Polish joint work and residence permit - general information

   As I already wrote, if you plan to apply for residence permit in Poland, you are obliged to show, that you have a reason to stay in Poland. Among my clients, the most common purpose of their stay is just having a job here. Earlier, before a new act on foreigners came into force, a foreigner was obliged to obtain work permit and then, on the basis of that work permit, legalize his or her stay. Now we have two procedures joint in one, which have its good and bad points. 

   First of all, be aware, that if a foreigner runs an economic activity in Poland (has a registered firm or owns shares in a company) or is delegated to Poland by a foreign employer - his application for joint work and residence permit will be rejected.

   The application should be submitted personally, there are taken the fingerprints. Officials take the copies of the documents, but the originals always have to be shown for retrospect. Below there is a list of the documents needed. The bolded part is needed at the beginning or within up to 7 days after applying. The rest can be delivered later:

- completed application signed by the foreigner

- the annex to the application, signed by the employer

Both documents can be found here

- 4 up-to-date, colour, undestroyed photographs, dimensions: 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm, taken in the last 6 months on a single light background with good focus and  clearly showing the  eyes and face from the top of the head to the top of the shoulders, so as the face occupy 70-80% of the photographs; photographs presenting a person without head covering and dark glasses, looking straight ahead with eyes open and natural expression of the face and mouth closed, face can not be covered with hair;

- the document from Labour Office confirming, that there aren't any Polish candidates for your position (in some cases a foreigner is released from it, I will try to write a bit more about this document in the next days);

- passport; 

- confirmation of payment of stamp duty (457 zł at the beginning, 50 zł when you collect the residence card);

- the document confirming your address  (for example lease agreement);

- the proof of health insurance covering the costs of medical care in Poland (when you start to perform work, your employer will have a duty to insure you, but you should also have an insurance during the course of the procedure);

- the agreement with the prospective employer (you should earn not less than 643 PLN net per month if you live alone or have not less than 514 PLN per month for each member of a family);

-  income tax return for the previous year (if a person worked in Poland);

- certificate on lack of tax arrears from the tax office (if a person worked in Poland)

   At the moment you submit the application, the officials fix the date, when the decision about work+residence permit will be ready. In Warsaw the procedure takes not less than 3 months.

At the end you will receive the document called "decision", saying that you have permit to stay and work in Poland legally, and the plastic residence card.

   On the final decision there is written, that you have a permit to stay in Poland and perform work for your employer (or employers). I mentioned at the beginning, that the joint procedure has its bad points, that can be discovered, when you find a new job. In such a case, the whole long and difficult procedure should be repeated from the very beginning, because your work and residence permit is valid only when you perform work for the employer, that is named on the decision.

Legal basis:

• The Act of 20 April 2004 on promotion of employment and labour market institutions (Journal of Laws of 2008, No. 69 item 415, with later amendments)
• The Act of 30 December 2013 on foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2013., item 1650)