#Alert: Electronization of employment procedures for foreigners expected still this year

The long-awaited draft of a bill on the employment of foreigners has been published. It will change the rules for obtaining work permits and declarations on entrusting work to foreigners in Poland.

It is planned to adopt the new regulation sill this year. The draft also foresees that the act will enter into force shortly after its publication – after only 7 days.

Below we present the most important changes included in the project:

• elimination of the so-called the labor market test when applying for a work permit or certain types of residence permits – this will shorten the procedures by several weeks;
• transfer of activities related to work permits and declarations on entrusting work entirely to the praca.gov.pl portal – the only possibility of submitting an application will be sending it electronically;
• increased prevention of abuses related to the working conditions of foreigners – in order to obtain a work permit for a foreigner, the foreigner will have to receive a salary comparable to salary of other employees (verified in accordance with the central database of job offers) and perform work for at least ¼ of a full-time job;
• additional possibilities for the government to limit issuing of documents legalizing the work of foreigners – by introducing appropriate, separate regulations;
• a foreigner who entered Poland but did not start work on the basis of a previously held work permit or declaration may not be able to work for a new employer;
• in the event of a planned change in the foreigner’s working conditions, it will be possible to change the existing work permit instead of applying for a new document;
• increasing fines for illegal employment of foreigners (they will be counted for each foreigner, in the amount of at least PLN 500);
• limiting the possibility of seconding foreigners to other entities by employers who are not temporary work agencies.

However, the draft does not regulate some issues of employment of foreigners, which have been problematic for a long time. An example is the lack of specifying the possibility of remote work by foreigners.

The draft also does not include a distinction between work and business activities (for cases of business trips to Poland). Concluding contracts with foreigners in a form other than in writing (e.g. by exchanging e-mails) is also not regulated.

We hope that some of the above-mentioned issues will be taken into account during the legislative process. Our team will follow the progress of the work on the new bill.