GMI Legal Update: Polish government publishes a draft of new law regulating employment of foreigners

The long-awaited draft of the new law on the access of foreigners to the labor market has been published on the website of the Government Legislation Center. The draft proposes that the current Act on the promotion of employment and labor market Institutions, which regulates the employment of foreigners in Poland, will be repealed and replaced by two separate regulations: the aforementioned law and the act on the labor market and employment services, which will include other regulations, such as those concerning professional activation and the activities of employment agencies.

The draft of the new law aims to comprehensively regulate all aspects related to the employment of foreigners in Poland. Its key provisions include:

• Digitization of procedures for obtaining documents legalizing the work of foreigners, including submitting notifications after the issuance of these documents, such as regarding the failure to start the employment based on a work permit;
• Abolition of the so-called labor market test in favor of additional authorization for county governors, who will be able to determine a list of professions for which work permits may be refused if justified by a difficult situation in the local labor market;
• Tightening sanctions for employers who illegally employ foreigners and extending the control authorization of the National Labor Inspectorate and the Border Guard in matters of employment of foreigners;
• Adding new grounds for refusing to issue a work permit, including mandatory refusal for employers who are in arrears with tax payments or who were established mainly to facilitate the entry of foreigners into Poland;
• Allowing foreigners, for whom the employer has obtained a document legalizing employment, to create accounts on the praca.gov.pl portal.

The draft is currently under consultation, and further modifications are expected. The Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy plans to adopt the draft by the Council of Ministers in the third quarter of this year. We are monitoring the progress of the new regulations and will keep you updated.