Persons under international protection are exempt from the obligation to obtain any work permit in Poland. This also applies to temporary work. 

Poland grants protection to refugees.

The law provides two forms of international protection:

• refugee status - granted if an foreigner, due to well-founded fear of persecution in the country of origin due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, cannot or does not want to benefit from the protection of that country,
• subsidiary protection - granted when an foreigner does not fulfil the conditions for granting the refugee status but he/she cannot or does not want to benefit from the protection of the country of origin due to the fact that his/her return to this country may expose him/her to a real risk of incurring serious harm through imposition of the death penalty or execution, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or a serious and individualised threat to life or health resulting from common use of violence against civil population in the situation of international or internal armed conflict.

Both refugee status and subsidiary protection are granted for an indefinite period of time.

Due to the circumstances as a result of which these persons gained the right to legal residence in Poland, their situation is special. Persons entitled to international protection are entitled to the same rights as other foreigners legally residing in Poland - to move freely around Poland and Europe and to take up employment.

For an employer, the employment in Poland of a person with international protection is not different from the employment of a Polish citizen. Persons under international protection are exempt from the obligation to obtain any work permit - thus they are entitled to work in the territory of Poland without any limitations. This also applies to temporary work. 

Every employer is obliged to control documents. Before starting work, they should require the foreigner to present a valid document authorizing them to stay in the territory of Poland. In the case of persons under international protection, such a document is a residence card - valid for three years for persons with refugee status and two years for persons with subsidiary protection (after expiry of which a new card is issued).

Foreigners applying for international protection are also entitled to work. They acquire the right to work if the procedure for granting international protection conducted in their case by the body of the first instance - the Head of the Office for Foreigners - is not completed within six months from the date of submitting the application, and the delay was not their fault. In such a case the foreigner must apply for a certificate which - together with a temporary identity certificate of the foreigner - entitles him to perform work in the territory of Poland. 
From the perspective of an employer, the employment of foreigners with the status of refugee or with subsidiary protection, or meeting the conditions for performing work in Poland in connection with the ongoing proceedings for granting international protection, does not involve additional obligations nor does it have additional consequences in terms of taxes and social insurance. In the case of employing such a person, the employer bears the same tax and insurance obligations as in the case of other employees.

Apart from international protection, foreigners may, in certain cases, benefit from other forms of protection on the territory of Poland - asylum and temporary protection. Additionally, in exceptional situations, foreigners may be granted a permit for humanitarian residence or a permit for tolerated stay. Not in all cases granting protection is connected with obtaining the refugee status. However, in the case of foreigners legalised on those grounds work permits are not required either. Thus, from the perspective of employment principles, the same solutions apply to such persons as to those holding refugee status or subsidiary protection.

In conclusion, the process of employing persons benefiting in Poland both from international protection and from other forms of protection does not involve any specific obligations on the part of the employer. For employers it is even less complicated than in the case of foreigners who want to live and work in Poland on general terms - it does not require obtaining a work permit. An employee can be employed in a fast and efficient manner without additional formalities.