The employment of a foreigner involves the preparation and submission of appropriate applications on the basis of which the so-called market test must be carried out. The purpose is to determine whether it is possible to meet your company’s staffing needs with Polish unemployed or job seekers. Depending on the result of the market test will depend on your ability to hire a foreigner.

When you can hire a foreigner

You can hire a foreigner if there are no registered unemployed or job seekers in the local labor market that you can hire. This is because Polish unemployed or job seekers have priority for employment over foreigners.

For this purpose, a so-called “labor market test” is carried out, in which officials will verify whether there is someone with the right qualifications among those registered with the office who could take a job with you. If such a person is not found, the district governor will issue a notice that your company’s staffing needs cannot be met in the local market.

Information about the local labor market – how long is it valid?

The starost’s information must be issued no earlier than 180 days before applying for a work permit or seasonal work permit. In cases justified by the starost, this time is reduced to 90 days before the application is submitted.

When is a labor market test not necessary?

The labor market test does not need to be conducted in cases when:

  • the work to be performed by the foreigner is included in the list of deficit occupations published in a regulation by the governor having jurisdiction over the foreigner’s main place of work,
  • the profession to be performed by the foreigner is listed in the appendix to the regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy (these include doctors, nurses, programmers, database designers, caregivers of the elderly, bricklayers, painters, locksmiths, bus drivers),
  • is about nursing and care work or as a domestic helper (in the case of citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine),
  • it is about working as a sports coach, athlete, dentist, or doctor undergoing training or pursuing a specialization program,
  • a foreigner is authorized to represent a foreign entrepreneur in its branch or representative office located in Poland,
  • the foreigner is a relative of a diplomatic employee or an employee of a subsidiary of an international organization in Poland or works as a private domestic servant with such employees,
  • the foreigner is a doctoral student at any Polish university or has graduated from a university in Poland, the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein within the last 3 years,
  • the foreigner has continuously lived in Poland for 3 years before submitting the application,
  • the foreigner in the period immediately preceding the application for a work permit was employed for a period of not less than 3 months with the same employer and in the same position.