FOR Communication 18/2023: Poland Willingly Welcomes Foreign Workers
The increasing demand for labor and the ongoing process of society’s aging mean that Polish entrepreneurs are more willing to employ foreigners. The Polish authorities are keen to bring in economic immigrants. It is therefore absurd how the Polish government behaves: while they themselves approve the admission of a multitude of workers from outside of the EU, they enter another pointless dispute with Brussels, rejecting the proposal of a solidarity mechanism in the field of migration.
In 2022, the provincial governors (voivodes) issued 365,490 work permits in Poland to foreigners from 140 countries, according to data from the Ministry of Family and Social Policy. With the consent of Polish government’s representatives, the most work permits were granted to citizens of Ukraine (85,074 permits, that is 23.3% of the total). In second place were citizens of India (41,640 permits, that is 11.4%), and in third place, citizens of Uzbekistan (33,373 permits, that is9.1%).
Source: Own study based on data from the Ministry of Family and Social Policy:
https://psz.praca.gov.pl/web/urzad-pracy/-/8180075-zezwolenia-na-prace-cudzoziemcow
In 2022, besides Ukrainians, work permits in Poland were most often granted to citizens of:
- South Asia (mainly: India, Nepal, Bangladesh),
- Central Asia (mainly: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan),
- East and Southeast Asia (mainly: Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam),
- Middle East (mainly: Turkey).
Chart 2. Number of work permits for foreigners issued in 2022 by world regions
Source: Own study based on data from the Ministry of Family and Social Policy:
https://psz.praca.gov.pl/web/urzad-pracy/-/8180075-zezwolenia-na-prace-cudzoziemcow
Granting a foreigner a work permit in Poland does not explicitly mean that he will take up employment in our country. It is the first step enabling the submission of a visa application and coming to Poland for work. Nevertheless, the sheer scale of work permits for foreigners approved by the provincial governors (voivodes) testifies to both a high demand for foreign workers and the government's approval to employ people from outside of the EU.
The full content of the publication can be found in the file to download below.
Contact to author:
Paweł Janukowicz, PhD in finance and economics
E-mail: info@for.org.pl
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