What residence permits allow for legal employment of a foreigner in a Polish company?
How to Start Employing Third-Country Nationals in Poland
(non-EU countries, European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland).
From the verification of documentation authorising the foreigner to work in the Republic of Poland, where it is located in Poland, or
facilitate the process of obtaining a visa for a foreigner, by obtaining a work permit or a statement about the employment of a foreigner, which can then be presented in the Polish Consulate in the foreigner’s country of origin.
What residence permits entitle foreigners to work in Poland?
1. Visas
Each visa (issued by a Polish authority authorised to do so), whether national (type D) or Schengen (type C), has its specific purpose of issue.
Among them are documents intended typically to perform work. Their objectives are defined as:
‘05a’ for the purpose of carrying out work on the basis of a declaration of entrustment of work to a foreigner entered in the register of statements by the county office of work;
‘05b’ for seasonal work;
‘06’ for the purpose of carrying out work which does not include the above visas, i.e. most often on the basis of a work permit.
IMPORTANT! This does not mean that these are the only visas on which a foreigner resident in Poland can legally work!
On the State Labour Inspection website we can find information on this subject:
“The applicable provisions adopt the principle that a residence permit suitable for the performance of work, together with a work permit or a declaration of entrustment of work to a foreigner, constitutes any visa issued by Polish authorities (type ‘C’ – Schengen, short-term or type ‘D’ – national, long-term visa), regardless of its purpose and any temporary residence permit, with the exception of visas and permits indicated in the regulations as excluding work.”
Below you will find visas that exclude the following:
‘01’ — tourist destination;
‘20’ – the use of temporary protection.
Visas issued by other Schengen countries also entitle to work in Poland. Remember that the stay of a foreigner on such a visa is 90 days in 180 days.
2. Temporary residence permits
The same is true for temporary residence permits in Poland.
Except for a temporary residence permit granted under Article 181(1) of the Foreigners Act of 12 December 2013 (permitting temporary residence due to circumstances requiring short stay), Every temporary residence permit entitles the foreigner to work in Poland.
3. Visa-free movement
Foreigners who have the right to enter Poland without having to have a visa or other document entitled to stay, i.e. under the visa-free movement agreement, are entitled to work in Poland. However, the condition is to obtain for them a work permit, a declaration of entrustment of work to a foreigner or to submit a notification of employment of a Ukrainian citizen. Exceptions are foreigners who are exempt from the obligation to have work permits under special regulations.
4. Other
It is also important to draw attention to other types of residence permits that allow citizens of countries outside the European Union to have legal employment in Poland, without having to have a work permit. A detailed list of these documents can be found in Article 87(1) of the Act on the Promotion of Employment and Labour Market Institutions.