The planned opening of a new Polish consulate in Donetsk and the constant increase in staff for processing visa applications are not only a result of the UEFA Euro 2012 championship, which takes place in June. First and foremost, this is due to the growing demand of the Polish labor market for Ukrainian specialists. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Poland, this demand has doubled over the past few years.
Thus, the significant increase in the number of labor migrations to Poland is due to a shortage of personnel in the Polish labor market, especially in areas such as construction, heavy and light industry. These shortfalls are accompanied, on the one hand, by a positive market situation, and on the other, by wages that are several times higher than in Ukraine, which attracts foreigners (90% of legally employed foreigners are specialists from Ukraine). The difference between wages in Poland and Ukraine is very significant – the real average wage in Poland is about 3,200 zlotys (that is about 8,200 hryvnias), while in Ukraine it is only 2,200 hryvnias.
In 2011 alone, Polish consulates issued about 570,000 visas to Ukrainian citizens, of which 200,000 were national visas. Polish employers registered almost 240,000 job invitations for Ukrainians, which is 42% more than the previous year. Based on such invitations, one can obtain a type D work visa, which allows staying in Poland and working legally for 6 months within a year. The simplified employment procedure described above is used by more and more Ukrainians, making them the largest group of foreigners on the Polish labor market.
The application procedure itself takes about two weeks – after the employer fills out the invitation and registers this document with the relevant labor and employment office, the job candidate (with the invitation in hand) can fill out a visa application. After receiving the visa, he or she only needs to come to the employer in Poland and sign an employment contract. Citizens of other countries cannot use this simplified procedure; they must immediately obtain a work permit – in 2011, almost 19,000 people used this option, which is also 42% more compared to 2010.
Most Ukrainians find work in agriculture (126,000 registered invitations), followed by construction companies (51,000 invitations). High demand for Ukrainian specialists is observed in heavy and light industry enterprises, as well as transport companies. In addition, many specialists and middle- and senior-level managers find work in Poland, especially in the field of working with Eastern markets. Besides large firms, Ukrainians are often hired by private individuals - mainly for housekeeping, childcare, and elderly care as maids and nannies. Due to the complex process of nostrification of documents, the Polish healthcare system does not fully utilize the potential of Ukrainian medical professionals.
An important reason for the increase in trips to Poland is changes in Polish legislation related to the simplification of employment of foreigners in Poland. Liberalization in this area has been observed over the past few years. Since 2006, the simplified employment procedure for citizens of five Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, based on an invitation for a visa application, has been in effect. Also, the validity period of a work permit has been extended to three years. Moreover, the cost of obtaining such a permit has been reduced from 936 to 100 zlotys (that is about 250 hryvnias). Further warming of Polish-Ukrainian relations may lead to new simplifications. Already at the beginning of this year, information appeared about the exemption from consular fees for national visas for Ukrainian citizens.
“Currently in Poland we observe a favorable atmosphere for the employment of foreigners. In 2012, under the new law on foreigners, further simplification and standardization of legislative changes regarding the procedure for foreigners to obtain work and residence permits in Poland are planned,” says Andrzej Korkus, owner of the EVL Ukraine Agency, a recently opened branch of the Polish employment agency EVL in Kyiv. “At the same time, the legislative changes imply an increase in employer responsibility for hiring foreigners, which should positively affect the quality of employment. Moreover, over the past few years, cultural exchange between Poland and Ukraine has been increasing – both in business and personal relationships. Ukraine and Poland have every chance to develop a joint market – from economic, legal, and even purely social, human reasons.”
Based on materials from EVL Ukraine.