Work in Poland for refugees from Ukraine

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Poland has accepted a huge number of refugees. Today the number is over 2.2 million people. It is expected that at least 1.5 million of them will stay in Poland until the end of the most inflamed phase of the conflict, while others plan to stay here longer, so they are looking for a job. In this article, we will try to provide useful information on where and how to find a job, and provide useful links to applications and job portals for refugees from Ukraine.

How to find a job for refugees from Ukraine

In order to find a job in Poland on your own, you can use the Central database of job offers, which is available at all Employment Offices. To do this, you do not need to visit the office, just use the e-Work application (the application is available for Android and iOS). Over 70,000 vacancies and job offers are published in the database every day.

You can also look for a job not only on job exchanges, there are also many vacancies offered by Polish retail chains, such as Makro Cash & Carry, Polomarket, Żabka, Lidl or Biedronka.

Job offers are also available on the Portal of the State Employment Service – https://lang-psz.praca.gov.pl/ru/. The portal provides information on the labor market and useful advice for jobseekers. The portal also has a section for foreigners who want to work legally in Poland. The portal is also available in Ukrainian.

There are also many places in Poland where refugees from Ukraine can find work. Many portals open special applications for those who want to find a job. For example, the well-known Polish job search portal pracuj.pl has opened a special section, a database of job advertisements with the hashtag “I am asking for practitioners from Ukraine”. Unfortunately, not all websites and services have such signs for Ukrainians, but it is worth looking for offers on them, for example by entering the words “Ukrainian” or “work” in Cyrillic. The list of job sites is large, easy to find on the Internet.

Practical advice on employment and job opportunities for refugees

Consider the most promising areas and job offers that may be suitable for refugees from Ukraine.

The following areas have the greatest chances of employing refugees in Poland – the food industry, hotel industry, gastronomy, the sphere of personal services – housewives.

Also in Poland there is a large shortage of warehouse and production workers, including various types of technical personnel, this fact should be taken into account when looking for suitable vacancies.

Due to the fact that the wave of refugees has a reverse demographic: if many men previously left for Poland, sometimes with their families, now mainly women come. Often with children, often in retirement age. Currently, women are very actively involved in traditional male job offers in Poland. There are female teams for interior decoration, with the passage of the necessary training in the professions of painters and plasterers. A school for female taxi drivers is also developing in Poland. If applicants have driving experience and a driving license, they are willing to provide vehicles they can search for jobs on platforms such as Uber or Bolt.

Translators are actively sought: such announcements were published by our Choice and the Ukrainian House, as well as by the Copernicus Science Center and the City of Warsaw. Warszawy – to the City Contact Center in Warsaw, tel. 19115.

The National Institute of Architecture and Town Planning is building a database of creative professionals to help them find a job. We are talking both about working in Poland and remote work for those who lost the opportunity to work after the outbreak of the war.

The Polish Ministry of Education and Science plans to hire Ukrainian teachers without knowing Polish, although it is one of the main requirements. Basically, we are talking about special preparatory departments that were created to adapt Ukrainian students to further study in Polish.

Ukrainian citizens who are doctors or dentists, as well as nurses and obstetricians, obtain the right to work in Poland in their specialty. At the same time, they will have to report the fact of employment to the Ministry of Health.

Legal employment of refugees in Poland

Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland after February 24, 2022, regardless of the availability of documents, can legally work in Poland for 18 months.

The main stages of legal employment:

• Job search
• Signing a contract of employment
• Start of work
• Within 14 days of starting work, the employer is obliged to notify PUP that the Ukrainian has started work.
• Work to continue without any permits

IMPORTANT! Failure to notify PUP within 14 days will make the employment illegal.

When performing seasonal work, Ukrainians staying on the basis of a special law or a residence permit obtained on its basis are not restricted in the scope of work.

The employer must report the employment of such a person in the given year within 14 days (otherwise the work will be considered illegal).

Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland after February 24 may also legally conduct individual business activities under the same conditions as Polish citizens. But only after receiving the PESEL number. It will also be possible to open an LLC (limited liability company) – in this regard, our company provides the service of opening such business, see https://progressholding.pl/en/open-firmu-v-polshe/

IMPORTANT! Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland after February 24 will be able to live and work here legally for 18 months (counted from February 24, 2022) with the option of extending their stay.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us – office@progressholding.pl.