Unable to get a work permit for Poland (not EU-citizen)

I want to start this thread to tell briefly how incompetent the polish bureaucracy can get and how I was unable to get a work permit.

Firstly, I am not EU-citizen (No ! I am not Arab, Indian, Chinese etc.... I have to mention this because I have read lot of stereotypes against non-EU nationals here in PF ) , I come from a western country and I can come to Europe without need of a visa.

I have spent a lot of years in different western European countries as well as in Poland. I worked in country X, studied in country Y. Then I came to Poland due to an exchange agreement and stayed there for 2 years, then I move again to country X and worked there for another one year. During my time in Poland I found a girlfriend and learned polish as well. When I moved from Poland to country X, I was coming to Poland once per month to visit my girlfriend. I was basically unhappy about being far away and to have to travel all the time, so I left my job in country X and came to Poland to look for a job and to be with my girlfriend. I know well that it is hard to get a good paid job in Poland, but despite of that, I got a good job offer in Poland within a month of being there . It was at a western European company which has some offices in Poland and required my skills. Additionally my previous experience and career path were a perfect match for that particular job.

So far so good...

As I am not EU-national I need to get a work permit for Poland. The company tried to help me on this but after trying to collect all the required documents, dealing with the bureaucrats and having waited long time in order to even start the application for the karta pobytu, they gave up. It was a nightmare, they said first, I need a karta pobytu to start an application for the work permit, and in order to get a karta pobytu I should have a work permit. That is totally nonsense!!!!. . I know very well that If I would had married I could automatically work in Poland, but that is not in the plans yet.

I got in the waiting time a job offer in a multinational company in county Z which is also in another western European country.So I moved there and from time to time I come to Poland to visit my girlfriend.

If I had been able to start working in Poland, I would be making profit for the company in Poland, I would be paying taxes, consuming there, etc... and overall contribute to the country. However this was not possible due to the bureaucratic system.

So, that is my story. What is wrong with Poland? , Why am I able to get a work permits for countries X, Y, Z, which are western european countries but I am unable to get a work permit for Poland even though I had a job offer at an international company? I mean, no wonder why people are actually leaving the country.

If something is not done to change that pathetic non-sense bureaucracy Poland will never ever prosper. I don't mean it for my particular case but I mean it generally speaking in different situations on the daily life in Poland.

how long do you have? the system makes no sense the people working there have no clue nobody really knows

I had a lot of trouble getting answers to questions about how to resolve the situation in the end i threw money at it and it worked 1000pln and the work permit and residency card where issued within 10 minutes

It doesn't matter anymore. I already left Poland and I am working in country Z, so I am not planing anymore to settle down there.


Yes, that is how the things work in Poland unfortunately.

If you care so much about Poland and her, why not marry? That means you are not serious and just use her for s*x or something. Poland is doing better than your poor country that is why you came looking for job here. Don't like it, GET OUT!!!

The company are to blame here. The procedure is very clear - they must apply for a work permit for you before you start working for them. It seems to me that perhaps they didn't do the paperwork correctly - or that the Urzad Pracy found a suitable applicant for the job (which must be advertised through them and placed on EURES) which would also have disqualified you from obtaining a work permit. As you don't need a visa to enter Poland, you would have simply have had to obtain the work permit (or correctly, your employers would have had to obtain it) before applying for the residence permit.


If they found a suitable Polish/EU candidate for the job, then they must be given priority. It - no doubt - is the same in your country.


I wonder which countries those were - many Western countries make it very difficult for non-EU applicants.

I knew there will be a moron like you answering here. There are a lot like you in PF.

No, I am not using her, she will be moving with me to country Z. To use her, would actually mean to get married just to get the work permit.

and about Poland doing it better than my 'poor' country? lol, that's a good one. When I finished my first degree at my home country I got intermediately 3 job offers without having sent a single application. Furthermore, the salaries there are much higher and the infrastructure is much better than in Poland. Despite of that, my initial idea was to stay and work in Poland so that in the future I could rise my future children in a catholic country, which is something very hard to do in western Europe nowadays.

Just one advice, do not generalize if you don't know the person, that only makes you look like a moron.


No, in my country the things are different. Sometimes people from other nationalities get preference.


I didn't want to mention the countries, but here I go.... Austria, Denmark and Germany


and yes it is difficult, but if you have the right skills and the right education/degrees everything is fine

EU citizens get preference in EU countries. The way it works in Poland is that if a suitable EU candidate is found for a job, then you can't be given a work permit - which is perfectly fair given that Polish workers also enjoy similar rights in the EU.

At the end of the day, there's 450 million workers plus some others with the right to live and work in Poland. Poland has a fairly large disapora in the 'near abroad' also entitled to work and reside here - so you simply aren't needed.


Ah, you didn't try France or the UK then. Those countries are all but closed to non-EU citizens with no links to their country.

Excuse me. Then why the company wanted to hire me? At my current employer, I am in charge of several projects at different locations all around the world. Your argument simply does not apply.

I am not assuming there should be massive immigration into Europe but for people with the right skills and willing to integrate it should be easier. Which is indeed the case in the right european countries, that does not include Poland.


Why then France and the UK have so many immigrants compared to those countries I previously mentioned? . Immigration into those countries is much harder, specially for Denmark and Austria. In Denmark for instance, spouses of Danes can be denied the right to stay and live in Denmark if it is proven they have no good connections to the country. Those couples have to move to neighboring Malmö or northern Germany.

It simply p**sses me off I couldn't get a work permit for Poland, eventhough I got a job offer, speak polish and my ancestors were Europeans themselves (long time ago and there is no way to claim a EU citizenship now anyway). I can get a work permit for Denmark, Germany and Austria...but for Poland, no way! it is laughably ridiculous

It does apply, because this is why we have a Union - we can recruit from anywhere in the European Union easily without formalities. The company may have thought that you were needed, but the country knows better. Remember, the obligation is to advertise the job - which means that the company may even have found someone better/cheaper in the meantime. Do not be so naive as to believe that it was the country to blame - perhaps they simply found someone better and decided to blame the authorities instead.


Why should it be easier? It doesn't make any sense to import non-EU citizens when there are EU citizens with the skills involved who might not have work.


They have colonial links. Austria is not such a great place for immigrants, and Denmark has massive problems with them. Germany is full of ex-Yugoslavs and Turks too.


It is the simple reality - you cannot be given a work permit if there exists a suitably qualified EU candidate for the job. It doesn't matter if you speak Polish or not, nor does it matter if your ancestors were European - what matters is that a Union citizen has priority over you.

No. the country doesn't know it better. If it would, then why are so many young People in Poland just leaving the country? .Poland has many people just surviving with an extremely low wage. Why is the bureaucracy so inefficient in all ways, that it scares foreign investors and companies? I know about several western European companies which simply try to avoid to perform any project in Poland due to that.

But it does. Why would they take in people from non-EU countries when they can access a huge pool of talented labour on their doorstep? It just doesn't make sense - youth unemployment is high enough in Poland as it is, there's just no need to hire from outside the EU.


Why are so many young people leaving their countries all over Europe? The EU in recent years has really seen a lot of labour mobility - it really means nothing.


Are you foolish enough to believe the official figures? I forget who it was, but one of the auditing firms estimated that something up to 25% of GDP is 'na czarna' and not counted in the official figures. Then there's the fact that many people managed to buy their property for next to nothing.


Except it isn't. I suspect you've never tried to do business in France.


No, they avoid Poland because of cultural reasons. They haven't got a clue how to deal with a Slavic/former Soviet Bloc country - and yes, it does take certain skills. It's the same reason Polish companies tend to sell to Czech/Slovak/Hungarian/Ukrainian companies instead of German companies.

Thats the right attitude to have that will really help our country change its outdated unworkable system of red tape, bravo.

lets just not challenge anything even if we know it sucks because we are polish and even if we are wrong we cannot admit it we are the greatest nation in the world ever to be wiped off the map numerous times and our citizens are so loyal as soon as we can go work to prop up a failing economy elsewhere in the world we do it and we do it cheaper than anywhere in the world

polands local government system is still as corrupt as when it was communist and for people who come from a country with a system that works we look like idiots for allowing it to stay the same we just accept the **** we have to endure why? Because its better than communism we are looked upon as a banana republic because we are behaving like monkeys this forum shows that all we do is throw sh1t and scratch our bums dreaming of what could be wise up knob head

That's exactly why it's harder to get a job in Poland than in Germany. There is less good payed jobs in Poland. That's why people are leaving to Germany. When you try doing opposite = immigrating to Poland, then it must be harder, as you're swimming upstream. And you should blame the company which gave you the offer. They simply didn't know how to do paperwork or found EU worker while doing that. You can read on this forum proves that out of EU foreigners come to Poland and get jobs.

It seems to me that they are blaming the authorities to cover themselves up. Or they simply found a Polish worker who could do the same job.

Thrumbs up! Finally someone got it

So you are implying none should ever be able to come to Poland and live there? I am going to get a polish work permit anyway in the future since I will soon or later marry my polish girlfriend. However that does not chance the fact that the bureaucratic system in Poland is extremely incompetent. In the country where I work now, I get a much higher wage than I would be able to get in Poland (well, the cost of living is also high) but summarizing it all, I have a much better career path here and a lot of professional development opportunities in a company which has operations world wide.


Yes, for instance german companies (or danish or austrian ones) produce products which are sold worldwide and are quite successful. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about 'slavic' companies or companies from the former soviet bloc. I am sure this is not due to the lack of talent in those countries but to the incompetent bureaucratic nonsense which prevails there until now.


Exactly!!! It is hard to immigrate to western Europe, no doubt about that! However when you have a job offer at an international company, have the right skills, degrees, language proficiency, the doors are open. This is not the case for Poland, where you would have to deal with jealous post-communist bureaucrats which will be glad to make your life unhappier .

I'm implying that unless there's a skill that simply can't be found among the nearly 500 million people entitled to work in Poland, there's no need to hire you or anyone else from outside the EU. I doubt your skills are such that someone like you can't be found among those allowed to work without a work permit.


That's one way of getting around it.


No, it isn't. You've never lived and worked here, what would you know about the bureaucratic system? I mean - unlike a former German chancellor - I've never had problems with understanding my gas bill. Some things may be long winded, but in general, the bureaucracy is manageable and crucially - accessible.


So stay there. Pretty simple, really.


Oh dear, with such a statement, I can only assume that you are pretty young and inexperienced. Trying to make it seem as if "slavic" companies are somehow inferior is actually a good laugh - but hey, why don't you start with looking at Solaris and PESA products?

You haven't got a clue about the bureaucracy in Poland. For a start, shall we compare Poland to Germany? Poland has no such nonsense like tax card classes and Byzantine health insurance systems - taxation for ordinary workers in Poland is simple and straight to the point.


No, they aren't. France and the UK make it very difficult for such people regardless of offers.


As I and others have told you - it more than likely was the company at fault, not the bureaucracy. It's a standard Polish excuse to blame the bureaucracy when you don't want to do something. I did it today - I don't want to do something for someone, so I blamed my work contract for being ultra restrictive rather than simply telling her that I didn't want to do it.

Poles for instance are allowed to work in the European country where my ancestors and native language come from despite the fact they have no connection into that country whatsoever. So, if they look to every single 500 million people entitled to work (I am sure they didn't) , then why can I get a work permit for Austria, Germany and Denmark ? In those countries they have to check as well that no local nor EU-citizen can take the job. Despite that, I can get a work permit. For Poland that is simply not the case.


Right. I am staying here. I don't see any reason to deal with that post-communist bureaucratic nonsense now.


I did spend some time in France as well (without a residence permit since I was living at that time in another EU country). From my experience, I felt I could freely go to France and stay there if I had wished to. For the UK, I have no experience so I won't comment.

I do blame the bureaucracy as well as those post-communist bureaucrats. Poland has a geopolitical position which could turn the country into a economic power. However if the red outdated post-communist bureaucratic nonsense remains, this simply would never happen.

Despite not having any experience with Polish bureaucracy?

Seems naive.


Yes, and it's going that way. The country has only been truly democratic for 22 years - patience wouldn't go amiss.


What, exactly, is your experience with the bureaucracy in Poland? You seem to be blaming it without any clue about what you're blaming.


That's because it's the European Union and it's one of the fundamental freedoms that make the European Union work.


They put the job on EURES and their local systems. Someone applied for the job, which would have instantly disqualified you from obtaining a work permit if they had the suitable qualifications. Works the same way in every EU country.


Different countries, different times. But from personal knowledge, I suspect that the company is to blame, not the bureaucracy - particularly given that the Polish way of doing things isn't particularly difficult.


With your attitude, you wouldn't last in Poland anyway.


You wouldn't have had a chance of getting a work permit in France, I can tell you that for free.

What do you know about Polish bureaucracy?

They hired you and for whatever reason decided to let you go. They blamed the state bureaucracy to make you feel better about them and yourself: it was not the company fault, not your fault, but the state fault. Most likely the company needed to use you (your skill) for a short period of time or they didn't find your work good enough or needed any longer. Blame the company.

Common story here. I remember once hearing about a non-EU citizen who was fired from a language school - they blamed 'bureaucracy' - but the real story was that he was simply too expensive for them - they didn't have the work for him and they had committed to paying a fairly high guaranteed salary.


Or they simply wanted to back out of the job offer. Could be any number of reasons - the OP has no experience in Poland and has no idea what the work permit procedure actually is.

Common story in New York restaurants too. They hire an expensive chef, learn new dishes, new ideas, from him, and after a couple weeks they fire him. New hires are eager to share everything they know to impress the employer.

I do have experience with it. I mentioned that I lived 2 years in Poland previously due to an international agreement, Thus I got the respective Karta Pobytu for every year. During that time I had several weird situations dealing with incompetent bureaucratic people.


Concerning that, it really would take maaaaaaaaany years still until the things chance.


When I tell you, that I wouldn't have any problems in France, you have to believe me. I am actually from the french speaking part of Canada, thus I don't see any problem if I would like to move to France.


I didn't even have the chance to start. And no, the position I was supposed to take was a position which needs some skills which are rare to find in Poland and are given in universities in western countries.


As I mentioned it before, the position needs some specific knowledge which is applied in an international environment, I don't think the situation matches anything at what you are describing

I am from a non-eu country, living in Krakow already for quiet a few years. I also have lived in other eu countries (Germany, Czech Rep, France and Italy) and i was also really afraid of polish bureaucracy due to the usual stories. However my experience with polish bureaucracy has been actually quiet positive. I have deal with offices in rzeszow and krakow and to tell you the truth they are much more foreign friendly than any EU country that i have ever been too.

So either your documents were not correct, your company is lying or you your attitude was not really not that positive and judging from your posts in this thread that might be the case. It seems to me you are use to the easy path (typical "western attitude") so please, learn the procedures and change your attitude, learn that the world doesn't move around you and try again. You should really grow up!

And what were those situations?


It really won't. Things are already considerably different, and they are improving all the time. You're not in Poland, you haven't got a clue about what's going on here.


How remarkably naive. France has some notoriously tricky immigration rules for non-EU citizens regardless of language skills.


I'm curious, what skills would those be? I find it hard to believe that your skills cannot be found in Poland or in the EU, given that the job only paid 4400zl-ish net.

I have my doubts that your knowledge is somehow unique, given the huge presence of multinationals here. Perhaps they simply found a suitable internal candidate?

naive? My ancestors were french, my native language is french, why shouldn't I be allowed to live in France? . You were the one implying that none should ever be allowed to come to live to Europe specially to Poland if they are not EU citizens.

Now that you mention it, I know non-EU citizens who have immigrated recently to France and the UK for working, having at least a master degree, they got their respective work permits without issues.


It could be they found a cheaper one. Poles work for low wages. However that doesn't mean their work is better or at least the same. Pay peanuts, get monkeys !

By the way, it seems you always want to have the last word and have a certain point of view and automatically repel everything which does not match your particular view.


from which country are you from? and can you say more about your situation? are you married to an EU citizen? did you have a permanent resident permit from another EU country? which qualifications do you have? Those things can immensely impact on the application process.

Because you are not French.


EU citizens have the right to live and work here without getting any paperwork. That is good for Poland as it means Poles have the same right in the rest of the EU. If you don't think Canadians should need to get any paperwork done in order to live and work in Poland, I'd suggest that you convince your government to stop requiring Poles to have such paperwork.


Or it could be that they found a better EU national.


Is CAD 1,400 per month much above peanuts?

random2099
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i'm from a latin american country, single and with a master degree in a Germany university. Had an internship in a IT company in Krakow 5 years ago, not a multinational company, loved the place and decided to come back after studies now i am in the process of starting my own company in Poland. Couldn't be happier. I only had temporal resident permit that require to be extended every 1/2 years.


Exactly, and still you are judging polish bureaucracy because it didn't work out for you.

Amazing. A Pole who does not speak any french, tells to a french Canadian, he should not be allowed to work and live in France. It totally makes sense!!!! Wow!!. In the other EU countries where I lived and worked I made all the paperwork and there was no issue on that. But for Poland, the outdated red bureaucracy does not make it possible.


No, I am not implying that. I am only suggesting that it should be an efficient system to deal with it.

But I realize Poles do not accept any criticism to their red system. They know inside them the system s*cks but they deny it if a non-Pole says so and take the critic as a personal attack to them. You are quite funny guys! It is rare to find people with that attitude in other places.

You come from the county which is taking the most immigrants (in relation to the population) in the world (or is top 5). The country which gives work permits based of factors like language knowledge, education, experience. It's not the same in all european countries. Because of your background, your view about how things should be is obfuscated. Most of the countries in the world don't have such easy and big immigration policy as Canada. Look at population growths chars of Canada and France. There is reason why it is like that. And it's not because nobody wants to immigrate to France.

I don't know about French immigration policy but immigrants to Poland don't get any extra points for having Polish ancestors, except if they were parents or few grandparents.

Au contraire....

I've known lots of Canadians who lived here and worked here; but you wish to have us believe that it is impossible for Canadians to live and work here.


There is, as is evidenced by the appropriately skilled Canadians, Americans, Australians, South Africans, etc that one can find happily living and working in Poland.