Can I pay the PLN 100 myself to speed things up?

Payment is made with the employer's application and carries the employer's data plus your name and date of birth, so it doesn't speed anything up and it can't replace the employer's filing. If someone outside the company asks you to send money for “the permit fee,” stop and ask for the employer's name and the praca.gov.pl application number.

I already have a 6-month seasonal permit. Can a second employer give me 3 more months this year?

The yearly cap is 9 months, so three months is the most that can still fit in the same calendar year, counting earlier seasonal permits. As a rule the new employer files its own application and pays its own PLN 100. Plan the second job before the first ends, because processing takes anywhere from 7 working days to 2 months.

Is a seasonal work permit the same as a Karta Pobytu?

No. The permit is work authorisation issued by a county labour office on the employer's application. A Karta Pobytu is a residence card issued by the voivode. The two documents have different offices, deadlines and requirements, so read our comparison before you file anything.

Can I work in a warehouse on a seasonal permit?

Probably not. The permit is tied to seasonal activities in a regulation of 25 November 2025: farm-type work and accommodation and catering. If the job is in logistics, construction or on a factory line, ask the employer in writing which listed activity applies, or choose a different permit route.

Can I start working as soon as I land, before the decision arrives?

Don't, unless the office or a qualified adviser confirms in writing that your situation allows it. The rules on working while a decision is pending depend on how you entered and what document you hold, and working without valid permission can put your future applications at risk. Have the decision in hand first.

Seasonal Work Permit Poland 2026: 9 Months, PLN 100

It's late October. A recruiter sends you a voice note: “Strawberry season in Poland, April to September, everything arranged, seasonal permit included. Send your documents and a small processing fee.” You've read three Facebook posts and watched two videos. Nobody has explained what a seasonal work permit in Poland actually is, who is meant to pay for it, or whether it gets you a residence card.

Here's the short version for 2026. The permit is a document your employer asks for, in the employer's name, from a county labour office. The fee is PLN 100. It covers up to nine months in a calendar year. It is not a visa, and it is not a Karta Pobytu (Polish residence card). Let's walk through it slowly, because this is exactly where people lose money.

So what exactly is a seasonal work permit in Poland?

In Polish it's zezwolenie na pracę sezonową. It lets one named employer give you work for no longer than 9 months in a calendar year. The decision is made by the starosta — in practice the powiatowy urząd pracy (county labour office) where the employer is registered. In Warsaw that's Urząd Pracy m.st. Warszawy. The rules sit in the law on employing foreigners that took effect on 1 June 2025, and the official summary is on biznes.gov.pl.

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Three things the permit is not:

A visa. If you're abroad, you still need a legal basis to enter and stay, and that is a separate procedure at a Polish consulate.
A residence card. A Karta Pobytu comes from the voivode (urząd wojewódzki), not from a labour office.
A free pass between employers. As a rule, the permit is issued on one employer's application, so a new employer files its own.

Who files the application, who pays the PLN 100, and how long does it take?

This is where most scams live, so read it twice. The worker does not file this application. The employer does.

The employer submits the application online through praca.gov.pl — electronically only, with a trusted profile, a qualified e-signature or an e-ID.
The employer pays PLN 100 to the bank account of the county labour office where the application is filed. The Warsaw office asks that the payment proof carry the employer's details plus your first name, surname and date of birth.
The office decides. Warsaw lists 7 working days when no extra explanations are needed, and up to 2 months in complicated cases.
Once the decision is issued, you sort out your entry or stay documents. Ask the Polish consulate in your country what it needs; don't guess from a forum.

A permit is only as good as the application behind it — ask for the praca.gov.pl number before anything else.

Refunds are narrow. Offices describe them as limited to cases like a wrong amount or an application that never got filed, so a responsible employer pays when it's ready to file, not months earlier. The Warsaw office explains its own procedure here: Urząd Pracy m.st. Warszawy — zezwolenia na pracę sezonową. And if an agent says the PLN 100 is something you pay to them, ask for the employer's name and the application number first. No number, no payment.

Now do the calendar maths. If the farm needs you from April, the application has to be filed early enough to absorb a worst case of 2 months at the labour office, plus the time your entry procedure takes. That's why serious employers start in winter, not in March. If your recruiter says “come now, we'll sort the permit later,” treat it as a warning, not a favour.

Which jobs count as seasonal — and which don't?

“Seasonal” on a recruiter's poster and “seasonal” in Polish law are different things. The authorities tie the permit to activities listed in a Council of Ministers regulation of 25 November 2025, and the sectors they describe are farm-type work (crops, animals, hunting, fishing) and accommodation and catering.

Typically within the sectors: fruit and vegetable picking, greenhouse and orchard work, livestock farms, hotel and restaurant work in tourist seasons.
Does not look like it: warehouses, construction, delivery and driving. If an offer says “seasonal” but the job is in a warehouse, ask in writing which activity the permit relies on.

One more detail that trips people up: the permit is tied to the employer and the type of work, and your contract has to match. If you're hired on paper to pick berries and then moved to a packing hall run by another company, your legal status can be put at risk. The employer must also pay you no less than comparable workers doing the same work in the same hours, and the office looks at this when it reviews the application.

Before you say yes, check the employer itself. Our guide to five checks before you pay anyone — How to Find an Employer in Poland From India (2026) — works for any country, not only India.

Seasonal work permit Poland 2026: the job in your contract has to match the activity the permit covers.

From India, Bangladesh, Nepal or Nigeria — is there a shortcut?

Short answer: not for most readers of this blog. The simplified employer declaration (oświadczenie, PLN 400) is for citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. If you hold an Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Pakistani, Filipino, Vietnamese, Nigerian or Zimbabwean passport, the seasonal route runs through the permit. We compared the two routes side by side: Work Permit vs Oświadczenie in Poland 2026.

The second trap is mixing up documents. A work permit says who may employ you. A Karta Pobytu says you may live in Poland. They come from different offices and answer different questions — see Work Permit vs Karta Pobytu in Poland 2026. A seasonal permit does not by itself give you a Karta Pobytu. If you want to stay beyond one season, build that plan before the season, not after.

Who does what: the labour-office part is the employer's job. Your part is the entry or stay document and, if you ever apply for a residence card, the voivodeship office — in Warsaw, the Mazowieckie voivode's office (uw.gov.pl). Official guidance for foreigners is collected on gov.pl/web/cudzoziemcy.

Work permit and residence card are two documents from two offices — keep two separate folders.

How do you count your 9 months — and what should you check before paying anyone?

The limit is per calendar year, 1 January to 31 December — not nine months from the day you land. Office guidance also says periods from earlier seasonal permits issued to you in the same year count toward the total. Example: April to September is six months, which leaves three for that calendar year. A new calendar year starts a new count.

Illustrative example (composite, not a real client): Tuan, a farm worker from Vietnam, is told by an agent that the “seasonal permit is ready” as soon as a fee is paid. Tuan asks the farm for its praca.gov.pl application number. There isn't one. The payments stop, and Tuan signs with a different employer that files in its own name before any flight is booked.

Before you pay or travel, ask for:

the employer's registered name and tax number (NIP), so you can verify the company
the application number from praca.gov.pl and, later, the permit decision
the contract: pay, hours, housing and start date
a written answer on which seasonal activity covers your job

If an intermediary goes quiet after taking money, start with these: 7 Checks If Your Legalization Firm in Poland Is Real.

Practical tip: ask for a copy of the permit decision before you pay for flights or visa fees. A real employer has it; a recruiter who only has promises won't.

Seasons are short and paperwork isn't, so send us the offer before you send anyone money. Legal Solutions — 98% approval rate. Drop us a WhatsApp on +48 735 248 525 — we read every message.