The new rules on the work of foreigners were introduced on the basis of a pilot program in agriculture. 'The regulation, which applies only to agriculture, has been in effect since September 2006 and has not been particularly successful. Only 1.5 million people have taken advantage of it. Due to the fact that there is no threat to the Polish economy, we decided to open the labor market in all sectors,' said Kazimierz Kuberski.
The innovations are intended to facilitate the employment process for foreigners and help agricultural and construction enterprises that are building hangars for agriculture or need seasonal workers. Kazimierz Kuberski noted that the visa application procedure will be significantly simplified and cheaper. Previously, it was necessary to pay 900 zlotys, but now it will cost 100 zlotys to obtain a visa.
'We want Ukrainians to have an even easier time getting jobs in Poland, and for offers of Polish vacancies to also appear in local employment exchanges. Other countries, such as the Czech Republic, are already conducting such informational work,' said Kuberski.
The condition for obtaining a work visa will be a statement from the employer of their intention to hire a foreigner. To do this, the statement must be registered with the district employment office and then sent to the candidate. The application form will be available on the website of the employment office. Foreigners will be subject to the same tax and social protection rules as Polish workers.
According to the Ministry of Labor, Poland is short of several thousand workers. Under the new regulation, it will also be possible to legalize those foreigners who are already working illegally in Poland. As explained by Janusz Grzyb, Deputy Director of the Migration Department of the Polish Ministry of Labor, the agency, by introducing the rules on having a statement from the employer, implies that the employer and employee 'already knew each other.' The ministry is confident that half of the million Ukrainians arriving in Poland on tourist visas actually intend to find employment. And today, the black labor market accounts for 1.3 million people.
As already mentioned, the regulation does not provide for employment longer than three months. Kazimierz Kuberski explained that this is related to the visa issuance periods in accordance with European Union rules. 'Poland still has a high unemployment rate. We assume that foreign workers will only be a complement - for now, we are only slightly opening the door,' he said. Kuberski added that the limitation on the number of countries whose citizens can be employed under the simplified procedure is related to the rules on readmission and Poland's accession to the Schengen area (when the Polish visa will also be valid for entry into other EU countries). However, the Ministry of Labor assumes that soon it will be necessary to look for workers from Asian countries. Experts are already studying possible problems that may arise when employing citizens of Vietnam, India and China.
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