Effective 1 December—but confirmed by labour offices only over the weekend—Poland has raised the fee for registering an *oświadczenie o powierzeniu wykonywania pracy cudzoziemcowi* from PLN 100 to PLN 400. The declaration, valid for up to six months, is the most widely used route for hiring seasonal and lower-skilled foreign workers, particularly Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The change is part of four executive regulations that implement the new Act on the Conditions for the Admissibility of Entrusting Work to Foreigners, aimed at professionalising recruitment channels and curbing abuse. In parallel, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has struck Georgia from the list of nationalities eligible for the simplified pathway, leaving only Armenians, Belarusians, Moldovans and Ukrainians.
![Poland Quadruples ‘Oświadczenie’ Work-Declaration Fee and Removes Georgia From Fast-Track List]()
Companies scrambling to keep pace with these shifting regulations may find it helpful to enlist a specialised visa facilitator. VisaHQ, for example, maintains a dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) that offers up-to-date guidance on work-permit categories, document checklists and filing fees, and can liaise with labour offices on an employer’s behalf. Their support can reduce processing errors and free HR teams to focus on workforce planning.
For employers the immediate impact is financial—an extra PLN 300 per foreign seasonal hire—but the bigger consequence is strategic. Many agri-food, logistics and manufacturing firms relied on the low-cost path to manage short production spikes. HR departments will now need to factor higher government fees into budgeting and may find it more economical to switch to standard work-permit procedures that allow longer stays.
The higher fee also reduces the arbitrage opportunity that fuelled a grey market for pre-registered declarations sold online. Officials say the price hike will fund additional compliance inspectors empowered to audit employers within 72 hours of a worker’s start date. Companies are advised to review internal onboarding checklists and ensure timely notification to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), failure of which could trigger fines of up to PLN 30,000.
The change is part of four executive regulations that implement the new Act on the Conditions for the Admissibility of Entrusting Work to Foreigners, aimed at professionalising recruitment channels and curbing abuse. In parallel, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has struck Georgia from the list of nationalities eligible for the simplified pathway, leaving only Armenians, Belarusians, Moldovans and Ukrainians.
Companies scrambling to keep pace with these shifting regulations may find it helpful to enlist a specialised visa facilitator. VisaHQ, for example, maintains a dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) that offers up-to-date guidance on work-permit categories, document checklists and filing fees, and can liaise with labour offices on an employer’s behalf. Their support can reduce processing errors and free HR teams to focus on workforce planning.
For employers the immediate impact is financial—an extra PLN 300 per foreign seasonal hire—but the bigger consequence is strategic. Many agri-food, logistics and manufacturing firms relied on the low-cost path to manage short production spikes. HR departments will now need to factor higher government fees into budgeting and may find it more economical to switch to standard work-permit procedures that allow longer stays.
The higher fee also reduces the arbitrage opportunity that fuelled a grey market for pre-registered declarations sold online. Officials say the price hike will fund additional compliance inspectors empowered to audit employers within 72 hours of a worker’s start date. Companies are advised to review internal onboarding checklists and ensure timely notification to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), failure of which could trigger fines of up to PLN 30,000.
