A new amendment to the Polish Foreigners Act will take effect on 1 December 2020. From now on, foreigners In Poland will be able to apply for work permits on the basis of humanitarian visas.

Foreigners who have been given a Schengen visa or a Polish national visa for humanitarian grounds will shortly be able to operate in Poland. The most recent update to the Foreigners Act, which will enter into force on 1 December 2020, lays out new grounds on which nationals of other countries may have access to the Polish labour market. Until now, third-country citizens have typically had to secure a work visa in order to work lawfully in Poland, which means that those who have left their countries for non-economic purposes have also not been able to pursue work here.

Accordingly, applications for work permits submitted by humanitarian visa holders are being reviewed and processed by voivodeship offices according to the details released by the Polish Office for international visas. It is expected that the new law would prove helpful to hundreds of Belarusians who have recently left for Poland to avoid repression.

The Polish Government has unveiled proposals to exclude from the need to apply for work permits all foreigners who live in Poland on the basis of humanitarian visas. An amendment to the law in question has already been proposed and is scheduled to come into effect early next year.

Notice that the Foreigners Act has recently modified more. Under the latest amendment, foreigners who apply for national visas to Poland - and do not have other health care benefits - would be expected to be protected by travel medical insurance for the entire stay in Poland. More details on the requirement are to be published shortly.

Find out more: Office for Foreigners