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Minimum Salary Level Increased
Poland
At a Glance
- Effective November 21, 2019, Poland has increased its minimum salary levels for foreign workers by an average of 7.2 percent from the previous quarter.
- Additionally, effective January 1, 2020, the minimum monthly salary for locally hired foreign workers in Poland will increase to PLN 2,600, up 15.6 percent from 2019.
- The new thresholds apply to current permit holders, pending applications and new applications. Employers should check foreign workers’ salaries to ensure compliance.
The situation
Minimum monthly salary levels for foreign workers in Poland are as follows:
| Permit type | Prior salary level | Current / new salary level | Effective date | Percentage increase |
|
Local Hire |
PLN 2,250 gross/month |
PLN 2,600 gross/month |
January 1, 2020 |
15.6 |
|
Intracompany Transfer (both national and EU ICT) |
|
|
November 21, 2019 |
Warsaw: 7.3 Kraków: 7.8 Wrocław: 6.5 |
|
EU Blue Card |
PLN 6,877.55 gross/month |
Unchanged. Publication of the new threshold is expected by end of February 2020 |
Ongoing |
n/a |
|
Civil contract (e.g., for temporary projects) |
PLN 14.70 gross/hour |
PLN 17 gross/hour |
January 1, 2020 |
15.6 |
The exchange rate at the time of publication of this alert is 1 PLN to 0.26 USD.
A closer look
- Existing employees. Employers of foreign nationals must increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule.
- Initial and renewal applications. Employers of foreign nationals seeking to obtain or renew work authorization must increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused.
- Pending applications. Employers of foreign nationals with pending work authorization applications must increase foreign nationals’ salaries to comply with the new rule. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused.
Reminders on other requirements
| Topic | Local hires | Intracompany Transfers | EU Blue Cards |
|
Quarterly changes |
n/a |
Employers should maintain a safe margin above the salary requirements in anticipation of quarterly increases.
|
|
|
Benefits and allowances |
Cannot be included in the minimum salary calculation. |
May only be included in the minimum salary calculation if they are fixed, paid monthly, and paid directly to the foreign worker's bank account. |
Cannot be included in the minimum salary calculation. |
|
Currency |
Foreign workers must be on local payroll and paid in PLN. |
Employers must guarantee the salary in PLN regardless of payroll location and/or exchange rate fluctuations. Salary amounts must be declared in PLN in the work permit application. |
Foreign workers must be on local payroll and paid in PLN. |
|
Market salary rate |
Salaries must be similar to that of other employees performing similar jobs at the sponsoring employer. |
||
|
Support dependents |
Salaries must be sufficient to support the foreign national and any dependents during their stay in Poland. |
||
Background
European countries typically increase minimum salary requirements for foreign workers by 1-5 percent as of January 1, to account for cost of living increases. The larger increases in Poland reflect a booming economy, since Polish salary requirements for foreign workers are typically calculated based on average national or regional salary levels for local workers.
Looking ahead
Fragomen expects many more countries to publish updated salary figures in the upcoming weeks.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].