Starting a business in Poland as a Norwegian (EU) citizen - without a work permit or Polish citizenship

Hello my friends! I am currently living in Norway and I am an EU-citizen. Not planning to relocate due to other projects. However, we have one project which is better suited to be located in Poland since it is easier to ship from Poland to the EU, than from Norway (due to costs and location). The production will be located in Poland and so will the shipping. I am wondering if I can set up a business in Poland without a work permit or polish citizenship? I have family in Poland so the adresses is not a problem. We already know that we can set up a bank account as long as adress and passport is provided. Does any of you have any insights regarding this matter?

Appreciate the answers :)

First things first. Contact an English-speaking/Norwegian-Engish native speaking business lawyer before you do anything else. They'll be able to show you the ropes, so to speak, of local business culture in Poland, doubtless quite different from that to which we're used:-)

Bribery's common throughout much of the former Eastern Block, it's rather "in your face", in fact, therefore BE PREPARED!

Cheers for the answer, Lyzko! The production is family-based so not worried about any corruption or things of similiar ilk. Just wondering about how the regulations are for EU citizens, wishing to set up a small business to pay a printer, ship the prints and receive payments on a business-bank account.

When has Norway joined EU?????? ;)

Norway has The Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) and it is the mainstay of our cooperation, and it ensures that Norway takes part in the EU internal market. We are also part of the Schengen Agreement and cooperate with the EU on foreign and security policy issues.

Never seen any form of business bribery in Poland - since 2005.


I think what he wrote is rather clear: he lives in Norway but is a EU citizen. It's not incompatible.

To the OP:
If you want to set up a simple structure (1-person), then you don't need a lawyer. One member of your family based in Poland will have to register the activity under his name though - not yours, unless you want to pretend that you're residing in Poland. In any case, an accountant will be useful.

If you had a more complex structure in mind (limited liability etc), then you're probably going to need a lawyer.

Honestly, it's a piece of cake. You just go to the relevant office in the town where you intend to register the business, it takes 15 minutes. Get a good accountant that will handle social insurance for you, as well as the formalities with the tax office. My strong advice is to find one that doesn't speak English well, as they tend to be far more honest than English speaking ones.

It's pretty much a breeze, and you won't have any problems at all.


One word : bollocks.

There's absolutely no need to have such a person, and setting up a single person company is about as easy as it gets. Bribery is very uncommon for small businesses, and you only need to resort to that if you want to do something like build a massive house and the local village planning officer wants a present in exchange for turning a blind eye to certain excesses.

After Prime Minister Gro Brundtland Harlem's (in-)famous "NEE, TAK!" to her country's joining NATO way back in the late '70's, Norway's steadfastly maintained its independence, both from the rest of the Nordic Nations, and from the Continent of Europe as well.

To be sure, it's not incompatible.

@NPBusiness,

Cheers indeed! You'll need a drink or two or three or four in order to clinch a deal with those Black Market buzzards!!
Intrigue dead and buried in Poland, you say??? If they work the same as they do here in Queens, you got another thing coming. Til Lykke:-)

Erm...Norway joined NATO in 1949.

As for independence from the Nordic countries - they were in the Nordic Passport Union (which still exists), they were a whisker away from EU membership twice in 72 and 94 and they contribute a huge amount of cash yearly to the EU. Norway is very much involved with Europe - it's more or less an EU member, all things considered.

Please focus more on issues regarding starting a business in Poland

Pardon, I meant Norway was adamant about not joining the Currency Union:-) My mistake! Of course, Norway, along with that-time West Germany, France and several others were among the first to become NATO members.

@Niko,

Bribery in Poland, is like Nazism in Germany; it'll ALWAYS be there, difference is, now it's "officially" illegal lol

The Black Market didn't disappear, as you and others naively suggest! Like cockroaches and other pests, it will probably survive forever:-)

I don't know what you're talking about. I've been manufacturing in Poland for 10 years and selling worldwide, including all countries from the so-called Eastern block, and I've never witnessed any form of bribery.

If you don't have personal experiences with bribery in business that you can share here, then I'll consider that you're spreading false rumours - and I don't see the point of doing that.

Also, comparing hypothetical bribery in Poland with remnant Nazism in Germany, that's not a smart move, lol.

Rules for fellow Poles, Norwegians, etc..... are often DIFFERENT for the same "rules" which apply (loosely speaking) to foreigners, for that matter, any outsiders to the fold/business clique!

Same here in the States:-) Don't kid yourself.

It depends on what and the average order value. On high value, project specific items, there is plenty of money and perks exchanging hands under the table.

OK then let's say there's plenty of bribery in Poland and I must have been lucky.
To the OP: don't worry about that, you'll be lucky too in this regard.

NP

We all agree you should be fine with your obviously fluent English skills and knowledge of business admin already in hand!
Learning Polish ought pose no problem:-)

@NPBusiness
I hope you will struggle as much as possible, too many westerners come to Poland, set a business, use and abuse Polish law and cash in as a result. I hope that in the end you will not be able to do any business in Poland, we don't need more sharks in our country. Unfortunately, this is only my dream, for, in Poland a foreign businessmen has a lot of freedom of manouver.

Aw. What is it with the Polonia being exceptionally bitter towards anyone that can be successful in Poland?

Anyway, we'll keep on abusing Poland for all it's worth. It's very nice getting rich off the back of paying Poles slave wages.

You are the one who works in a primary school so you don't pay anyone, you get paid slave or not slave wages.

Ktoś,

NP's Norwegian, not Syrian, Russian, Sicillian or Romanian!! This person's least likely to cheat Poles. More likely, if the reverse were the case, and a Pole were looking to set up shop in Norway, the chances are more probable that the Pole would try to take advantage of the Norwegian rather than the other way 'round:-)

At the risk of sounding bigoted here, I'm no "limousine liberal" nor am I a saint, and I don't pretend to be one either! The truth is that for many decades, Poland (like the rest of Eastern Europe) practiced Black Market bribery, something more or less alien to Nordic countries on the whole.