Employers intending to hire a foreigner who has yet to obtain the documents required by law to legalise the person’s work and stay in Poland often wonder how to establish the starting date in the employment contract.

Under the Labour Code, setting the start date is a mandatory element of an employment contract. At the same time, however, it may be difficult to set a specific date for the start of work, or even impossible, in a situation where the parties do not know and cannot predict when the foreigner will receive the legally required documents (which happens more and more frequently, due to delays in consideration of applications by the authorities) and actually be ready to legally start working for the employer.

Efforts to obtain documents legalising a foreigner’s work and stay in Poland often entail a state of uncertainty, particularly concerning the date when the documents can be obtained.

But foreigners increasingly condition acceptance of an offer of employment on conclusion of an employment contract (or possibly some other document containing a commitment to hire the person and confirming the terms of employment) prior to commencement of the process of legalising their work and stay in Poland. This gives rise to significant practical problems.