Anybody adept in requirements for non-EU citizens to start business in Poland?

Hello folks,

My friends, who are from outside of EU, are planning to embark on business in Poland. They are students at this moment.
I wonder what they need to do in order to obtain a work permit as self-employed. They will of course pay tax as required.
Is it unfeasible for non-EU citizens to be self-employed in Poland?
Is it not necessary for them to have a work permit to work self-employed?

I've done some research on it but I couldn't find out any tips.
Hope I'll get some assistance here.

Thank you,
Regards.

Hi,

In short. He will need resident permit to start business activity as sole trader (self-employed).

Without resident permit he can open a limited liability company (LLC). Still he will need visa to visit Poland.

If you need more details regarding doing business in Poland please fill free to contact me.

Regards,
Kamil

If i would have LLC - what else would i need to be eligible to apply for residence permit?

Thank you!

They have to first get a resident permit to operate first,the best thing I can think is open a company and apply through it for residents permit and start business.

Will there be any kind of audit of the company when i will be applying for a residence permit having opened it? Do i need to show some contracts and revenues?

Hi,

Yes they will check if your company brings enough revenue so you can cover your cost of leaving in Poland.

If you are going to be a single shareholder and the only member of the management board than they usually require your LLC to have:

1) in the account amount exceeding Euro 12 000.
2) stable monthly income
3) To employ 2 European union citizens on a full time employment contract (cost for one employer total including ZUS and Taxes is approx Euro 600 monthly (I can be one of the employees and the second one could be accountant.)

When you meet this requirements that it is a chance you will receive resident permit or work permit.

I can help you in setting up LLC in Poland (now you can do this online) and I can help you in other procedures.

Regards,
Kamil

Thanks Kamil, I'm in Krakow now and would like to know more details about the procedure, how can I reach you?

I have send you private message.

Regards,
Kamil

Hello Kamil aka golas.
You seem to have numerous knowledge about legal procedure for commencing business in Poland.
You're the kind of person I've been looking for. I so appreciate your existence. It's kinda hard to find someone like you.

I wanted to PM you but I'm not allowed because I'm new here, hence I'm gonna write here again.

To start business he will need a resident permit (karta pobytu). His current visa will expire in June 2013 but he plans to apply for karta pobytu before his visa expiry.

I think he'll apply for it as an extension of his study. Once he successfully grabs his karta pobytu, is it possible for him to start business?

Looking forward to your reply.
Regards.

Me email is info(at)vandg.pl

I also appreciate your existence.Species do exist:D

Says differently on the government website. Nothing about employing people and different base capital.

paiz.gov.pl/polish_law/forms_of_doing_business/limited_liability_company

and if kamil is a lawyer
he should know that it is impossible for him to accept a full time umowa o prace
as my username says
i smell nonsense

the reality is that each case is decided on its own merits
the first residence permit should be issued without needing to show any activity
the following ones will require business activity
whatever that may be

someone operating an llc without actually doing anything
will not be looked on favourably

The government website you refer to describes minimal conditions to open limited liability company in Poland.

It does not describe conditions to receive resident permit.

Additional conditions are set out in Article 53(1)(2) of the Act on Foreigners of 13 June 2003 (Dz.U. of 2006, No. 234, item 1694, as amended), a residence permit for a fixed period may be granted to a foreigner who conducts business activity under the regulations in force in Poland, which is beneficial to national economy, especially contributes to the increase of investment, transfer of technology, introducing beneficial innovations or creation of new workplaces, providing that the circumstances which are the grounds for applying for a residence permit justify the foreigner's stay in the Republic of Poland for a period longer than 3 months.

I know the practise of Voivode regarding issuing of residence permit.

source: udsc.gov.pl/BUSINESS,ACTIVITY,1804.html

I hope this will clear your doubts.

By the way only Advocate can not be employed on a basis of employment contract.

In contrary Legal Advisor can be employed on a basis of employment contract.

1) Advocate (Polish: adwokat), whose main function is to provide legal assistance, prepare legal opinions and drafts of legislative acts, and represent persons before court in civil, administrative and criminal trials.

2) Legal advisor (Polish: radca prawny), whose main function is to provide legal assistance, prepare legal opinions and drafts of legislative acts, and represent persons before courts in civil, administrative and - in a limited scope - criminal trials;

Regards,
Kamil

Took me about 5 hours of time to setup a company as a non-EU citizen without a residence permit. That includes travel time (2 trips but could have been 1, my fault) and waiting.

This includes the time I took to register my residency (ZAMELDOWANIA) at my rental address.

I would have saved about 2 and a half hours if I had taken an accountant's address with me the first time I went to the office to turn in the paperwork.

No fees. Have your zameldowania, accountant's name/address/phone and your passport with you when you go.


Note had to make a correction to the list of things to bring so added BANK ACCOUNT INFO. It was so close to where I did the residence registration I forgot to mention it.

what you say simply doesnt apply for the first residence permit
it is normal practice to grant the residence permit for one year on the basis of owning an llc
of course
the interview will soon weed out those only interested in a route into the eu

second and beyond will certainly require proof of economic activity

it is totally unrealistic to expect a new llc to begin trading straight away
hence why a year is normally granted


quite honestly
radca prawny aren't worth the money
anyone good will be an adwokat
not least because of their understanding of the criminal system
something vital in a country where many things carry criminal punishments where other countries would be civil

ismellnonsense

Do you have resident permit?

Thanks golas. Although I did not write my initial post to 'challenge you' but to understand the difference between the conditions described. So in general you can set up a company with lower entry standards but if you want to stay long term you need to prove it's beneficial to the economy, and this will be decided by an interview and may require higher standards of activity.

Thanks for clearing this.

If anybody else can comment on his personal experience with this, please do.

I will keep posting updates as I start the Residency process next week.

Received my company paperwork today via email along with the link to look it up on the Internet.

many personal experiences
they will grant the first resident permit or visa based on opening an llc
but you must show that the company is economically productive
its not enough to run it as a mom n pop business
they will take everything into account
and they will grill you

If you need an virtual office with services:

if you need to register in Poland, if you would like to legally start work - you can hire yourself!
Start your own company in Poland!
It is less hustle and not so expensive! It is also easier to find any job, when you tell that you are"self employed" and issue invoices in Polish Zloty for your work.

There is sth called "virtual office" - they also help with law and formalities to start your own company in Poland. They even get the post for you - you don't need no address for the company - they provide it! Feel free to inbox me (silvialula (at) gmail) if you need assistance (these are my friends, or just call +48 22 380 32 80 them)... The website is: warszawawirtualnebiuro.pl

…as far as I know, they do help as well with getting all the legal papers for that, they may provide help with accountancy and taxes! They speak English, for other lang. is also possible if you schedule the meeting. They will help with all the formalities to work and live legally in Poland.

Please, share this information – it could be much help for sb. Thnx ;)

PS in my opinion every case is a little different - but there should be a way to solve it in most of the cases ;)

Thank god I am done with it finally!If you need any help shoot me an email:)

MoOli and Amertchr how did you find the information on how to set up your business? I've looked everywhere online. I'm also American and I've been in Poznan for about 3 weeks. I went to an office last week to register my address and it said that something would come in 7 days, but honestly I don't even know if that was something I needed to do. I want to PM you guys but I'm new to this site, and can't yet! Could you tell me exactly what I need to do, or steer me in the right direction? Thanks.

Okay, everyone can have a big smile now. The newbie hit the wall at Immigration today. I'm sorting through the conflicting information and hoops and hurdles to jump through and will let you know what happens next.


I am hustling the next couple of days but quickly, it took me maybe two hours total to get the business setup. The paperwork follows in the next 7 calendar days but my company was live in the Ministry of the Economy's database within 72 hours.

Hello,

I am conking out to register a limited liability company in Poland. This society has some shareholders as well. We are non-EU. So now I have some questions:

- How can we convert the visa D type to long term visa as permit residence?
- Should we employ couple polish citizens?
- How much should we have some turnover in a bank account in general?
- Is it referring to the bank account of the company or bank account from home country?

kind regards,

read that:
migrant/conducting-business-activity-in-poland-by-foreigners.html
migrant/legalizing-foreigners-stay-in-poland-in-connection-with-conducting-business-activity.html

Dear All

I am residing in dubai and want to establish my company in Poland. Whats the easy way to do it. Can any body help me out with the process and the time duration and the investment and at least the time frame for the visa issuance.

I will be thankful

Thanks

mis1329

Wow, Just 12 thousand Euro?

I am looking to open a business in Poland with 50 thousand euro in the end of 2016 (25 thousand as initial investment and 25 thousand as cash flow, money into account for emergencies) and the accountant said that MAYBE the authorities would judge that 50 thousand euro is not enough... but now you said only 12 :)

Here they say that you need just 5000PLN to open LLC in Poland: migrant info pl/limited-liability-company.html

I think the requirements were lowered in past years from 50,000PLN.

That info is correct. The change was made in 2009, until then it was 50000 PLN