Single Permit Directive for residence and work: Poland did not transpose it on time

What happened

On 15 July 2026 the European Commission decided to send letters of formal notice to 17 Member States, including Poland, for failing to communicate complete transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1233 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work. These states did not communicate their complete national transposition measures to the Commission by the set deadline of 21 May 2026.

The Member States concerned have two months to reply and notify their complete transposition measures. If the reply is not satisfactory, the Commission may move to the next step and issue a reasoned opinion. Since 22 May 2026 Directive 2024/1233 replaces Directive 2011/98/EU.

What the directive changes

One application, one decision (Art. 4). An application for issuing, changing or renewing a single permit is made under a single application procedure, and the decision is one administrative act combining the permit to reside and to work. Member States decide whether the application is made by the foreigner, their employer, or either of them.

Applications from abroad and from within the territory (Art. 4(2)). An application for a single permit is to be examined both when the third-country national is outside the territory of the Member State and when they are already there on the basis of a valid residence document.

90 days for a decision (Art. 5(2)). The competent authority decides as soon as possible and in any event within 90 days of the submission of a complete application. This period includes any labour market check. The consequences of failing to decide within the time limit are determined by national law.

Change of employer and unemployment (Art. 11). Member States allow the single permit holder to change employer, but they may, for example, require notification (the right to change employer may then be suspended for a maximum of 45 days) or a minimum period of work with the first employer, which may not exceed six months. Unemployment alone is not a ground for withdrawing the permit provided that the total period of unemployment does not exceed three months during the validity of the permit — or six months if the foreigner has held a single permit for more than two years — and the competent authorities are notified of the start and end of each period of unemployment.

What Poland already has

Poland has long known the single-permit construction: the temporary residence and work permit (art. 114 of the Act on Foreigners, consolidated text: Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1079) combines the right to reside with the right to work, and the proceedings at first instance are conducted by the voivode (wojewoda).

The time limit for a decision on a temporary residence permit is 60 days in Poland (art. 112a ust. 1) and runs from the last of the events listed in art. 112a ust. 2, including the filing of an application without formal defects or the remedying of defects. Appeal proceedings are to be completed within 90 days (art. 112a ust. 4).

Changing employer is possible by changing the permit: the voivode may change it at the foreigner’s request if the foreigner intends to work for another entity entrusting work or on conditions other than those specified in the permit (art. 120 ust. 1). The only party to the proceedings is the foreigner (art. 120 ust. 7). According to an EY Poland expert quoted by Gazeta Prawna, it remains doubtful whether the scope, conditions and duration of this procedure fully meet the worker-mobility standard of the directive.

What needs to change

Application from abroad. According to an EY Poland expert quoted by Gazeta Prawna, standard proceedings for a temporary residence and work permit cannot, as a rule, be initiated for a person who is abroad and only intends to come to Poland to work. A person recruited from abroad can obtain a visa on the basis of a document legalising work and, after arrival, apply for the permit — these are two separate procedures. Whether such a model meets Art. 4 of the directive depends on whether it is regarded as part of one procedure.

The 90-day limit and the real length of proceedings. Polish law provides for 60 days, but compliance with the directive also depends on when the time limit starts to run and in which cases it may be extended. In practice proceedings take much longer: according to the Dopomo report quoted by Gazeta Prawna, in ten of the sixteen voivodeships proceedings for a temporary residence permit lasted more than a year on average (from 386 days in Lubelskie and Łódzkie to 658 days in Śląskie, as of 6 July 2026). Special provisions (art. 100d of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens) suspend until 4 March 2027 the running of time limits in many residence cases, and the scope of their application is questioned in the case law of the administrative courts.

Protection after job loss. A foreigner holding a temporary residence and work permit notifies the voivode in writing of the loss of work within 15 working days (art. 121 ust. 1). The obligation is also deemed fulfilled if within that time the foreigner applied for a change of the permit (art. 121 ust. 3). If the obligation has been fulfilled, for 30 days from the loss of work the provisions on withdrawal of the permit in art. 101 pkt 1 i 2 do not apply, and this applies no more than once during the validity of the permit (art. 123 ust. 1 i 2). A separate rule applies to a permit granted for an occupation desirable for the Polish economy (art. 114 ust. 1a): a period without work of up to 3 months, occurring no more than twice during the validity of the permit (art. 123 ust. 3).

Comparison with the directive. The directive requires that unemployment alone not be a ground for withdrawal for a total of at least three months during the validity of the permit, and for six months where the permit has been held for more than two years (Art. 11(4)). The general Polish protection lasts 30 days, so it is shorter. According to an EY Poland expert quoted by Gazeta Prawna, Polish rules clearly need to be changed in this respect.

What it means for employers

According to experts quoted by Gazeta Prawna, more predictable proceedings could make it easier to plan the recruitment of foreigners and start dates, and a longer period of protection after job loss would give employers more time to hire a person who is already in Poland. The right to change employer itself is not new in Poland, because a foreigner can already apply today for a change of the permit.

The final effect depends not only on the rules but also on whether the administration will be able to conduct proceedings within the set time limits.

Where implementation stands

The transposition deadline expired on 21 May 2026 (Art. 18(1) of the directive). The obligation covers, among others, provisions implementing Art. 4(1), (2) and (4), Art. 5(2)–(4) and Art. 11(2)–(6) of the directive. On 15 July 2026 the European Commission sent Poland a letter of formal notice.

Legal state as of 15 October 2026: the Act on Foreigners (consolidated text: Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1079) still provides for the 60-day time limit in art. 112a, the notification obligation in art. 121 and the 30-day protection in art. 123.