Work permits for foreigners more or less? We have data

In the election campaign, before the presidential election, one of the main topics is the issue of migration, migration policy and the activities of the Polish government in this matter. PiS politicians and the Confederation alert that Germany tosses us “illegal immigrants” – this false message We verified in Zasta24 – And they threaten that Poland will soon be flooded with a wave of migrants, to which the government of Donald Tusk will agree (this falsehood also we broke up).

By the way, there is a discussion about work permits issued to foreigners in Poland. The government refutes the opposition's allegations, informing that there are fewer and fewer of them. “This is the seventh month of a decrease in the number of work permits for foreigners compared to the same month of the previous year. The effect of actions eliminating applications for 'appearances'. At the same time, we supplement deficiencies in deficit competitions” – wrote On March 24, on the platform X Maciej Duszczyk, deputy minister of interior and administration, responsible for migration policy. In the attached table he showed that from August 2024 to February 2025, less permits for work for foreigners were issued every month – a decline ranged from 33.7 to 7.9 percent.

“We also reduced – you can see a month to month, year -on -year – the number when it comes to the issue of work permits” – said on March 30 in “Rymanowski breakfast” at Polsat News Monika Rosa, MP of the Civic Coalition.

However, a day later, Anna Bryłka, MEP of the confederation, claimed to be the opposite in Radio Jedynka – that more and more work permits in Poland. “This is not just a hybrid war on the Polish -Belarusian border, but this is even the constantly increasing number of work permits issued, which of the countries such as Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Colombia, Nepal and so on – completely culturally separate, countries that are largely Muslim – and here you also need to put this dam.”

So we checked the statistics of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy regarding issued work permits for foreigners in Poland.

At the beginning, let us emphasize that the number of work permits issued by voivods and starosts does not mean that so many people came to work in Poland in a given year. The work permit legalizes the employment of a foreigner in Poland – but whether he has legally entered our country shows the number of employee visas issued. And Polish consulates or consular departments of Polish embassies in countries of origin or residence of foreigners are responsible for employee visits.

On the other hand, foreigners who legally entered our country based on a visit, already live in it and want to stay for longer (for family reasons, study or work), can apply for a permit for a stay over three months. They then receive a residence card from the voivode, which during its validity confirms the identity of the foreigner and entitles him, along with the travel document, to repeatedly cross the border without having to get a visa.

It is this category – the first residence permits – shows how many foreigners legally staying in individual countries came in a given year.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy publishes data on work permits in Vortal of public employment services. We analyzed the data for 2021-2024.

In 2021 it was published 505.2 thousand permits. In 2022 much less – 365.5 thousand In the next two years, the level was similar – in 2023: 320.6 thous., in 2024: less than 323 thousand.

Comparison of the relevant months of 2024 and 2021 shows that there are much less permits issued.

The period from August 2023 to July 2024 draws attention – when more permits were issued every month than in the same period a year earlier. Even above 6,000 monthly. And From August 2024 to December 2024, the month to month can be seen in declines. Even by almost 9.5 thousand Because Minister Duszyczyk said in X that the trend also remained in January and February this year, we asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy for detailed data from the first three months of 2025 – we did not receive it to publish the text.

When we look at the citizenship of foreigners who were issued in 2024 a work permit, the dominance of employees from Asian countries: – Philippines – 37 988; – Colombia – 37 987; – India – 33 928; – Nepal – 31 553; – Uzbekistan – 26 073.

Last year, 3,960 permits were issued to Ukrainian citizens.