In a briefing issued on 5 February 2026, the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) and EY Poland urged multinational employers to accelerate preparations for Poland’s sweeping immigration reforms, most of which take full effect this year. The 2025 Act on Employment of Foreigners mandates end-to-end digital processing via the government portal praca.gov.pl, imposes strict document-storage and notification rules, and raises penalties for non-compliance to PLN 50,000 per foreign employee. (absl.pl)
Key pain-points include the requirement to upload a signed employment contract before work begins, compulsory sworn translations of contracts written only in a foreign language, and new deadlines (as little as seven days) for reporting commencement, interruption or termination of work. Provincial authorities must now refuse permits to employers previously fined for illegal work, or to foreigners who held a permit but failed to work in Poland for two consecutive years.
To navigate these new complexities, multinationals can lean on specialists such as VisaHQ, which already integrates with Poland’s praca.gov.pl system and provides end-to-end online visa and work-permit filing, sworn-translation coordination and real-time status dashboards. The Warsaw-based team (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) can review contract language, arrange digital signatures and alert HR to upcoming reporting deadlines, helping companies stay compliant while avoiding PLN 50,000 penalties.
![ABSL warns employers: Poland’s 2026 digital immigration overhaul demands urgent compliance work]()
The reforms also trim eligibility: foreigners on Schengen visas issued by other states, on Polish tourism or medical visas, or entering visa-free from countries on a forthcoming “restricted” list will no longer be able to obtain work authorisation. At the same time, a new Register of Strategic Enterprises offers priority processing to firms deemed vital to the economy—good news for large shared-services centres and advanced-manufacturing plants.
For HR and mobility teams the operational impact is significant. Legacy paper workflows must migrate to e-signature-enabled processes, and sensitive data must be archived digitally for at least two years after employment ends. Companies should audit vendor capabilities, update assignment-management software and train line managers to recognise new reporting triggers.
ABSL recommends conducting a “portfolio review” of all active foreign employees to spot visa types that will become non-work-eligible and to pre-file extensions before higher consular fees (EUR 200 for type-D visas, EUR 90 for Schengen visas) take their toll. Failure to adapt could strand critical talent or delay new project launches in Poland’s buoyant IT, finance and R&D sectors.
Key pain-points include the requirement to upload a signed employment contract before work begins, compulsory sworn translations of contracts written only in a foreign language, and new deadlines (as little as seven days) for reporting commencement, interruption or termination of work. Provincial authorities must now refuse permits to employers previously fined for illegal work, or to foreigners who held a permit but failed to work in Poland for two consecutive years.
To navigate these new complexities, multinationals can lean on specialists such as VisaHQ, which already integrates with Poland’s praca.gov.pl system and provides end-to-end online visa and work-permit filing, sworn-translation coordination and real-time status dashboards. The Warsaw-based team (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) can review contract language, arrange digital signatures and alert HR to upcoming reporting deadlines, helping companies stay compliant while avoiding PLN 50,000 penalties.
The reforms also trim eligibility: foreigners on Schengen visas issued by other states, on Polish tourism or medical visas, or entering visa-free from countries on a forthcoming “restricted” list will no longer be able to obtain work authorisation. At the same time, a new Register of Strategic Enterprises offers priority processing to firms deemed vital to the economy—good news for large shared-services centres and advanced-manufacturing plants.
For HR and mobility teams the operational impact is significant. Legacy paper workflows must migrate to e-signature-enabled processes, and sensitive data must be archived digitally for at least two years after employment ends. Companies should audit vendor capabilities, update assignment-management software and train line managers to recognise new reporting triggers.
ABSL recommends conducting a “portfolio review” of all active foreign employees to spot visa types that will become non-work-eligible and to pre-file extensions before higher consular fees (EUR 200 for type-D visas, EUR 90 for Schengen visas) take their toll. Failure to adapt could strand critical talent or delay new project launches in Poland’s buoyant IT, finance and R&D sectors.
