Legislative process is underway to introduce new types of residence permits in Poland, in pursuance of the Intra-Corporate Transfer Directive of the EU Parliament and the Council of Europe (2014/66/EU). The Directive establishes a simplified procedure for admission of intra-corporate transferees and aims at facilitating mobility of the transferees within the EU.
The new regulation on ICT permits will apply to managers, specialists and trainees employed in a company (group of undertakings) based outside of the EU for at least 12 (managers, specialists) or 6 (trainees) uninterrupted months prior to transfer, wishing to transfer to an entity of the same company within the EU (host entity) and having adequate qualifications.
The ICT permit will be issued for up to 3 years for managers or specialists and up to 1 year for trainees. The draft of the new law sets out specific conditions for the host entities regarding legal obligations on social security, taxation and labour rights, imposes requirements on the salary of the transferee and authorizes the Ministry of Internal Affairs to set up a limit of first ICT permits that can be issued in a given year.
At the same time the draft law introduces notification procedure for short-term mobility (up to 90 days in case other Member State issued the ICT permit) as well as long-term mobility permit (stay lasting longer than 90 days in case other Member state issued the ICT permit). The law sets out the conditions of submitting the short-term mobility notification in Polish language.
Introduction of the new law should be beneficial for companies with regional headquarters in EU as it will enable non EU employees to work in multiple EU countries with reduced administrative burden and therefore be more cost effective. International companies with regional headquarters in Poland will be able to employ non EU nationals based on the ICT permit, while employees with ICT permits issued by other EU countries will be able to work in Poland based on the short or long period mobility regulations.
At the same time it has to be noted though that the ICT permit is time-limited, as this specific type of permit shall not be renewed if the maximum duration of stay (3 years or 1 year for trainees) has been reached.
The draft law was debated in Parliament on September 12th, where some doubts has been raised as to the possibility of limiting the number of permits to be issued each year by the Ministry of Interior. The law was directed to the Commission of Administration and Interior for further consideration.