A recruitment interview. A foreign candidate, strong, available immediately. They say the sentence that sounds like the solution to every problem: “I already have a work permit.”
From the perspective of the hiring employer, that sentence usually means nothing at all.
The permit is attached to the employer
A work permit is issued on the application of the entity entrusting the work and covers a specific combination: this employer, this foreign national, this position, these conditions, this period.
The foreign national is not the addressee of that document in the way employers imagine. They do not “hold” a permit in any portable sense. They hold a document that authorises them to work for the company named in it.
A change of employer therefore means the existing permit no longer covers the new situation. The new employer needs its own basis.
The same applies to a declaration of entrustment of work — entered in the register on the application of a specific entity.
What about the single permit?
This is subtler, because the document looks different. It is issued on the application of the foreign national and covers both residence and work — so it is tempting to conclude it belongs to them.
But it too names a specific employer and specific conditions of employment. A change of employer is not a neutral event: it requires action on the foreign national’s side and a check of what exactly is required in the given situation.
A residence card in someone’s wallet is not the answer to the question of whether they may work for you. It is the answer to the question of residence.
What the new employer should do
Establish the basis on which the person works today. Not “do you have documents” — which document, issued to whom, for which position, valid until when.
Determine whether that basis covers your company. In most cases it does not.
Check whether a faster route exists. For some nationalities and situations, simplified procedures are available that are considerably shorter than the full path. Ask this at the outset, not after two months of waiting.
Plan the start date after the basis is obtained, not before. If the candidate is resigning from their current job, agree with them when they can realistically stop working there — a gap with no basis at all is risky for them, not only for you.
Do not rely on a copy of the previous employer’s document. It is evidence that somebody else held an authorisation. Not that you do.
What the outgoing employer should do
This side is routinely overlooked, and it carries its own obligations.
Notify that the work has ended, within the required deadline. Deadlines here are short and counted in days, not weeks.
Close out the documentation on general terms, bearing in mind that legalisation documents must be retained even after the employment ends.
Understand that the permit does not transfer. There is nothing to hand over to the new employer beyond information.
Failing to notify after someone leaves is one of those breaches that surfaces during an inspection about something else entirely — because the documentation remains, and the absence of the notification is visible in it immediately.
The same logic, four other situations
A change of position with the same employer. The permit names the role. A promotion or a move to another department requires a check that the document still matches reality.
A change to pay. A reduction below the level stated in the permit is a material change. An increase is usually not a problem, but a change in working hours can be.
Work for another company in the group. That is a different legal entity. A permit issued to company A does not cover work performed for company B, even with a shared owner and a shared office.
A restructuring or acquisition. Nobody thinks about this until it happens. The effect on the validity of permits depends on the form of the transaction and needs checking beforehand, not afterwards.
Why intelligent companies get this wrong
Because intuition points the other way. In most professional contexts, qualifications belong to the individual — a driving licence, welding certification, professional accreditation. The person holds them and takes them to a new job.
A work permit operates on the opposite principle: it is an authorisation for an employer to entrust work to a named person, not an entitlement of that person to work in general.
That distinction is not obvious until somebody points it out. Which is why careful, well-organised companies make this mistake — and why foreign nationals say “I have a work permit” in complete good faith.
What the new employer risks
Entrusting work without your own basis is a breach from the first day. There is a fine, and a labour inspector may impose a penalty on the spot without going to court.
Penalties attach to the person, not to the inspection. If you took on three people the same way, that is three separate matters.
The employee is exposed too — where the border authority is involved, the consequences can reach their right to remain in Poland. Worth saying to a candidate plainly, because usually nobody does.
The effects of an employer change differ depending on which document is held. Verify the current position on the specific case.
One question to ask instead
If you are recruiting a foreign national already working in Poland, replace “do you have documents” with:
“Who is the document that lets you work issued to, and until when is it valid?”
If the answer names another company, you need your own basis before that person starts work for you.
If the candidate cannot answer, that is normal and reflects nothing bad about them. Ask for a scan and check it yourself.
Want this checked before you make the offer? Get in touch — this is exactly the situation where a call beforehand costs nothing and a call afterwards costs a great deal.