Last year was marked mainly by another amendment of the regulations relating to the citizens of Ukraine who arrived to Poland due to the war. The change in the ruling party brought also modifications in the visa system and the draft immigration strategy for 2025-2030. New draft laws on concerning regulations on the legalisation of employment and residence of foreigners in Poland were presented.
 
Ukrainian citizens and their family members
On 1 July 2024 the amended Act on assistance for the citizens of Ukraine in relation to the armed conflict in the territory of the country (hereinafter referred to as the special purpose Act) extended the temporary protection until 30 September 2025. Thus, temporary residence documents of Ukrainian citizens (national visas, temporary residence permits) have been extended as will non-visa residence, which does not directly arise from a special status of special purpose act. The suspension of statutory deadlines obliging province governors to carry out the remaining residence proceedings was also similarly extended.

The list of persons allowed to apply for temporary residence permit was extended to include non-working family members with the UKR status. Earlier this possibility was open only to employed persons or persons carrying out business activity.

A new manner of applying and issuing Residence Cards was introduced with granting temporary residence permit for three years at the same time. This variant should be available to persons who made an electronic application and meet the following criteria:

• had the UKR status on 4 March 2024,
• have the UKR status on the day of applying for Residence Card,
• have an uninterrupted UKR status for at least 365 days.

The system of electronic applications is to be launched in 2025. So far appropriate IT infrastructure has not been provided.

The time limit to fulfill the obligation imposed on the employer to submit a notification on the assignment of work to a person covered by the special purpose Act has been shortened from 14 to 7 days. In the amended Act the list of cases when the submission of new notification is required, i.e.:

• the type of contract between the entity entrusting the work and the citizen of Ukraine has changed or
• the position or type of work performed has changed, or
• the working hours or the number of working hours per week or month specified in the notification has been reduced, or
• the monthly or hourly wage rate specified in the notification has been reduced.

Suspension of the Poland. Business Harbour programme
With effect from 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suspended the PBH visa programme. This decision was motivated by concerns about abuses in the issuing of and the use of PBH visas. The suspension is to last until solutions are adopted to guarantee appropriate verification of beneficiaries of the programme. At the moment there are no solutions for obtaining visas dedicated to IT industry.

Immigration strategy 2025-2030
In February 2024 a schedule of works on creating a comprehensive, responsible, and safe immigration strategy of Poland for 2025-2030 was presented. Less than a month later a draft amendment of the Foreigners Act was announced. It stipulates among other things:

• changes for persons applying and holding EU Blue Card,
• change in the manner of applying for temporary residence permit from paper to electronic form,
• replacing a stamp placed in a passport to confirm submitting an application with a certificate.

In mid-2024 a long awaited draft law on employing foreigners in Poland was presented. Initially the draft was called an Act on the Access of Foreigners to the Labour Market, however after a few months it was changed to the Act on the Conditions for Admissibility of Employment of Foreigners in the Territory of the Republic of Poland. From the point of view of the employer the most important assumption of the draft seems the elimination of the procedure of the so called labour market test. Instead, the district governors will be given flexibility in deciding on the professions in which the possibility to employ foreigners in a given district will be restricted. The deadline for notifying the province governor about non-starting the employment was shortened from three to one month from the date of expiry of the work permit.

Another draft in line with the assumptions of the government immigration strategy is the draft law on the change of some acts in order to eliminate irregularities within the visa system of the Republic of Poland. Modifications will include in particular the system of issuing visas in order to study at higher education institutions. The regulations concerning verification of visa applications will undergo the following restrictions:

• the obligation to document skills and knowledge necessary to undertake studies in a given field;
• the obligation of a vice-chancellor or a head of a higher education institution to notify the authorities about a person with a student visa failing to undertake studies;
• introduction of a limit on the number of foreigners studying in a given unit of higher education institution.

All of the above drafts have been adopted by the Council of Ministers and in the first quarter of 2025 should come before the Parliament.
 

Find more in the PRO HR Year Book 2024.