Is it hard to get a work permit in Poland?

Hello everyone,

I have managed to find a job in Lodz as an IT technical support. The company applied for a work permit for me but I'm very worried I might not get it.

Is Poland very strict about issuing work permits for non-EU residents ?? Especially given that I'm from Morocco ( a third-world country).

I would very much appreciate any thoughts and information concerning this process. I'm so worried about the whole thing I can't fall asleep at night

Thank you and cheers!

If they want you and they applied they will get a work permit for you.

Thank you for you answer.
They did apply for it but they've told me it's not guaranteed and it's not in their hands.
I'm worried about this one particular clause : the work permit will only be issued if there is no polish national who can do this job.

well, in the work permit form, there is a section as to why the candidate is being recruited, what qualities or skills he/she has other than a polish national. it may be skills pertaining to the candidate or language or some certificates or job related necessity. Usually when they have recruited you , it means you have certain skills for the job which is better than the polish national. I had seen in a work permit application where they menioned the candidate having german and norwegian language skills , six sigma black belt cerificate. There is no point in worrying now, you have done your part. Just sit back and wait till the process is complete. It will be alright. :D

Being £ódż, I guess it is or Infosys or Nordea. In this case did they take you on for your language skills, in this case Arabic? In that case I should not worry too much.

I am looking to get a job within IT in Lodz.

Do you know much about job agencies in Lodz?

Unfortunately, isn't the skill usually that the foreign worker is skilled at doing the same job for a lower salary? That's how it is in the UK, anyway.

I get very annoyed when I see firms from Korea here employing Koreans instead of Poles. Wrocław now has a large population of Koreans and I very much doubt they're all managers. Where are the supposed local jobs for local Poles or is it taboo to ask?

Of course, some South Koreans earn a pretty good wage at home, with a major car firm there paying super-fantastic wages and yet the workers still strike for more

globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/130822/hyundai-kia-workers-rank-near-top-salary-lag-productivity

They get about US$80K a year (yeah you read that right) but their productivity isn't all that good. They just got another 5% awarded btw.

don't they have higher salaries in South Korea than in Poland? If so, then probably they're not just cheap labor.

In this case they're not, there are other reasons which I have heard about and some which I can safely assume to be the reason or reasons. Either way, it's not on if the majority of employees are not Poles within such large factories here. Given the apparent numbers, it looks as if the majority are certainly not Poles.

We don't use agencies in Poland. You should apply to the companies yourself. Check offers advertised here:

praca.pl/lodz.html
pracuj.pl/praca/%C5%82%C3%B3d%C5%BA;wp
gazetapraca.pl/szukaj/m-%C5%82%C3%B3d%C5%BA
tablica.pl/praca/lodz/
praca.money.pl/praca-lodz-m1.html
pl.indeed.com/Praca-w-%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA,-%C5%82%C3%B3dzk ie
gumtree.pl/fp-oferty-pracy/lodzkie/c8l3200004

and apply. Headhunters search for professionals, but they're payed by company.
Create your profile in goldenline.pl and linkedin.com and write £ódź as current location, then maybe some headhunters will contact you if you're professional which they need.

Cheers for the info. I am on LinkedIn but not the other site.

I have qualifications but not much experience in IT though.

Eh? I don't follow. I know of at least 1 Pole who got an IT job via an agency he applied to here. I know of another who got his non IT job via an agency. So, when you say Poles don't use agencies, is it like this fabled "Poles don't use agencies when they rent out or sell property" that I heard a lot about here on this forum? Because a quick look on Gumtree for this city will prove to anyone that the vast majority of property to let (rent) is via an agency, and probably so are the ones for sale. All I'd say is there was or is slightly less interest in using agents in PL than in the UK, or maybe it's just in this city, but agents have most of the property -- especially when it's hard to let or sell as it is now and owners resort to agents in desperation.


Yes, Monitor is as always being helpful, and he has helped me in the past. But I would still, if I were you, seek out agencies too. The big names are around in PL including Hays, Manpower, etc.

what i meant by not using agencies is that it's not popular to use agency which will find a job for you in Poland. Agencies which I know work for the company, they advertise jobs and perhaps filter CVs. Anyway all jobs available are online and agency wouldn't help a lot, especially when you start working career. I don't know any where you could just go and say that you search for a job, except if it's work abroad, or temporary.

But fast goggling prove that they exists, for example: lobohr.pl/dla-pracownika/outsourcing

Of course, Lodz has problems with an apparent lack of opportunities, or so some journalists claim:


thesun/sol/homepage/features/4728585/Polish-city-thats-moved-to-Britain.html


I think it depends on a job-seeker's field, competence and experience. But, I get where you're coming from, and you've posted some very good links to help Steve.

That article is rubbish, Lodz is not a deserted city at all.

£ódź has quite a bad opinion in Poland. It's because many jobs there were in sewing and after 1990 this industry collapsed. It had big unemployment for a long time, because of which many families suffered. Now many dysfunctional families live there. In big part in the city center. Because they are poor and bad government of the rulers, many beautiful houses are in really bad shape. That's also reason for higher crime rate than in other cities. So it's nothing strange that people leave this city. But £ódź is not shrinking so much as they write. Big part is statistics, which doesn't count people who move to suburbs.

When were you last in £ódź? I don't agree with this statement. £ódź is now a good city to live in, everything is or has been renovated over the last 6 years.

It always was!

2010 I was visiting the city (Piotrkowska, Rynek, Manufaktura). 2011 Dworzec PKS and airport. 2013 international bus station. Sorry but not everything was renovated :) Some places indeed, but they look like patches.

The Sun article was within the last year I think.

I'd usually agree that newspapers are not a good source of info, however in my home town I know a SE England shop manager borne and bred from that town and he told me The Sun article was very accurate. So, I guess you and him would have to agree to disagree. He upped sticks and left for a better life in the UK in 2009 because of that state of affairs there. But, I'll be sure to tell him that things have improved when I'm back in Britain in the near future. I know he visits Lodz every April, I'll just have to let him know it's all changed in the past 6 months or our Steve wouldn't have moved there.


Sounds like the mills that closed in the Midlands and north of England. Many of them are still suffering now.

It is very different to what it was in 2009, it is improving all the time.

There is lots of work being carried out on Piotrkowska and Piłsudskiego at the moment.
A new shopping centre is being built by the Polytechnik.

I like Lodz, the plans they have are also good. There will be a motorway like the M25 around £ódź and also an inner ring road like the North Circular in London.

Centre of Poland too.

I understand that I can't change Polish peoples perception of £ódź. I like it, which is all that matters to me :)

I find £ódż very scruffy. OK, Manafaktura is a good go...but it seems to be a city in permanent stay of decay. I am there very often for my job (nope, no teaching involved), using public transport frequently and somehow the people on the buses and trams look somewhat "rundown"...sorry English is not my native language, hard for me to describe it. In Flemish we would tell "marginal people". Also very hard to pinpoint a real town centre. Piotrkowska is just that..a 5km long street. Maybe the nightlife is OK, though I hear from colleagues at work it is not entirely safe, and many bus & tramlines are "dubious" after nightfall, when the pondlife appears.

Nope, not my city at any given time.

That's a lot of the charm. Faded elegance sounds better than scruffy.

Maybe :) But it also sounds as real-estate marketeer language :) (or something what inyourpocket might write). No, I find £ódż scruffy, dusty, rundown, chaotic. Piotrkowska does not impress me at all. Pilsudskiego? What is so marvellous about that street? I am always glad to be on PolskiBus back home to Warsaw in the late afternoon.

Horses for courses.

It's your opinion and you are entitled to it however I do not share the same opinion.

There are nicer looking cities but overall I prefer to live in Lodz.
Most cities are exactly the same, It is what you do yourself that makes it a good place to live.

I have been to lots of places in your homeland and I found most of them to be scruffy, the motorways and roads are also terrible.

(I know there were political problems for a couple of years)

I wouldn't say they were bad places to live either, I can make anywhere feel like a nice place to live.

I live in Lodz and I like Lodz and that is not going to change whatever bad things you say about Lodz.

I hope I can get a job there soon and any help would be nice.

I have my PESEL numer and residency card and will go onto those websites mentioned earlier.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it.


They didn't hire me for my Arabic but for my french. I hope that they mentioned my Arabic though, because it would really increase my chances

As to those saying that Lodz is not a good city to live in. I've been there, and to many other polish cities also. I think that Lodz has a lot of potentials and can become a great city. But it is very under-estimated, even by the people living there.

It's very underdeveloped, but from what I hear it's changing.

and which homeland would that be ?

You said Flemish is your native language. So Belgium is the natural assumption.

Merged: How easy is it to get a Polish work permit?

Hi everyone! I had been living/studying in another EU country until last year when I came on an Erasmus exchange here. I come from Nepal, and was recently offered a job (software tester) at a company here. But since they haven't had experiences with hiring non-EU workers, I am kind of worried about how they will handle the paperwork. I was referred to this job by my Polish boyfriend, and hence I suppose the company didn't publish any vacancy notices for this position. I was told by the immigration office today that the company has to prove that they couldn't find anyone Polish or from EU suitable for this position, and hence willing to hire me. This sounds like such a complicated process to me and I'm worried it's not going to be easy. How do the companies prove that they didn't find anybody better (from Poland or EU)? :o