EY Immigration Newsletter - February 2025

Important update on the legalization of the stay of Ukrainian citizens in Poland: Introduction of CUKR.

In 2025, Poland will introduce a new, simplified procedure for applying for a residence card for Ukrainian citizens with the CUKR annotation. This new procedure will replace the traditional decision with a plastic card.

The Office for Foreigners has announced that in 2025 a special online service will be launched to enable this procedure.

CUKR status is a special temporary residence permit that all Ukrainian citizens using temporary protection in Poland will be able to obtain after meeting the conditions specified in the act. The CUKR card will provide its holders with full access to the labor market and the possibility of conducting business in Poland. It will be issued for a period of 3 years.

To apply for a CUKR card, a Ukrainian citizen must meet the following conditions:

• Had UKR status as of March 4, 2024,
• Has UKR status on the date of submitting the application for the CUKR residence card,
• Has had UKR status for at least 365 days continuously.

After receiving the residence card, the right to legal residence in Poland will automatically become a temporary residence permit, valid until the end of the card's validity period. If the residence card is not collected within 60 days, it will be invalidated.

It is worth remembering that after issuing the CUKR card, its beneficiary loses the rights associated with temporary protection, such as student facilities or free health insurance for non-working persons.

Possible problems with extending the legality of a foreigner's stay without a Trusted Profile or an electronic signature.

The stage of giving opinions on the draft act introducing the obligation to submit applications for residence permits in Poland electronically with a signature submitted by the foreigner online has ended.

The draft proposes changing the way of submitting applications for temporary residence permits, permanent residence permits, and long-term EU resident permits – the current obligation to submit such applications in person in paper form is to be replaced by an online service through the Case Handling Module (MOS).

Attachments to the temporary residence application, including documents completed by the entity entrusting work to the foreigner, will also be signed electronically.

Both the applications and attachments submitted online via the MOS will require them to be signed with a qualified electronic signature, personal signature, or trusted signature.

While persons acting on behalf of entities entrusting work to foreigners usually have an electronic or trusted signature, this is still not popular among foreigners themselves.

This may mean increased interest among foreigners in obtaining such a signature, while the Trusted Profile websites are prepared only in Polish and Ukrainian.

For years, EY Immigration Team specialists have been offering support in the process of setting up a PZ and confirming identity.

Stay and work of Ukrainian citizens after September 30, 2025?

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration confirmed work on extending the Ukrainian special act and the resulting protection until March 4, 2026, in line with the already extended temporary protection granted by the EU Council.

In the course of the amendment to the special act, certain benefits, including social benefits for Ukrainians, should be expected to be limited, but not changes in the rules for legalizing their work. Everything indicates that it will still be necessary to submit notifications about entrusting work to a Ukrainian citizen.

The issue was addressed by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, in which Michał Wysłocki - Manager at the EY Immigration Team, explained how Ukrainian citizens and their employers can become independent of temporary protection and its extension:

"Ukrainian citizens staying in Poland legally based on the provisions of the special act, i.e., benefiting from temporary protection, can at any time apply for a temporary residence permit if they work in Poland, conduct business, or are family members of such persons. This permit will allow for residence in Poland for up to three years."

He also noted that the Office for Foreigners announced that in 2025 a special online service would be launched that will allow Ukrainian citizens to easily obtain a residence card with CUKR status, and Polish companies to entrust them with work without a work permit.

The group of people interested in this solution is growing, for whom the stability of legal residence and work in Poland is more important than having temporary protection.

New minimum wage for those employed on Blue Card!

On February 11, 2025, the president of the Central Statistical Office announced the average wage in the national economy in 2024, which means a significant change for foreigners applying for a Blue Card.

One of the conditions for granting a foreigner a temporary residence permit for the purpose of performing work in a highly qualified profession (Blue Card) is to show that the gross salary specified in the contract with the foreigner is not lower than the equivalent of 150% of the average wage in the national economy in the year preceding the application for the Blue Card.

In light of the announcement that the average wage in 2024 was 8,181.72 PLN, the salary for obtaining the Blue Card cannot be lower than 12,272.58 PLN gross per month.

Although this amount has only been known since February 11, it applies to all Blue Card applications submitted in 2025, including those before the GUS announcement date.

Foreigners applying for a Blue Card permit in 2025 should ensure that their contract specifies a salary sufficient to obtain a positive residence decision.

The number of foreigners registered with ZUS is increasing.

According to the ZUS data at the end of 2024, almost 1.2 million foreigners were registered for social insurance.

The largest groups of insured are Ukrainian citizens – almost 800,000, Belarus – 136,000, Georgia – 27,000, and India – 23,000.

The number of insured Colombian citizens has increased by 185%. Only more Ukrainians than Colombians have registered with ZUS.

An invalid foreign passport is a challenge for legal employment.

The National Labor Inspectorate has raised the issue of foreigners working after their passport expires. This issue is particularly significant for Ukrainian citizens who sometimes do not want to obtain new passports while continuing to work in Poland.

The inspection conducted by the PIP, in addition to checking the legality of employment, focuses on verifying if the foreigner has a valid residence document entitling them to work. This can be a visa, residence permit, visa-free travel right, or residence right granted to Ukrainian citizens under the Ukrainian special act.

In the opinion of the PIP, the issue of having a valid passport is not directly within its competencies, and the expiry of the passport does not affect the legal situation of the foreigner regarding the legality of their work.

According to the Border Guard, a foreigner is required to have a valid travel document (usually a passport) and documents entitling them to stay in Poland. The residence card, as a stay document, does not replace the passport.

In the opinion of the Border Guard, the foreigner must leave Poland before the passport expires or apply at the diplomatic mission of their country in Poland (embassy, consulate) for the extension of the travel document or issuance of a new one.

It should be noted that both the National Labor Inspectorate and the Border Guard are authorized to control the legality of employment of foreigners.

Do you want to consult the legal status of employed foreigners and the legality of their work?

55,000 PIP inspections in 2025. Foreigners remain the focus of the Inspection.

2025 will be the first year of implementing the three-year PIP Action Program.

Inspectors will check, among other things, the legality of foreigners' stays, their access to the labor market, and compliance with labor rights. The inspections will verify, among other things, working conditions, working time, and foreigners' wages. The inspections will particularly cover the employment conditions of Ukrainian citizens based on the provisions of the Ukrainian special act and foreigners from countries with a high risk of illegal migration, such as Central and Eastern Asia and Africa.

The inspections will also focus on detecting cases of bogus employment and checking flexible forms of employment.

The PIP actions are also aimed at revealing cases of unauthorized transfers of foreigners within multi-level subcontracting chains and in the form of unauthorized outsourcing, used to circumvent regulations on temporary work or demand for permanent work.

Deportations following Border Guard and Police inspections – the most deportations involve Ukrainian citizens.

As a result of inspections of over 2.4 thousand foreigners, procedures were initiated to deport nearly 400 people, including 180 Ukrainian citizens, 60 Georgian citizens, and 60 Colombians.

Inspections of the legality of stay in Poland also included citizens of Nepal, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Belarus, Indonesia, and Moldova.

The inspection results show that despite a series of facilities for legalizing the stay and work of Ukrainian citizens, their cases most often reveal irregularities.

EY Poland, together with ABSL Poland, organized a stationary conference dedicated to employing foreigners, Poland's migration strategy for 2025-2030, and plans for its implementation.

The panel formula allowed for an interesting and substantive discussion with representatives of public administration, business, and immigration law practitioners. Guests of the Conference included Prof. Maciej Duszczyk – Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Attorney Marcin Stanecki – Chief Labor Inspector, and members of the board and directors of companies employing foreigners in Poland.

During the Conference, the impact of Poland's migration strategy for 2025-2030 on the development of the business services sector, attracting talents, and investors was discussed. In the discussion panels, we addressed issues related to employers' obligations, control of the legality of employment, and the implementation of the migration strategy.

Conference participants also shared best practices for integrating foreigners into work teams and managing the process of employing foreigners, which ensure security and efficiency in companies.

It was also an opportunity to present the results of the latest ABSL research on employing foreigners, which prove that employing foreigners is still an essential element of talent acquisition, which remains a significant challenge in Poland for procedural reasons.