[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"advice-en-employing-foreigners-overview":3},{"slug":4,"title":5,"excerpt":6,"body":7,"datePublished":8,"dateModified":8},"employing-foreigners-overview","Employing foreigners 2026 — permits, costs and duties","How to legally employ a foreigner in Poland in 2026: who needs no permit, the declaration, work permit and single permit, fees and employer duties.","\u003Cp>Employing a non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss foreigner in Poland requires a legal basis to work: a work permit obtained by the employer, a single permit for residence and work obtained by the foreigner themselves, a declaration of entrusting work (for selected nationalities), or one of the statutory exemptions – e.g. permanent residence. Since 1 June 2025, a new Act on the conditions for entrusting work to foreigners has been in force, and applications are filed only electronically. Below we structure the routes, the costs in 2026 and the employer duties whose omission most often ends in a charge of illegal employment.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Step one: check whether the foreigner needs a permit\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Citizens of EU, EEA states and Switzerland work in Poland on the same terms as Poles. Among the remaining people, a large group also does not need a work permit. These include foreigners who:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>hold a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident permit in Poland,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>have refugee status, subsidiary protection or temporary protection,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>have temporary residence granted on account of studies in Poland or marriage to a Polish citizen,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>are graduates of Polish universities or upper-secondary schools, or full-time students in Poland,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>hold a valid Pole's Card.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>A separate situation applies to citizens of Ukraine: they may work on the basis of a notification filed by the employer at the district employment office within 7 days of starting work. According to information from the government portal for entrepreneurs, this entitlement is in force until 4 March 2029.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>In practice, the employer should start by looking at the candidate's residence document. Not every legal stay gives the right to work – e.g. a tourist visa confirms legal residence but does not entitle a person to employment.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Main routes to legalising work\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Ctable>\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr>\u003Cth>Route\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>Who files the application\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>Where it works\u003C\u002Fth>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Fthead>\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Declaration of entrusting work\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>employer, at the district employment office\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine; work up to 24 months\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Work permit (type A and others)\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>employer, with the voivode\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>the foreigner is yet to arrive or has residence that does not grant the right to work\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Seasonal work permit\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>employer, at the employment office\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>agriculture, horticulture, tourism – up to 9 months a year\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Single permit (temporary residence and work)\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>foreigner, with the voivode\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>the person already lives in Poland and plans to work longer than 3 months\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>EU Blue Card\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>foreigner, with the voivode\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>highly qualified specialists with higher pay\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003Cp>Work permit applications and declarations are filed only through the praca.gov.pl portal – an application filed differently is left without consideration. From 27 April 2026, a foreigner also files an application for a single permit electronically, through the Case Handling Module, signing it with the trusted profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Costs on the employer's side in 2026\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>work permit up to 3 months\u003C\u002Fstrong> – PLN 200,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>work permit above 3 months\u003C\u002Fstrong> – PLN 400,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>work permit for a foreigner posted to Poland\u003C\u002Fstrong> – PLN 800,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>declaration of entrusting work\u003C\u002Fstrong> – PLN 400 for each declaration,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>seasonal work permit\u003C\u002Fstrong> – PLN 100 per application.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>The work-permit rates have applied since 1 December 2025. On top of that come costs of sworn translations of contracts and documents and – for a single permit – a stamp duty, which the foreigner pays.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Employer duties before and during employment\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Col>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Verification and copy of the residence document.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Before work starts, the employer must demand a valid residence document, check that it entitles the person to work, and keep its copy for the whole period of employment and for 2 years after the end of the year in which the employment ended.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Written contract consistent with the permit.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The contract must match the conditions in the permit or declaration – position, pay, working-time scope and type of contract. If the permit specifies an employment contract (umowa o pracę), a mandate contract (umowa zlecenie) cannot be concluded without a new document.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Contract in an understandable language.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The foreigner should receive a translation into a language they understand; where the contract is drafted in a foreign language, the employer keeps its sworn translation into Polish.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Copy of the contract to the authority.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Before entrusting work, the employer passes a copy of the contract in Polish to the authority that issued the permit or recorded the declaration – through the IT system.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Registration with ZUS\u003C\u002Fstrong> within 7 days of hire, as for any employee, and collecting income-tax advances taking tax residency into account.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Notifications during employment.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Within 7 days the authority must be informed, among other things, that the foreigner did not take up work within 2 months of the start of the permit's validity, interrupted work for more than 2 months, or ended it more than 2 months before the end of the permit.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Fol>\u003Ch2>Working and pay conditions\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>A foreigner employed under an employment contract has the same rights as a Polish employee: working time, holiday, overtime, occupational safety and equal treatment. Pay cannot be lower than the minimum – in 2026, PLN 4,806 gross for a full-time job, and on a mandate contract the minimum hourly rate of PLN 31.40 applies. For part-time work, the salary from the permit must be raised proportionally if the working-time scope increases. We describe employee rights in more detail in the article on the \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fadvice\u002Fwhat-is-umowa-o-prace-employment-contract\">employment contract\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>The most common mistakes\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>allowing a person to start work before obtaining the permit or recording the declaration \"because the application has already been filed\",\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>an oral contract or one different from the one in the permit (e.g. a mandate contract instead of an employment contract),\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>lower pay or a different position from the one in the legalising document,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>no notifications about not taking up or ending work,\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>no check on the expiry date of the residence card (karta pobytu) – once it expires, the work may become illegal if the foreigner has not filed a timely application for the next permit.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Ch2>How Good Balance can help\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>We match the right legalisation route, prepare applications on praca.gov.pl and in the Case Handling Module, and keep an eye on notification deadlines. We guide foreigners through the \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Flegalization\u002Fresidence-permit-employment\">temporary residence and work permit\u003C\u002Fa> procedure, and employers receive HR and payroll support under the \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fhr\u002Femployees\">HR and payroll\u003C\u002Fa> service.\u003C\u002Fp>","2026-10-09"]