Poland's yards and fabricators on the Baltic coast have recruited Filipino welders and fitters for years — Szczecin had one of the largest registered Filipino workforces in Poland by 2025 — because the Philippines is a shipbuilding nation whose welders arrive already coded for shipyard work. This page covers the trades, how we test them to your procedure, and how a yard builds a crew of twenty or a hundred.
Hull welders in FCAW, GMAW, SMAW and GTAW, ship fitters who read block drawings and fit to tolerance, pipefitters and pipe welders from isometrics, outfitters, grinders and blasters — and for inland fabricators, structural welders and fitters — are recruited on the work permit type A with no labour-market test. At our Makati workshop candidates weld coupons to your welding procedure specification in the positions your schedule requires, bend or macro tested, with drawing reading and measuring; fitters fit up and tack a sub-assembly to drawing; pipefitters fabricate a spool from an isometric; your welding engineer watches live and interviews the same day. Formal coding to EN ISO 9606-1 is completed in Poland on the same parameters, with class-society witnessing at the yard where required; TESDA and shipyard certificates are evidence of training, not transferable qualifications.
Since 1 June 2025 a Polish employer hires a Filipino on a work permit type A applied for electronically through praca.gov.pl at the voivodeship office for the place of work: no labour-market test, no starosta opinion, pay at least the statutory minimum and not lower than comparable employees, a written contract before work begins in a language the worker understands, a validity of up to three years, a fee of PLN 400 for work longer than three months (PLN 200 for up to three months) since 1 December 2025 (Regulation of 20 November 2025, Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1622). The statutory decision time is one month (two in complex cases); the national average in practice has lengthened to about 81 days in April 2026, and it varies by voivodeship. With the permit the worker applies for a national visa D through the Embassy's visa application centres in the Philippines — where appointment capacity, not the permit, is the real bottleneck of the Polish route — and, once in Poland, may switch to a temporary residence and work permit filed only through the MOS system since 27 April 2026. The declaration route (oświadczenie) that makes Poland fast for Ukrainians is not available to Philippine nationals.
Filipino welders and fitters come from the shipyards of Subic and Cebu, from Batangas, from the Gulf's fabrication and repair yards and from Singapore, with TESDA SMAW, GMAW and FCAW NC II and years on hull blocks and pipe spools. The Philippines ranks among the world's shipbuilding nations and exports coded welders in their thousands; the Polish yards and fabricators that have recruited them — the registered Filipino workforce around Szczecin was among the largest in Poland by 2025 — know the profile.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in Prague, which has handled labour matters for Poland since December 2021, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no applicant pays for an interview, a trade test or a place on a shortlist. Your company is the employer from day one; we never employ or lease the workers.
Everything here is subject to the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for entrusting work to foreigners, the Act on Foreigners, the voivode's practice in force, the Polish Embassy in Manila's appointment rules, Polish labour law and Philippine DMW rules.
Pre-tested to your WPS in Makati; EN ISO 9606-1 coding is completed in Poland on the same parameters, with class-society witnessing where your yard requires it.
FCAW, GMAW, SMAW and GTAW on plate and pipe, from Subic, Cebu, Gulf and Singapore yards; we test the processes and positions your schedule needs.
Cohorts of 20–50 every four to eight weeks; a crew of 100 over four to six months, paced by visa-appointment releases in the Philippines.
Yes — ZUS data cited in 2025 put about 2,300 registered Filipinos around Szczecin, with established communities in the Tri-City.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.