Before work starts

  • Residence document. Before work starts, you demand from the foreigner a valid document entitling the foreigner to stay in Poland and you keep a copy of it for the entire period of work and for 2 years from the end of the year in which the legal relationship ended (Art. 4 paras. 2, 4 and 6 of the Act on the Conditions for Permitting the Entrusting of Work to Foreigners, hereinafter: the Act on Entrusting Work). See: how to check legality.
  • The right to work. Legal stay is not the same as the right to work. You need a basis under Art. 3 of the Act on Entrusting Work, e.g. a temporary residence and work permit, a work permit or a declaration entered in the register. See: work of foreigners.
  • A written contract before allowing the foreigner to work (Art. 5 para. 1). See: contract in the foreigner's language.
  • Information on the right to trade unions in writing, in a language understandable to the foreigner (Art. 5 para. 4).

With a work permit or a declaration

  • You enter the conditions from the permit or the declaration in the contract (Art. 17 para. 1 point 1, Art. 68 para. 1 point 1).
  • You give the contract in Polish to the authority through the ICT system before entrusting the work (Art. 17 para. 1 point 2, Art. 68 para. 1 point 2).
  • Remuneration cannot be lower than the minimum. With longer working time you raise it proportionally (Art. 17 para. 1 points 3 and 5, Art. 68 para. 1 points 3 and 4).
  • You give the foreigner the permit decision or the entered declaration (Art. 17 para. 1 point 7, Art. 68 para. 1 point 5).
  • You pay outstanding remuneration (Art. 17 para. 5, Art. 68 para. 3).

Notification deadlines

  • 7 days to notify the authority of a change of registered office, name or legal form, a takeover of the workplace or a change of the name of the position (Art. 18 para. 2, Art. 20 para. 1).
  • 7 days from the moment the foreigner did not start work within 2 months of the start of validity of the permit, interrupted work for more than 2 months or ended it earlier than 2 months before the end of validity (Art. 19, Art. 20 para. 1).
  • Declaration: you report the start of work within 7 days of its start, and non-start - within 14 days of the work start date given in the register (Art. 70 para. 1). You also report the end of work before the deadline (Art. 70 para. 2).
  • Citizen of Ukraine under temporary protection: notification of the poviat labour office within 7 days of the start of work (Art. 5a para. 1). See: notification of the work of a citizen of Ukraine.
  • Temporary residence and work permit: you report the changes under Art. 119 para. 1 of the Act on Foreigners to the voivode within 15 working days (Art. 119 para. 2). You report the foreigner's loss of work within 15 days (Art. 121 para. 4).

Documents for authorities and personal data

At the request of, among others, the starost, the voivode, ZUS (Social Insurance Institution), the National Labour Inspectorate, the National Revenue Administration, the Border Guard or the Police, you make available the documents confirming these duties, in Polish or in a translation into Polish (Art. 17 para. 1 point 9, Art. 68 para. 1 point 7). You protect the foreigner's personal data against unauthorised processing, loss and destruction (Art. 4 para. 7).

What happens when you change the position, pay or working time: changing employment terms. What to do when documents expire: expiring documents. Consequences of violations: penalties.