Ukrainian citizens remain the largest group among those legally employed, with 360,304 working in Poland; Belarusians are second (27,474), and Vietnamese citizens third (8,022).
In the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, 34,899 foreigners were working a year ago; today, 48,006 foreigners are insured with ZUS. The number of citizens of foreign countries who took up work in our voivodeship or started a business here increased by 13,107—more than 38%.
“We do not know the actual number of foreigners working here, as many of them work ‘under the table’,” says Iwona Kowalska, ZUS regional press spokesperson in Lower Silesia. “Meanwhile, legal employment gives foreigners the same employment rights as any other employee and means that contributions accumulate in their pension accounts, which will allow them to acquire pension rights in the future.”
There are increasingly more foreigners throughout Poland. In 2014, the number of foreigners registered for pension and disability insurance with ZUS across Poland exceeded one hundred thousand. Today, there are already more than 493,924. The change to the Foreigners Act introduced in May 2014 may also have contributed to this, as it made it easier for foreigners to obtain permits to stay in Poland in order to take up employment or run their own business. For foreigners from the East, taking up work in Poland is like it is for a Pole in England or Germany. It always means better-paid work and better health security.
“We noticed that after visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens was introduced in June last year, some of them left Poland and are working, mostly illegally, in the countries of the old EU,” says Iwona Kowalska.
Can a foreigner be insured with ZUS?
A foreigner is subject to mandatory social insurance if, under Polish law, they meet the conditions for entering into an employment contract or contract of mandate, or for conducting business activity in Poland. In the case of employment, it is important whether the person has a work permit issued by the voivode at the employer’s request and whether they have a visa or another document authorizing the foreigner to stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland. Conducting business activity requires a permanent or temporary residence permit, a long-term resident’s permit, or refugee status.
