Probably each of you has heard quite a lot about the so-called ANTI-CRISIS SHIELD – on the web you could read a lot of information (not always true) on this topic – let’s try to bring some light to this topic.

Anti-Crisis Shield and Anti-Crisis Shield 2.0 is a package of laws adopted by the Polish legislator in relation to the state of the coronavirus epidemic. It provides a number of simplifications, concessions, and other mechanisms to protect entrepreneurs and employees in Poland. These laws did not bypass the situation of foreigners, and we will try to explain this aspect in detail. So, how do these laws affect the legality of stay and employment of foreigners in Poland?

The first stage of the Shield introduced a mechanism for the automatic extension of Polish national visas and temporary residence permits, which expire during the period of epidemic threat or period of epidemic in Poland. The so-called Shield 2.0 significantly extends previous solutions. It introduces the automatic extension of the possibility for foreigners to stay in Poland on the basis of visa-free travel, Schengen visas and permits issued by other Schengen countries (i.e. visas and residence cards issued by other Schengen countries than Poland).

What it means is if your visa-free travel, visa or residence card expires during this period (period of epidemic threat or epidemic), the legality of your stay will be automatically extended up to 30 days after the end of the period of epidemic or epidemic threat in Poland (depending on which of these will end last).

So, if my visa expires on April 5 and the epidemic period in Poland ends on April 30, then my visa will be legally extended until May 30.The situation looks identical with temporary permits and visa-free travel.

It should also be noted that the foreigner does not submit any applications or receive any annotations to the passport – everything happens automatically.

What about employment? Already in the first “shield” the Polish legislator provided the possibility for automatic continuation of employment of foreigners in Poland. Therefore, if your work permit or declaration of entrustment of work (ośwaidczenie) expires during an epidemic threat or epidemic – you can still work legally, because these documents are automatically extended up to 30 days after the end of the period of epidemic or epidemic threat in Poland.

However one should remember, that while continuing employment, the basic principles remain unchanged, namely: work can only be performed for the same employer and under the same employment conditions.

The last interesting thing is that the period of work on the “extended ośwaidczenie ” is not counted to the general rule of “6 months in every 12 months period”. For instance, if you had a registered ośwaidczenie for 6 months from October 2019 to March 2020, and due to its extension you will be legally working until June, this will not affect the possibility of registering the next ośwaidczenie (once again from October).