flash news: #foreigners
The draft Act on the conditions of admissibility of entrusting work to foreign citizens in Poland originally envisaged allowing foreign citizens to be employed in Poland exclusively under employment contracts where the basis for employment was to be a work permit or a statement on entrusting work to a foreign citizen. The Government ultimately withdrew this proposal, largely under pressure from the public (including sectoral organisations and employers), which perceived a number of risks in this change, such as limiting the flexibility of the labour market and increasing the so-called grey market.
Last Friday (24 January), the Sejm appointed an Extraordinary Committee to consider the following draft laws concerning the labour market and foreign citizens staying in Poland:
More than six months after it was first drafted, today (on 7 January 2025) the bill has been placed before the Sejm (lower house of Polish parliament).
The bill includes, among other things:
- higher penalties for illegally engaging foreigners to work in Poland
- streamlining and fully digitalising procedures involving the legalisation of foreigners’ work in Poland.
The government has withdrawn a controversial proposal to make it compulsory to employ foreign citizens solely under employment contracts, which aroused strong objections from employers and industry organisations. The change, imposed by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, would have made it compulsory to employ a foreign citizen under an employment contract in situations where the basis for employment was a work permit or a statement on entrusting work to a foreign citizen. Critics argued that the regulation would reduce the flexibility of the labour market and increase the shadow economy.
A few days ago, Legalito, the EWL Foundation and the Warsaw University Centre for Eastern European Studies published a report titled Migrants in Polish Companies: Employment Practices, Forecasts and Barriers: Employers’ Experience. The survey covered 200 medium-sized and large companies representing key sectors of the economy such as IT, construction, manufacturing or logistics.
On 8 November, the Prime Minister’s Office published on its website a new draft bill on Amendments to the Act on Foreigners and Certain Other Acts (UD163) introducing greater digitalisation to procedures for applying for:
- temporary stay
- permanent residence
- stay of a long-term EU resident.