Almost 30% of the inspections found irregularities, which were mostly due to a lack of the required work permit, namely not having one at all, using the incorrect procedure for legalising employment, or working in breach of the conditions specified in the permit.

Interestingly, the most numerous group of foreigners, who were working in breach of regulations, were Ukrainian citizens (4,742 persons, thus 71% of the total number of foreigners working illegally in Poland). This means employers are still finding it difficult to establish which requirements (arising from the Ukrainian Special Act, among others) should apply to this group of foreigners. Employers sometimes fail, for example, to comply with the obligation punctually to submit notifications on hiring Ukrainians, although this is, at present, the simplest way to legalise their work.

PIP inspectors found that the problem of breaching regulations when hiring foreigners affected 6,667 foreigners from 57 countries. This constitutes 17% of all foreigners who were checked and represents an increase on the previous year, when this share was less than 13%.

The report’s details and conclusions show that PIP plans to continue with its strategy of first-time inspections (and, if necessary, follow-up investigations). Employers should, therefore, review whether they are definitely complying with all the requirements on the employment of foreigners.