On 1 June 2025, the Act on the conditions of permissibility of entrusting work to foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland entered into force. The Act maintains the general rules for entrusting work to foreigners that were previously contained in the Act on employment promotion and labour market Institutions. However, the new legislation introduces significant restrictions which, in practice, may make the process of hiring foreigners more difficult.

First of all, entities that entrust work to foreigners are obliged to conclude contracts with foreigners only in writing, in a language that the foreigner understands. If the contract is concluded in a foreign language, the entity entrusting the work must have it translated into Polish by a sworn translator and keep the text in Polish for two years after the foreigner’s employment ends. The entity entrusting the work is also obliged to store the foreigner’s personal data for a period of 2 years, unless other regulations impose a longer period (e.g. in the case of employee records).

The new regulations impose information obligations on entities entrusting work to foreigners, including the need to inform the foreigner of the possibility to join a trade union regardless of the form of employment. In addition, entities entrusting work must inform the provincial offices if the foreigner does not take up work within two months of the start of validity of the work permit, if there is a break in work of more than two months or if the contract is terminated early.

The new legislation also introduces stricter criteria for refusing work permits. The provincial governor must refuse to issue a work permit, inter alia, if the entity entrusting work to the foreigner has been established solely to facilitate the foreigner’s entry into Poland or if the foreigner will work for an entity other than the one applying for the work permit. The second rationale is aimed at eliminating so-called employee outsourcing, which the legislator considers to be an undesirable phenomenon. For this reason, the Act also introduced a new provision criminalising the referral of a foreigner to work for a third party in situations other than temporary work.

It is worth mentioning that the new legislation provides for the full digitalisation of work permit processes. Communication with the provincial offices is to take place exclusively via the MOS system (Case Handling Module), which will enable more efficient and faster administrative proceedings.

On 1 June 2025, an amendment to the Aliens Act, which modifies the rules for granting the EU Blue Card, also came into force. This amendment regulates the rules for mobility (both short-term and long-term) of the holders of EU Blue Card issued by other EU Member States. The most significant change is the introduction of a new residence permit for EU Blue Card holders issued by another Member State if they intend to work in Poland in qualified professions. Foreigners applying for this permit must meet certain conditions, such as having an employment contract or a civil law contract for at least six months and adequate health insurance.

In view of the above changes, entities entrusting work to foreigners, especially those using employee outsourcing, should analyse and adapt their procedures for employing foreigners to ensure compliance with the new regulations.