Visa Poland. Business Harbor available to all foreigners | PRO HR Alert

2022.09.06

The Poland.Business Harbor (PBH) visa is now available to all highly qualified employees from the IT / New Tech sector. Until now, only foreigners from selected countries: Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Azerbaijan were eligible. New regulations apply to all foreigners, who consider relocation to Poland and work for the entities stategic for the Polish economy. 

In practice, PBH is a comprehensive package aimed at specialists from the IT / New Tech sector and their families, as well as start-ups and other companies considering relocation to Poland. As part of it, a new type of visa was introduced, exempting from the obligation to receive prior work permit and enabling setting up a business activity in Poland. Applications are accepted at Polish consulates abroad and reviewed on the basis of less number of documents than required for regular visas.

The PBH visa is not dedicated to remote work from the territory of Poland to the benefit of foreign entities, but due to lack of prior work authorisation required, it often plays such a role.

The program was created in 2020 in response to the situation in Belarus and initially covered only the citizens of that country, and then it covered part of the former Eastern bloc. Within last two years Poland was bolstered by nearly 50 000 of highly qualified employees.

Extending the program attracts Poland for even more IT experts and opens up new opportunities for entities of the technology industry located in Poland.