Employment of foreigners from outside of the EU – continuing employment

How to extend employment of a foreigner from outside of the EU – practical and the most popular solution.

Temporary residence and work permit

Article 114 of the Act on Foreigners of 12 December 2013 with implementing legislation govern the procedure to obtain temporary permit to reside and work in Poland by foreigners.

For temporary residence and work permit, a foreigner applies to a province governor appropriate for their place of stay. Application to issue the permit should be filed personally by a foreigner or a foreigner will be summonsed to appear in person within 7 days, or else the application will not be considered.

Market demand test

Market demand test is not required for continuance of employment on the same terms or when a salary is changed. However, if the position is changed, a market demand test must be run and an inquiry with the district governor must be made.

Of course, if the work to be performed by a foreign is on the list of professions in deficiency, it is not necessary to seek information with district governor, even if the position is changed. The list of professions in deficiency is published in regulations of the province governors or in the enclosure to the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. By way of example, today, the following professions are found on those lists:

• health care professionals (with 2nd degree specialisation or title of specialist),
• electrical engineers
• computer systems analysts
• construction technicians
• carers for the elderly
• road construction workers
• bus drivers

Application for temporary residence and work permit

A foreigner will obtain temporary residence and work permit in Poland when the purpose of their stay is to perform work in the Republic of Poland and meets jointly the following conditions:

• holds health insurance in the Republic of Poland
• has stable source of income sufficient to cover their subsistence expenses and the subsistence expenses of their dependents
• is provided with housing in the Republic of Poland
• the employer will confirm and determine terms and conditions of continued employment in enclosures to the application for temporary residence and work permit:
  • position and scope of responsibilities,
  • grounds for employment (employment or other contract),
  • working time arrangement and term for which the work is entrusted,
  • place of work and gross basic salary.
• Salary of foreigner must not be lower than salary of employees who work the same working hours and perform comparable work or work on a comparable position.

Content of permit to reside and work

A single permit to reside and work is issued for a fixed period of time, in most cases for no more than 3 years.

A single permit to reside and work is given to a foreigner to undertake work at the given employer, exclusively on terms and conditions specified in administrative decision specifying:

• document validity date
• name of employer and in the case of temporary work also name of employer-user
• position to be occupied by a foreigner
• lowest salary a foreigner may receive for the kind of work performed
• working time arrangement
• type of contract to govern the foreigner’s work

It means that in the event of change of employer specified in the administrative decision, it is necessary to obtain new permit to reside and work.  The same applies to working for another employer-user (in the case of temporary work) or on terms and conditions other than specified in the permit i.e. on another position, with a lower salary or when working time arrangement or type of contract governing the work have been changed. 

Reasons which do not require the change or issue of a new permit to reside and work include:   

• change of registered seat, name or legal form of the employer
• transfer of employment establishment or its part to another employer
• replacement of a civil contract with an employment contract.

Learn more: Employment of foreigners from outside the EU – where to start?

Residence card

A foreigner who obtained temporary residence permit in Poland is given a residence card. This document is issued by operation of law by the province governor who granted the permit to a foreigner.

In a residence card issued in connection with granting a foreigner a temporary residence permit to perform work, an annotation “access to labour market” is affixed.

A residence card during its validity period confirms the identity of a foreigner during their stay in the Republic of Poland and, together with a travel documents, entitles to multiple border crossing without a need to obtain a visa.

Author:

Katarzyna Zarzycka
Expatriate Consultant
TGC Corporate Lawyers

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