Polish employers ask one structural question before any Filipino hire: who is the employer on the permit — the company where the work is done, or a staffing partner? The 2025 Act answers it precisely. A foreigner may work for an entity other than the permit holder only as a temporary worker of a registered temporary work agency; staffing dressed as outsourcing is a refusal ground. This page sets out the two lawful models and how we work within each.
Direct employment is the default and the model behind most of our Polish placements: the company where the work is done applies for the work permit type A, signs the written contract before the first shift, pays at least the minimum and comparable wages, houses the worker for the first period and reports to the voivode. The alternative is the temporary-work-agency model: an agency registered in the national register of employment agencies (KRAZ) employs the worker, applies for the permit as the employer, and directs the worker to a user company under the Act on the employment of temporary workers, with its duration limits and equal-treatment rules. In July 2025 the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy confirmed in its answers to the SME Ombudsman that these are the only two: a foreigner may be directed to another entity only under a temporary-work arrangement, a staffing-type outsourcing permit can be granted only to a temporary work agency, and the refusal ground in article 13(1)(7) catches any file in which the foreigner would work for a third party without temporary-worker status. Genuine process outsourcing — a contractor delivering a defined service with its own management and equipment — is outside this and needs no KRAZ entry, but a body-leasing contract labelled outsourcing is not.
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.
Direct employment gives the employer the permit, the loyalty and the three-year horizon, and costs the HR effort of filing and reporting; the agency model moves the filing, the payroll and the housing to a partner, at the price of temporary-work duration limits and a second margin. For a core workforce we recommend direct employment; for peaks and pilots the agency model is lawful and practical. We work with both, and we tell employers which structure fits before sourcing starts, because the voivode's refusal arrives after months of recruitment.
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.
Only if it is a temporary work agency registered in KRAZ and employs them as temporary workers. Staffing dressed as outsourcing is a refusal ground under article 13(1)(7) of the 2025 Act and a fine if discovered later.
The temporary work agency — it is the employer and the applicant; your company is the user company.
No. We recruit, test and run the Philippine process; the Polish employer — your company or a registered agency — holds the permit and the contract.
For the permit, no; for the driver attestation, the carrier whose Community licence the driver uses must apply for it, whether it employs the driver directly or through an agency.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.