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Entry to Poland with an business invitation. Changes from 10.16.2021

 From October 16, 2021, the rules of entry into Poland for foreigners arriving as business partners for Polish entrepreneurs have changed. In this article, we will tell you who can enter on a business invitation and how to properly draw up this document.

 According to the amendments to the Regulation of the Minister of the Interior and Administration apply to foreigners arriving in the territory of the Republic of Poland for business purposes upon a invitation, which contains a specific purpose and is issued by a legal entity registered in the National Court Register (KRS) or in the register of individual entrepreneurs (CEIDG). This invitation will serve as the basis for entering Poland, but it does not in any way affect the current sanitary standards introduced due to the pandemic.

Until that moment, it was also possible to enter the country on the basis of a business invitation, but a foreigner needed to obtain the accepting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The changes made cancel this need. It follows that this type of invitation does not require any registration or confirmation.

This possibility applies to all third-country nationals running a business. The introduced changes will not only affect those who previously could enter without accepting the invitation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these are:

  • citizens of EU,
  • EFTA states,
  • citizens of the United Kingdom,
  • citizens of certain countries(Georgia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand, Republic of Korea, Tunisia, Australia, Israel, USA, Turkey),
  • professional drivers,
  • foreigners who are Polish work permit holders or perform functions at the bodies of an entity entered in the National Business Register.

It is recommended that the invitation is issued on an official company letterhead, contain an explicit indication of the business reason of the visit (negotiations, signing of a contract, inspection of products), the personal data of the invited person (first and last name, passport number), and the dates of the planned stay in Poland, and bear the signature of an authorised person and a company stamp. It is also recommended to attach a copy or printout of a recent extract from the National Court Register (KRS) or the Central Registration and Information on Business (CEIDG) concerning the inviting Polish entity.

Аs of 16 October 2021, the citizens of the countries where a visa is not required to travel to Poland may cross the Polish border upon presenting the aforesaid invitation to an officer of the Polish Border Guard (and once other legally binding conditions that apply in Poland have been met). The citizens of the countries where a visa is required to travel to Poland may submit visa applications directly at Polish consular posts on the basis of the aforesaid invitation (and once other legally binding conditions that apply in Poland have been met). Once they obtain a visa, such persons may cross the Polish border upon presenting the visa and the aforesaid invitation to an officer of the Polish Border Guard (and once other legally binding conditions that apply in Poland have been met).