If you want to employ a citizen of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine, one of the simplest documents to obtain that legalizes their work is precisely the declaration of entrusting work to a foreigner. The declaration allows you to employ a citizen of one of these five countries for a period of up to 24 months without the need to obtain a work permit.

NOTE! Verify whether the foreigner’s residence title entitles them to take up employment based on the declaration.
residence title.

The procedure for obtaining a declaration is somewhat different from that for a work permit. To obtain a work permit, you submit an appropriate application to the competent voivode, and the voivode, after examining the application and attachments, either issues a work permit for the foreigner or refuses to do so. In the so-called “declaration procedure,” as the name of the document itself indicates (declaration of entrusting work to a foreigner), you, as the prospective employer, declare that you want to employ a specific candidate for a specific position, while the competent labor office verifies the fulfillment of the relevant conditions and records your declaration in the register of declarations.

Conditions required to register the declaration:

• the candidate holds citizenship of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine,
• the work will be performed in the territory of the Republic of Poland,
• the work is not seasonal in nature and does not involve serving on the management board of a company,
• the period of employment will not exceed 24 months,
• the start date of work will be no later than 6 months from the date of submitting the declaration,
• the foreigner’s remuneration will not be lower than that of employees performing comparable work, nor lower than the minimum wage for

Remember that the Declaration of Entrusting Work to a Foreigner must be submitted together with:

You submit the declaration via the electronic system (on the website praca.gov.pl – there is a ready-made form to be filled in and signed, e.g., using ePUAP) to the district governor competent for your registered office or place of permanent residence. The governor will verify the submitted declaration, and within 7 days you should receive confirmation of the entry of the declaration into the register of declarations (i.e., the same document you submitted, but with an appropriate annotation of the entry, date, and the official’s signature), or a decision refusing the entry. Sometimes, it may turn out that your situation as an employer or the situation of the foreigner is not straightforward, and the office needs more time to verify all the circumstances. This will be the so-called “explanatory proceedings,” during which you may be asked to provide additional documents or explanations – in such a case, you should receive the office’s response no later than within 30 days. 

That’s it. Once the declaration is entered into the register of declarations, the so-called “foreigner aspect” is taken care of – from that point on, you proceed similarly to the case of Polish employees.

Also read the RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE EMPLOYER