International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
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Results of surveys among Polish employers published in 2011 (Walffard, 2011)
suggest that they do not currently think that legal complications and bureaucratic
formalities hinder the process of recruitment of migrant workers. This issue was
ranked third. Of much greater importance were the following: language barriers and
inadequate qualifications of foreigners.
Unfortunately, as we have already demonstrated, a majority of employers hiring
foreigners in the agricultural, construction sectors and in households still fail to fulfil
the legalization formalities. This is corroborated by statements made by employers
during the interviews (see: A2 and A3/Annex 3.I).
Impact of procedures on the reduction of the phenomenon of
undocumented employment of migrant workers
Comprehensive research concerning the scale of undocumented employment of
migrants is lacking in Poland. The figures offered by various researchers vary from
30 to 300,000 migrants undertaking undocumented employment. On the basis of
the results of the regulatory campaign (abolition) carried out in 2011 and surveys of
employers (The State Labour Inspectorate 2011; Kaczmarczyk and Okólski, 2008;
Duszczyk, and Korczyńska, 2005), one can state that the scale of undocumented
employment accompanied by illegal stay is unlikely to exceed 50,000 people.
However, there are many more migrants who have entered Poland legally and hold
a work and residence permit or declarations issued by employers, but for whom the
employers failed to complete the employment related formalities. Employers most
frequently do not notify migrants to tax offices and insurance institutions in order to
reduce the costs of their employment. The surveys among migrants (Duszczyk and
Szylko-Skoczny, 2011; Kaczmarczyk and Okólski, 2008) demonstrate that they are
also not interested in the legalization of their employment because, as a result of an
absence of contracts concerning transfers from social insurance and coordination of
pension systems, they receive no benefits from the fact of contribution payment.
However, it is worth pointing out that the facilitation of the procedure for obtaining
work permits and the introduction of the system of employers’ declarations helped
improve the situation of migrants, who used to undertake employment in Poland
on the basis of tourist visas or without required permits. Surveys carried out among
seasonal workers from Ukraine (Duszczyk and Szylko-Skoczny, 2008) demonstrated
that approximately 50 per cent of them, before coming to Poland on a visa with work
permit issued on the basis of an employer’s declaration, had undertaken employment
when staying in Poland on the basis of a tourist visa. This means that the liberalization
of access to labour market brought about some positive outcomes, although it failed
to lead to a situation where migrants undertaking employment in Poland do so
entirely legally. Another step in the right direction is comprised by the proposal of
the Ministry of Interior according to which migrants will not be penalized for being
in undocumented employment if this fact is fully attributable to the employer. In
such a situation their work and residence permit will not be terminated and they will
retain the right to move to another employer.