The penalty for illegally employing a foreigner is a fine of PLN 3,000 to 50,000, calculated for each person affected by the violation. It is paid by the entity entrusting the work, even when it trusted documents it never checked.

How much is the penalty for illegally employing a foreigner

The amount of the sanction is set by the act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for the admissibility of entrusting work to foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 621), in force since 1 June 2025. It raised the upper limit of the fine from PLN 30,000 to PLN 50,000.

SituationWho paysAmount
Illegal entrustment of workentrusting entityPLN 3,000 to 50,000
Intentional and particularly reprehensible actentrusting entityPLN 6,000 to 50,000
Ticket imposed by a labor inspectorperpetrator of the violationup to PLN 10,000
Illegal performance of workforeignerPLN 1,000 to 5,000
Procedural violations (notifications, documentation)depending on the violationPLN 500 to 5,000

The penalty rises in proportion to the number of foreigners involved. For five people working without grounds, the lower limit is already PLN 15,000, not PLN 3,000.

Court fine versus a labor inspector's ticket

A labor inspector can close a case with a penal ticket of up to PLN 10,000, without referring it to court. When a case goes to court, the fine brackets from the table apply, meaning up to PLN 50,000 per person. The course of an inspection and the documents inspectors ask for are described in the article on inspections of foreigners' employment legality.

Why good faith does not protect the employer

The higher bracket, from PLN 6,000, applies to intentional and particularly reprehensible conduct. The basic fine from PLN 3,000 applies even without bad faith, for example when a company failed to check a document it was obliged to check.

The employer is obliged to:

  1. request a valid residence document from the foreigner before work begins,
  2. make a copy of it,
  3. keep the copy for the entire period of employment and for 2 years from the end of the calendar year in which the employment ended.

Violations concerning notifications and documentation have separate brackets, given in the table above. A copy alone does not close the matter, because the document has to be read. Legal residence does not mean the right to work: a tourist on a Schengen visa issued by another country in the zone cannot take up work in Poland during that time. The "access to the labor market" annotation on a residence card can also be limited to one employer, and its scope is decided by the voivode's ruling. Who is exempt from a permit and who is not is covered in the article on working without a permit and the exemptions.

Enter the verification into the employment procedure as a step with a date and the signature of the person who carried it out. Without this you cannot prove at an inspection that the document was checked at all.

Deadlines that most often end in a penalty

A frequent source of violations are missed deadlines:

  • work under a declaration (oświadczenie) started before it was entered into the register by the district labor office (powiatowy urząd pracy),
  • failure to report the start of work under a declaration within 7 days, punishable by a fine of up to PLN 5,000,
  • notification of employing a citizen of Ukraine filed later than 7 days after the start of work, rules described in the article on notification of entrusting work to a citizen of Ukraine,
  • an expired work permit, because under current rules work permits generally are not extended, a new application has to be filed instead, and the voivodeship office confirms the current rules.

A single register with the validity dates of every employee's documents makes it possible to track these deadlines.

Who is responsible when a staffing agency is involved

In temporary work, the foreigner's employer is the agency: it files applications, requests documents and keeps copies of them. A company using an agency is not exempt from responsibility just because of that, because the work takes place at its own facility, so it is worth choosing a supplier that runs employment legalization as an ongoing service. Selection criteria are covered in the article on how to choose a staffing agency for foreigners. If you want to transfer legalization and employment to an agency, check the offer for employers.

Frequently asked questions

Does the foreigner also pay a penalty?

Yes. For illegal performance of work, a foreigner faces a fine of PLN 1,000 to 5,000. If they also overstayed their permitted period of residence, the Border Guard may initiate proceedings for a return obligation, which is sometimes combined with a ban on re-entering the Schengen area.

Does a forged document release the employer from liability?

The mere fact that a document was forged does not close the case. Requesting the document, checking it and keeping a copy is the main way to prove at an inspection that the employer met its duty. The assessment of the circumstances is made by the inspector or the court.

What is the penalty for missing a copy of the residence document?

Violations concerning notifications and documentation carry a fine of PLN 500 to 5,000. Missing a copy also means there is nothing to prove at an inspection that the document was ever checked.

The rules on residence and employment of foreign nationals change often, and much depends on citizenship, the basis of stay and the situation of the particular person. This text describes the general course of the procedure. Before filing documents, confirm the current state of affairs at the voivodeship office.