Temporary Residence Card For Company Owner in Poland

Conditions for obtaining a temporary stay

THE FIRST GROUP OF CONDITIONS – a foreigner must conduct business in Poland in one of the forms provided for by the Act on the freedom of economic activity. According to Art. 13 sec. 3 of this Act, a foreigner who is not a citizen of an EU or EEA State has the right to undertake and conduct business activity only in the form of:

limited partnership;
limited joint-stock partnership;
limited liability companies;
joint stock company;
joining such companies and taking up or acquiring their shares or stocks.

In practice, therefore, a foreigner must be a partner, shareholder or shareholder of such a company or perform work by performing a function on the management board of a limited liability company. or a joint-stock company created or acquired or acquired by shares or stocks (art. 142 par. 3).

Establishing a limited liability company, whose partner and member of the management board is a foreigner, is now very simple in Poland and does not require the foreigner to come to Poland. Currently, there is also no requirement for members of the management board of a limited liability company to submit specimen signatures.

SECOND GROUP OF CONDITIONS

– relating to a foreigner –

the foreigner must have:

Health insurance – it is either public health insurance within the meaning of the Act of 27 August 2004 on health care services financed from public funds or private insurance – i.e. confirmation of coverage by the insurer of treatment costs in the territory of the Republic of Poland.
A source of stable and regular income sufficient to cover the cost of living for oneself and for dependent family members. This income may be obtained by a foreigner as, for example, the president of the company’s management board. The amount of monthly income should be higher than the amount of income entitling to cash benefits from social assistance in relation to a foreigner and each family member dependent on him, and currently amounts to PLN 542 per month for a single person running a household and PLN 456 for a family member. It is important that a stable and regular income is to be sufficient to cover family members who are dependent on a foreigner, but in practice it is about those members who will stay with him on the territory of the Republic of Poland (Article 142 (1) (1) (b), 4 and Article 114 (2) of the Act).
The consent of the competent authority to occupy a specific position or practice the profession, when the obligation to obtain it results from separate provisions. In practice, this applies to foreigners performing regulated professions. On the other hand, the performance of the president of the management board in a Polish company by a foreigner does not require the consent of any authority.
Provided place of residence on the territory of Poland. However, it is not necessary to be the owner of real estate in Poland – a foreigner may have a valid lease agreement. If the foreigner is the president of a limited liability company it seems that there are no obstacles for the flat to be rented by the company – precisely for the purpose of providing accommodation in it for a foreigner as an employee of the company (the so-called employee accommodation).

THIRD GROUP OF CONDITIONS – referring to the company through which the foreigner conducts economic activity (most often a limited liability company) – art. 142 sec. 4. The company must meet one of the following three conditions:

1. in the tax year preceding the submission of the application for a temporary residence permit to a foreigner, the income must not be lower than 12 times the average monthly wage in the voivodeship in which the entity has its seat or place of residence, in the third quarter of the year preceding the submission of the application, announced by the President of the Central Statistical Office or also;
2. employs for an indefinite period and full-time at least for the period of 1 year preceding the submission of the application at least 2 employees who are Polish citizens or foreigners referred to in art. 87 sec. 1 points 1-9 of the Act of 20 April 2004 on employment promotion and labor market institutions (e.g. people with refugee status, permanent residence permit, tolerated stay permit, EU citizens).

However, in practice, when the company was established by a foreigner recently, these conditions cannot be met (e.g. the tax year has not yet passed), therefore in such a situation it is enough to prove that:

the company has the means to meet the above-mentioned conditions in the future or conducts activities to meet these conditions in the future, in particular contributing to investment growth, technology transfer, introducing beneficial innovations or creating jobs. If, for example, the company is provided with an appropriate amount of cash, it seems that this condition is met. In particular, a document confirming this fact may be, for example, a statement from the company’s bank account showing the status of this account.

Nowadays for companies which operates for less than 1 year, to receive residence card based on your legal entity in Poland You will need to fullfill both cryterias 1 and 2

The procedure for submitting and considering an application for a temporary residence permit

The application for a permit is submitted to the competent department for foreigners of the voivodship office in which the foreigner is domiciled. Applications are usually accepted after prior appointment for a specific date and time. The date can be booked by phone or e-mail. The application is subject to a fee in the amount of PLN 340, in addition, if the application is approved, PLN 50 is collected for the issue of a temporary residence card. The following data is required to register: first and last name of the foreigner, travel document number and date of ending legal stay in Poland.

If the purpose of the stay is to perform work by performing a function on the management board of a limited liability company, the foreigner shall submit the following documents:

Concerning the foreigner:

3 copies of the application for a temporary residence permit;
4 recent color photographs, undamaged, 45 x 35 mm in size, taken in the last 6 months on a uniform bright background, in good focus and clearly showing the eyes and face from top of head to top of shoulders. The face is to take up 70-80% of the photos; the photo is to show the person looking straight ahead with their eyes open, hair open, a natural expression on the face and mouth closed. In the case of a foreigner wearing a head covering in accordance with the rules of his religion, he may attach a photograph in the head covering, as long as the face image is fully visible. In this case, the foreigner’s declaration of belonging to a religious community should be attached;
Valid travel document (2 photocopies) – usually a visa;
Documents confirming the possession of a stable and regular source of income sufficient to cover the costs of living for oneself and for dependent family members (e.g. employment contract, mandate contract, contract for specific work);
Documents confirming having health insurance or covering the costs of treatment in the territory of the Republic of Poland by the insurer. In practice, if a foreigner is employed under an employment contract (e.g. in a limited liability company as the president of the management board), he is also covered by health insurance.
Documents confirming the fact of residence in Poland, e.g. a rental agreement, confirmation of registration, certificate (reservation) from the hotel;
Sometimes a tax settlement is also required, e.g. PIT submitted to the tax office and a certificate of no arrears in taxes. However, in practice, when a foreigner does not reside permanently in Poland, he is often not subject to tax obligation, so these documents are unnecessary.
A survey regarding the conducted business activity.

Concerning the company:

company agreement;
a printout from the company’s National Court Register;
certificate of no arrears in company taxes (it can be obtained from the tax office);
company’s balance sheet along with the current profit and loss account;
one of the three documents listed below:
documents confirming the achievement in the tax year preceding the submission of the application of income not lower than 12 times the average monthly salary in the third quarter of the year preceding the submission of the application, e.g. CIT-8 tax return for the previous year with proof of posting to the tax office, accounting documents confirming the current financial result companies; or
documents confirming employment for an indefinite period and full-time, for the shortest period of the year preceding the submission of the application, at least 2 employees who are Polish citizens or foreigners, referred to in art. 87 sec. 1 items 1-9 of the Act of 2004 on employment promotion and labor market institutions (e.g. payroll of the company’s employees with collective and personal ZUS declarations for the last month, employment contract); or
documents confirming the possession of funds enabling the fulfillment of the above conditions in the future or documents confirming the conduct of activities allowing for the fulfillment of these conditions in the future, in particular contributing to the growth of investments, technology transfer, conducting beneficial innovations or creating jobs – e.g. bank statement showing the balance of funds on the company’s account.