Background information

The Act on the Conditions for Permitting the Employment of Foreigners in Poland, signed in early April 2025, sets out the conditions for employing foreigners in Poland and introduces tougher penalties for employing them illegally. The Act aims to streamline procedures, limit the existing abuses, reduce office backlogs and make proceedings fully electronic.

The rationale behind the introduction of the law is to increase the number of foreigners coming to Poland to work here.

Legal reference:

Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions of permissibility of entrusting work to foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland.

Content of measure

Foreigners who do not have free access to the labour market (coming from a non-Schengen country) can be employed only at the initiative of the employer. The law imposes restrictions to employers that have failed to fulfil their obligations towards their employees in the past (e.g. not paying social security contributions), by limiting their right to hire any foreign workers in order to prevent the risk of abuse of foreigners. The law also allows district governors to block the employment of foreigners if the local labour market is experiencing difficulties and the occupation in question is not in short supply. The Act does not define specifically the concept of "difficult situation on the local labour market". In Polish law, this concept refers primarily to the situation of a person whose situation on the labour market is particularly difficult. According to the Act on Promotion of Employment and Labour Market Institutions, the analysis of the situation on the local labour market should take into account, in particular, a comparison of the number of of registered unemployed and jobseekers in specific occupations in relation to the number of vacancies reported to the regional labour offices.

The act imposes a fine between PLN 3,000 (€702.6 as of 29 April 2025) and PLN 50,000 (€11,709.6 as of 29 April 2025) for each instance of illegal employment f foreign workers.

Use of measure

The law comes into force on 1 May 2025, so the impact of the measure cannot be assessed at this point.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Migrants or refugees in employment	Applies to all businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies Local / regional government Public employment service Social insurance	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only employers' organisations
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

No data available regarding the involvement of social partners in designing, implementing and monitoring the measure. Employers' organizations (including the Lewiatan Confederation, the Union of Polish Employers, Employers of Poland) have published positions on their websites on the Act on the conditions of admissibility of entrusting work to foreigners.

Views and reactions

Employers' organisations protested against the obligation for employers, including temporary employment agencies, to conclude employment contracts only with foreigners, which they said would have a negative impact on the Polish labour market and could lead to an expansion of the informal economy. In their statements, the employers' organisations pointed out the importance of foreigners for the Polish labor market in the context of the demographic changes taking place in Polish society.

Sources

• 20 April 2004: Ustawa z dnia 20 kwietnia 2004 o promocji zatrudnienia i instytucjach rynku pracy z dnia 20 kwietnia 2004 r. o promocji zatrudnienia i instytucjach rynku pracy (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
• 30 January 2025: Stanowisko ZPP ws. projektu ustawy o warunkach dopuszczalności powierzania pracy cudzoziemcom na terytorium Rzeczypospolitej PolskiejStanowisko ZPP ws. projektu ustawy o warunkach dopuszczalności powierzania pracy cudzoziemcom na terytorium Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (zpp.net.pl)
• 04 March 2025: Warunki dopuszczalności powierzania pracy cudzoziemcom na terytorium RP – uwagi Lewiatana (lewiatan.org)
• 10 April 2025: Ustawa o powierzaniu pracy cudzoziemcom - podpisana Czytaj więcej na Prawo.pl: https://www.prawo.pl/kadry/warunki-dopuszczalnosci-powierzania-pracy-cudzoziemcom-na-terytorium-rp-ustawa-podpisana,532467.html (www.prawo.pl)
• 17 April 2025: Jest już nowa ustawa o warunkach dopuszczalności powierzania pracy, z podpisem Prezydenta (www.infor.pl)
• 29 April 2025: Apel Rady Przedsiębiorczości ws. cudzoziemców (pracodawcyrp.pl)