When planning to hire a foreigner, the employer must obtain the document called starost’s information also known as the Labor Market Test . What is it and how to obtain such information? Find out from the below article.
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As a rule, the employment of a foreigner in a given position is possible only if there are no registered unemployed persons on the local labour market who would have relevant competencies and could be employed by the employer applying for the permit. This results from the general rule that Polish citizens have priority over foreigners in accessing the local labour market.
Therefore, before submitting an application for a work permit for a foreigner, the employer should apply to the district employment office responsible for the main place of work of the
foreigner to carry out a labour market test, as part of which the officials will verify whether there are persons meeting the criteria set by the employer looking for an employee for a given position among the currently registered unemployed persons and job seekers in the region.
If, as a result of a labour market test, it is confirmed that it is not possible to employ a person currently registered as unemployed at the given position, the starost will issue information about the inability to meet the employer’s HR needs on the local labour market.
The information from the starost needs to be issued no earlier than 180 days before the application for a work permit, or seasonal work permit is submitted, and in cases justified by the starost – 90 days before the application is submitted.
A labour market test is not always necessary. The employer is not obliged to ask for it if:
- the work to be performed by a foreigner is included in the list of shortage occupations published in regulation by the voivode competent for the main place of performance of work by the foreigner,
- the profession to be held by a foreigner is included in an appendix to the regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy (these are, among others, doctors, nurses, programmers, database designers, elderly caretakers, bricklayers, painters, locksmiths, bus drivers),
- it involves care work or domestic work to be done by citizens of: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia or Ukraine,
- it involves work as a sports coach or athlete,
- it involves the work of a dentist or doctor undergoing training or specialised training programme,
- it concerns a foreigner authorised to represent a foreign entrepreneur at its branch or representative office located in Poland,
- the work is to be performed by a foreigner who is a relative of a diplomatic employee or an employee of a branch of an international organisation in Poland or who works as a private domestic staff member for such employees,
- the work is to be performed by a foreigner who is a doctoral student at a Polish university or has graduated from a university in Poland, the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein in the last 3 years,
- the work is to be performed by a foreigner who has lived in Poland continuously for 3 years before submitting the application (however, the foreigner’s stay is considered uninterrupted if there was no break longer than 6 months and if all the breaks in total have not exceeded 10 months!),
- the work is to be performed by a citizen of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, or Ukraine who, in the period immediately preceding submission of the application for a work permit, was employed for a period of at least 3 months by the same employer and at the same position – in accordance with the declaration on entrusting performance of work to a foreigner entered in the register of declarations – provided that the declaration on entrusting performance of work to a foreigner entered in the register of declarations and the employment contract and documents confirming payment of social security
contributions are presented.
Information from the starost includes, among others:
- details of the entity entrusting work to the foreigner;
- assessment of the adequacy of the remuneration level to the position/type of work in relation to rates on the local labour market;
- assessing the adequacy of the requirements in relation to the job/type of work;
- assessment of the possibility of obtaining employees for the given position/type of work based on local market resources.
More questions about how to legalise your stay in Poland?
Issues related to the legalisation of employment and stay of foreigners in Poland still raise many doubts – both among employers and their foreign employees. In order to make it easier to navigate among statutory regulations, the Invest in Pomerania team in cooperation with specialists from the Pomeranian Voivodeship Office have created a publication containing a list of the most frequently asked questions regarding the procedure of applying for a residence and work permit in Poland. We sincerely hope that the publication will make the process of legalising the stay and employment of foreigners in our region more efficient. We invite you to read the entire guide. If you want to learn more about the full range of support provided by Invest in Pomerania visit the website: investinpomerania.pl .
