EU citizens  who intend to work in Slovakia are not required to have a Work Permit. They can start their work immediately regardless whether they intend to sign contract with Slovak employer or are just on a temporary assignment.

Slovak accepting/employing company is obliged to notify Labour Office about EU citizen's employment/assignment in Slovakia. Notification obligations also applies when the employment/assignment ends.

EU citizens should keep in mind that they are also obliged to report their stay and eventually also to register for residency in Slovakia

Family members of EU nationals enjoy the same rights assuming they completed their registration obligations

NON EU citizens who wish to work in Slovakia must always obtain respective Work and Residency Permits.

Slovak legislation went through a major change with the new procedures introduced as of January 2014. What permits will be required can be evaluated based on multiple criteria - the citizenship of a foreigner, location of payroll during work in Slovakia and others. Below allow us to provide the basic information in case of Assignment and Local Employment Contract model

Permits are strictly connected with the particular position within a particular company, for a particular duration. In case the foreigner wishes to change jobs, a new permits would need to be obtained and notifications to the authorities would need to be made.
Foreigners are not automatically entitled to any permits in Slovakia. The decision in this matter is solely within the authority of the Labour Office and  the Foreign Police.

Working without valid permits is illegal and both hiring/receiving company as well as foreigner can be penalized.

Local Employment model

In case a NON EU citizen intends to sign a local employment contract with Slovak employer, combined work and residence permit must be obtained- so called "Single Permit".

The situation on the Slovak labour market is taken into consideration - Slovak company is obliged to submit notification on vacancy to Labour Office. The NON EU citizen is entitled to apply for aSingle Permit at the respective Foreign Police after this vacant position notification has been available to the authorities for at least 30 working days. The Labour Office will need to confirm that the foreigner can fill in the vacancy at the Slovak company and the Foreign Police will proceed with a decision on Temporary Residency Permit for Employment purposes along with issuing of Additional Information on Employment -up to 90 days.(Application is possible either through the Slovak Embassy or at the Foreign Police in Slovakia)

This process can take up to 6 months and the permit can be issued for a period of up to 2 years - prolongation is possible in the future.

Assignment model

In case a Slovak company expects to receive foreign employees on assignment, meeting with the Labour Office must be scheduled. It is necessary  to agree on the conditions of the assignment, the number of assignees , their positions and the expected duration of work. Work on assignment cannot exceed 4 years. Only after the Labour Office approves assignment conditions, individual applications for Work Permit may be submitted.  Once the Work Permit is issued the foreigner still needs to apply for a Temporary Residence Permit for Employment Purposes ( either through the Slovak Embassy or at the Foreign Police in Slovakia)  within 90 days the Foreign Police will decide on the application request.

This process can take up to 6 months and the permit can be issued for a period of up to 2 years and prolonged for additional 2 years.

NON EU citizens who have residency permission for family reunification purposes can also work in Slovakia yet within the first 12 months of their residency a Work Permit must be obtained. After 12 months of residency their employment is possible assuming respective notifications were made towards Labor office.

NON EU citizens with permanent residency are no longer obliged to have Work permit yet their employer is still obliged to submit notification at the Labour Office.

In Poland EU citizens do not require a Work Permit. However, to legally work and stay in Poland for over 3 months they should register their stay with the Provincial Office.

After receiving the confirmation of EU stay registration, the next step is local address registration which is done based on the apartment lease contract.

The final step is receiving a PESEL number, which is a personal identification number issued within approximately 2 weeks after registering the address.

Family members of EU nationals enjoy the same rights assuming they completed their registration obligations

Under present legislation depending on whether the foreigner will sign a local employment contract with a Polish company (Local Contract), or whether the foreigner will be delegated to work in Poland by his home country employer (Assignment) a different Work Permit type will apply.

In either situation the Work Permit is strictly connected with the particular position within the particular company, for an exact period of time. In case a foreigner would like to change jobs, a new Work Permit would need to be obtained.
Foreigners are not automatically entitled to a Work Permit, it is within the authority of the Provincial Office to grant/not grant a Work Permit.

Legal Work and Employment of a foreigner is only possible after the process of obtaining a Work Permit and visa/Residence Card.

Work Permit can be obtained either separately or together with the Residence Card – so called “Single Permit” depending on the individual situation of the foreigner.

Working without valid permits is illegal and both hiring/receiving company as well as foreigner can be penalized.

Local Employment model.

If a NON EU citizen intends to sign a local employment contract with Polish employer either Work Permit and visa or a Single Permit must be obtained.

The situation on the Polish labour market is taken into consideration - Polish company is obliged to submit a notification on a vacancy to the Labour Office. After the vacant position notification has been available to the authorities for at least 14 days the Labour Office will be able to confirm that the foreigner can fill in the vacancy at the Polish company. Then the application for the Work Permit can be made at the Provincial Office.

This process can take from 2 months up to 5 months depending on whether the visa/Work Permit or Single Permit option is chosen. The permit can be issued for period of up to 3 years - prolongations are possible in the future.

Citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine are entitled to undergo a faster procedure which includes obtaining a visa and then being hired based on the Declaration of Entrusting a Job to Foreigner which is valid for 6 months. The Declaration is obtained in the Labour Office within 1 day therefore after obtaining the visa and arriving in Poland a foreigner can start working immediately. After 6 months, the Single Permit procedure will be initiated.

Assignment model

In case a Polish company expects to receive foreign employees who are delegated from abroad, the application for the relevant type of Work Permit must be made in the Provincial Office. The process includes Work Permit and visa/Residence Card application. The permit can be issued for a period of up to 3 years.

This process can take from 2 months up to 5 months depending on whether the visa/Work Permit or Work Permit/Residence Card option is chosen – prolongations are possible in the future.

NON EU citizens who have residency permission for family reunification purposes can work in Poland without a Work Permit.

NON EU citizens with permanent residency are no longer obliged to have a Work Permit.