How to Avoid Waiting Too Long for Your Temporary Residence Permit and Work Permit

Warning: This information does not constitute source of law. In case of any doubts, contact a competent authority.

The procedure of granting a temporary residence permit and work permit is getting longer and longer every day. On various Facebook groups foreigners complain that they have been waiting for their permit for 6, 9 or even 12 months! Because of that, many companies refuse to employ foreigners, simply because this is a too long time span, and they are not ready to wait for almost a year for their new employee.

In this article we present you two “workarounds” on how to speed the process up:

1) Apply for a work permit + a visa

Instead of applying for a temporary residence permit and work permit in one joint procedure, apply for:

• a work permit
• a visa

In this scenario, first you need to find a company willing to employ you. Later on, the company needs to apply for a work permit for you – the process is described in detail here (for Warsaw and mazowieckie region):
(feel free to pass the link to your employer)

The process of issuing only a work permit is much quicker – it should take up to 1-2 months, and some permits can be issued even in one day! The employer needs to book a visit via an online calendar, and if there are no documents missing, the permit will be issued on the day of the visit.

After receiving a work permit from your employer, you can apply for a visa. According to the website of the Polish embassy in Mexico, the visa decision can be issued in up to 7 days.

If you are lucky, the process can be very quick, definitely much quicker than waiting for your Karta Pobytu.

2) Apply for a work permit + enter as a tourist

Yes, that is right – according to the law “Foreigners can perform work on the territory of Poland if they:

• (…) possess a valid work permit and are staying in Poland on the basis of:
  • (…) visa-free movement

As mentioned in one of our articles, Mexicans can enter the territory of Poland without any visa and stay there for up to 90 days, and each time after they re-enter Poland, their 90 days period is renewed. Also, according to the quote above, they can work.

So, all you need to do is to find a company willing to employ you that will get a work permit for you, and then you can start working when staying in Poland on the basis of visa-free movement*. Of course, after 90 days, you will need to leave the country and re-enter in order to stay legally here. But this is a way to start working as soon as possible.

Note: we highly recommend you to apply for a temporary residence permit or a visa right after you receive your work permit.

And you? How long did you wait for your temporary residence permit and work permit? Share your experience in the comments!

* I have contacted the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw in order to confirm this information. Here is the reply that I received:
“(…) po uzyskaniu przez pracodawcę zezwolenia na pracę, cudzoziemiec mógł by rozpocząć pracę przebywając na ruchu bezwizowym.”