Buying work visa for Poland

Hello everyone,

Trust you are doing very well.

I am writing this on behalf of my friend. She is from Egypt. We are based in Dubai, UAE. She is 45 years old! She has a 14 yrs old daughter as well. No husband. She is an English/Arabic teacher in a good school here. She has been offered a work visa for Poland by an agency for approx. 14,000US$.

Please confirm whether the amount mentioned above is an opportunity for us or it's really on the high side? and is this a common practice to purchase work visa this way? what are the risks involved?

This country, UAE, doesn't give nationality so she is thinking to go for this option. The agent told that the visa will be renewed for 2 years after 12 months and then she can apply for citizenship? Further, she will be allowed to work anywhere in Poland 'legally' having this work visa?

There are other things that she need to know like job opportunities. Business opportunities in case she want to start her own children nursery? I think most important thing now is to understand whether we should opt for this or not?

Need your help please :)

Thanks so much.

Cheers,
Fazal.

"The agent told that the visa will be renewed for 2 years after 12 months and then she can apply for citizenship? "

Not true. The minimum time for citizenship is longer than that, also she needs to speak polish to be a citizen.

Besides all that, buy a working visa is illegal.

From what I know (and I'm sure someone will put me right on this) working visa is applied for by an employer after he has offered you a position. You do not get a 'working visa' and then look out for work in Poland.

She will have to jump through hoops if she wants to open a children's nursery.

I have never heard of working visa being granted to someone who has not had a job offer and has accepted that job.

Hi Fazal. I'm not Polish but I live in Poland and I'm an EU citizen. There are other posters who are more expert about these things than I am but I'm quite certain that one cannot legally 'buy' a work permit for any EU country.

As to job opportunities, was she thinking about teaching English or Arabic? I'm not sure what the market is for Arabic in the bigger cities but the English teaching is pretty well supplied in any major urban centres and there will be a lot of competition from native speakers. As for the nursery, starting up any business is never easy or cheap so it's a risk.

"You do not get a 'working visa' and then look out for work in Poland"
Exactly! You can apply for work permit when you already have an employer who wants to hire you. Buying it is illegal.

Regarding staying in Poland for 2 extra years and getting citizenship - it is not so easy even for spouses of Polish citizens. In a nutshell: after getting visa you may apply for temporary residence permit, later there is permanent residence permit and when you are in Poland based on this document for at least 3 years (there are exeptions) you may apply for Polish citizenship. You also need to speak Polish and pass exam of Polish language (at least level B1).

Thank-you dear friends for your prompt & informative answers.

I suppose if this agency is 'selling' work visa then, of course, it's not possible w/out job offer letter. I think the agency has opened it's own company just for this purpose or had tied up with some mickey mouse company just to sell visas! If true then most likely the company will vanish in thin air in just few months. This whole thing has a lot of red tape around it so I think I will ask my friend say thanks but no thanks to this guy.

On a different note, she has around 150k$. Can she establish her business of children nursery? any advises?

shukran!

While this money may be enough, Childrem nurseries are HEAVILY regulated in Poland, and to have all licences will take an incredible high amount of time.

In fact, unfortunately, Poland is quite a bureaucratic country.

That's a nice sum of money and she should be very careful how she invests it.

Firstly she needs to do her research about what city in Poland she intends to live in and whether there is a market for an expensive private nursery in some part of that town.

Secondly there are many rules and regulations, health and safety rules, ratio of staff to children etc when setting up a business involving the care of other people's children.

Thirdly, there are the costs not only of equipping it but of paying staff. Then there are hidden costs such as legal fees, translator for documents etc even if she speaks Polish she will be required to hire a translator for legal meetings etc.

Finally if she doesn't speak Polish how will she communicate with the parents of children in her nursery? She will need to find English speaking staff for obvious reasons (as otherwise how would she communicate with them) and she would then need them to act as interpreters for her with parents, rather awkward.

150,000 is as I say a nice little nest egg but it could be swallowed up very quickly with rents (she would also have to rent somewhere to live), set up costs, staffing, ongoing running costs. I really don't think she should risk it.

It is true. You also have to remember that there are a lot of private nurseries and places of daycare in Poland so she will also have to focus a lot on marketing and ideas how to gain parents' trust.

Levi, frankly - you're talking nonsense. It's actually very easy to establish a nursery, and any nursery that follows the programme approved by the Ministry of Education can obtain a monthly grant (up to 75% of the money that a public nursery receives, or 100% if it follows certain additional requirements).

It doesn't take "an incredible high amount of time" - and in fact, the director of the nursery isn't even required to be qualified. Normally, anyone opening a nursery will obtain the building in/around February, recruit for new children until the end of April (in many towns and cities, public nursery places will fill very very quickly) and have all the paperwork completed by the end of May. That leaves June-August for equipping the nursery and completing the recruitment process for new staff.


Absolutely. She won't need so much - it could be done on roughly $50k or even less.


Doesn't have to be an expensive private nursrey, to be fair. Creches are in incredible demand in Poland and yet very difficult to find places - if she opened one in a big city, places would go within days.


In this case, the best thing is to find a good, capable director. There's a lot of nursery staff stuck on 2k net maximum that speak decent enough English that would bite the hand off someone offering 3k net to be the director.

It really depends on what she wants to offer. I'd say the marketplace is saturated with ridiculous "Eko-sportowo" type private nurseries, but there's still huge demand for public nurseries if you can make the finances work.

hello friends,

sorry for being away from your radar screens. Friday, Saturday is off here in UAE. I took another day off!

bundle of thanks for providing such a useful information.
@delphiandomine i will take your advises very seriously and pass them on to my friend. She will be happy to have some hope.

good day fellows.
Fazal

Hi sir I m Vijay I m from indian as a carpenter working in Dubai since Nov2011 I have 18yr experience in carpentery work I recieved a call from agent he help me to get Poland 1yr work permit but he will charge me 20000aed this amount is too much for me I can't afford it can you guide me how can I get a visa in low budget I hope you understand please help me Thanks.

Top tip nr1:

never ever buy a visa unless you enjoy being scammed.

You get a visa by having a job there. Hence your employer will arrange it for you.

No employer=no visa=buy a visa=wave goodbye to your money.

eu-migrate.com.Can someone pass some light on this.This guy says he is sam and an ex police officer from US and has office in Sharjah ,UAE,Buheira Corniche and says to all that for service fee of 3000 USD he can getwork permit from employers.

@sokdaws be specific, is it the guy from AL watnia poland emigration,
To get a honest piece of advice better be open and specific. This way we can identify the scammer as some one who previously got scammed or some one can share there experiences

There are agencies who are registered in Poland for the purpose of securing work permit for non EU citizens. As per them, they are regulated and registered. What they do is, they help to secure work permit with a job offer from the hiring company and these agencies are seen as the middle men between the hiring company and the non EU citizens. They do not offer work visa, rather they offer work permit with contract (employment of blue collar jobs). The visa part is handled by the employee and not the hiring company.

How true is it? Are the employees supposed to apply for the visa themselves after the work permit is issued or is the hiring meant to also apply for the visa for the employee?