Poland granted more than 93,500 special work visas to IT specialists and their family members under Poland.Business Harbour programme within the last three years, giving them the opportunity to settle in the country.
However, only around 13,500 of them entered Poland on the basis of this visa from September 2020 until September 2023, raising concerns among authorities about the beneficiaries’ whereabouts.
As revealed by Rzeczpospolita, the Poland.Business Harbour programme was launched by the government in September 2020 for citizens of Belarus. Back then, the government started offering a fast visa path for IT sector specialists and their family members, as well as for owners of small and medium enterprises.
The programme was then extended to include nationals of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Russia in July 2021, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that all those eligible can work without the need to obtain a work permit under the programme.
Residents of these countries can apply for an accelerated and preferential visa path – the PBH visa is the only one that allows IT specialists to apply together with their family, work without the need to obtain a work permit, and set up a business on the same terms as Polish citizens. – Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In addition to the above-mentioned, data obtained by Rzeczpospolita from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs show that the country issues this type of special work visa to nationals of several countries, with the list containing as many as 44 countries.
However, the institutions have been unable to provide information on the actual number of employees who entered the country under the programme.
Commenting on the matter, the spokesperson of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, Marcin Graczyk, said that they are not responsible for the visa procedures and they cannot provide further information on the number of foreigners staying in the country on the basis of Poland.Business Harbour visas.
The same said that since the beginning of the programme the companies have registered around 83,000 people who have relocated to the country.
Nonetheless, as checked by Rzeczpospolita, only one in seven foreigners who obtained a special work visa relocated to Poland within this three-year period.
The Border Guard Headquarters said that in 2020, a total of 1,114 foreigners entered Poland on this type of visa. The same revealed that in 2021 and 2022, around 6,600 and 3,300 foreigners entered the country on a special work visa, respectively.
As for this year, the Border Guard Headquarters said that from January until September 2023, 13,500 foreigners entered Poland on special work visas.
Based on this data, it means that the number of IT specialists and business owners who settled in Poland after being granted a special work visa is significantly lower than expected.
Commenting on the matter, a tax advisor said that these numbers cannot be explained by the fact that some of them could have resigned. Moreover, Konrad Weiske, vice president of SoDA, said that the matter needs to be clarified as soon as possible.
