Immigration
Poland | White Book: System and legislative changes impacting the Polish visa process
Summary
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a White Book, listing the system and legislative changes to eliminate irregularities in issuing visas to Poland.
The guidelines should be reflected in the Poland Migration Strategy for the years of 2025-2030.
The detail
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering significant changes in the immigration processes in Poland. The changes are aimed at eliminating irregularities in issuing visas to Poland.
On 15 May 2024, an inter-ministerial working group presented the list of system and legislative changes (called a White Book) aiming at increasing control over the Polish visa processes.
In the White Book, the Ministry underlines inter alia:
1. The importance of issuing the work permits based on the real needs of the economy and so called “scarce professions” (not on request, as it is currently done) and the need to introduce limits and geographical preferences;
2. The need to implement control measures to verify whether the employer is ready to accept foreign employees and provide them with appropriate work conditions, in accordance with applicable law;
3. In the longer term, revision of sanctions for illegal employment of foreigners, as well as extension of the control powers of the National Labor Inspectorate, the Border Guard and the Office for Foreigners towards foreigners and their employers;
4. Broader usage of residence permit procedures (rather than applying for visas);
5. Considering limiting the access of foreign students to the Polish labour market, as well as increasing the minimum amount of funds required from foreign students in the process of applying for a visa and residence card, and introducing the obligation to have an account with the minimum amount of required funds blocked.
The Ministry also points out the need to use the minimum recruitment criteria by universities in Poland for admitting foreigners for the purpose of studying. This may negatively impact the availability of full time foreign students (who constitute a great pool of talents exempted from a work permit in Poland) to fill in certain job positions in Poland.
What it means
The list of system and legislative changes are to be taken into account in the new Poland Migration Strategy for the years 2025-2030. The White Book’s guidelines and the Poland’s Migration Strategy assumptions (you can check our comments on the Migration Strategy here: Poland | Immigration | Migration strategy for the years of 2025 – 2030 | Vialto Partners) confirm that we can expect deeper analysis of Poland’s labour market’s needs through the prism of security issues and uncertainty related to ongoing international situations.
Based on the White Book, it appears to confirm the general principles we expect to see in Poland’s migration policy, particularly promoting consent to work exclusively by foreigners with qualifications desired by the Polish economy, and through centralising the system, ensuring inter alia that foreign candidates for studies are appropriately preselected using technology and data analysis.
More attention will most likely be paid to proper and very detailed compliance and scrutinised approach of the
immigration authorities and might result in limiting the number of titles for work permit exemptions.
Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
Jadwiga Chorązka
Partner
Emilia Piechota
Immigration Director
Agnieszka Kucharska
Immigration Senior Manager
Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com
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