreigner received residence visa, the actual process for work permit starts. The employer is required to provide written application for each foreigner in order to receive a work permit. The application has to be accompanied with numerous of documents. Work permit is granted for each foreigner individually even if the employer applied for numerous permits. The permit is issued accordingly to the length of the residence visa or decision of temporary residence (for foreigners already residing in Poland). Permits are usually granted for 12 months and may be extended by the province governor.
5. Summary.
The following steps are required to legally employ foreigner in Poland:
- Employer applies for promise
- Based on the promise, foreigner applies for residence visa
- Based on the promise and residence visa, Employer applies for work permit
- After the permit is granted employer may sign contract with foreigner.
Similar requirements for residency apply if you would like to operate your own business in Poland (be self employed).
