Poland: EU Blue Card Rules Relaxed

Change

Impact

Expanded professional experience eligibility. 

·       Applicants who have at least three years of relevant professional experience (acquired in the previous seven years) are now eligible for a Polish EU Blue Card, even if they lack relevant educational qualifications.

·       This pathway is only available to certain roles defined in the Announcement of the Minister of Interior and Administration. 

·       Previously, the Polish EU Blue Card status was only open to applicants with either a three-year higher education degree or five years of relevant professional experience.

Employers will be able to hire highly skilled talent from a wider pool of applicants.

Reduced work contract durations. Employment contracts now only need to be six months in duration, down from the previous 12-month minimum.

This change enhances employers’ flexibility in hiring highly skilled foreign professionals – an important development given that probationary contracts in Poland are typically of short duration.

Open access to the labor market. EU Blue Cards are no longer tied to a specific employer or job position, meaning that EU Blue Card holders now have full access to the Polish labor market and can change jobs freely. They must still meet the criteria for highly qualified employment and notify the relevant immigration office when they change jobs.

With Polish EU Blue Cards no longer tied to a specific employer or job position, employers and highly skilled foreign nationals now have greater labor market flexibility. Not only is this likely to increase talent attraction, but may also boost long-term in-country talent retention.

Relaxed intra-EU mobility rules. Non-Polish EU Blue Card holders who have legally resided in another EU Member State for at least 12 months may now relocate to Poland and take up employment once they have applied for an EU Blue Card long-term mobility residence permit.

EU Blue Card holders will be able to move to Poland from another EU Member State and take up employment more easily, providing employers more flexibility to move talent permanently to Poland.

EU Long-term Residence Permit. 

·       It is now easier for Polish EU Blue Card holders who resided in another EU Member State to accrue the five years of residence necessary for an EU Long-term Residence Permit.

·       Previously, time spent in other EU Member States on anything other than an EU Blue Card did not accrue to the five-year total; now, time spent on certain other types of residence permit (including highly skilled or researcher permits) also accrues.

·       Despite these changes, the last two years of this five-year period must have been spent in Poland under an EU Blue Card.

Given that Long-term Residence Permit holders can now settle and work in Poland more easily, this is likely to increase talent retention in the country.