Poland Business Harbour (Suspended)

Status: suspended since Jan. 26, 2024.

Poland. Business Harbour (PBH) was a fast-track national visa for IT specialists, startup founders and staff of relocating companies. It started in September 2020 for Belarus and was later extended to Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia, with a business path added in September 2022.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then suspended its participation in the program until solutions are in place to verify the companies and foreigners who use it. The ministry said the program had not produced the hoped-for results and cited concerns over misuse of its visas. No official restart had been announced as of Oct. 1, 2026.

PBH was never a digital nomad visa: it tied the holder to work in Poland. Poland has no digital nomad visa, and the Poland guide compares the routes remote workers use instead.

No new applications are accepted. While the program ran, it was open to citizens of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan (PBH), in three paths:

• IT specialists: Proof of interest from a partner company on the program list, plus at least one year of IT work or IT-related technical education.
• Startup founders: qualification for the Poland Prize program.
• Company staff: employees of firms qualified for the business path by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.

IT professionals who want a job in Poland can still apply for a work visa on general terms once they meet its requirements.

PBH documents are no longer accepted. A national work visa on general terms has its own document list, set by the Polish consulate that handles the application.

Holders of a PBH visa issued before the suspension can work in Poland without a separate work permit while the visa is valid, under the same hiring process as Polish citizens. The employer keeps a scan of the PBH visa in the employee's file (PBH Q&A).

No PBH fee applies, because the route is closed. PBH never published a program fee of its own: it ran through the national visa procedure at Polish consulates.

Applicants for a national work visa today pay the consular fee in force at the mission that handles the application.

There is no application route. The MFA suspension ended new PBH visas at consulates.

The alternatives depend on the purpose of the stay:

• A job in Poland: a national work visa on general terms, applied for at a Polish consulate, normally in the country of residence (PBH Q&A).
• A longer stay once in Poland: a residence permit from the voivodeship office for the place of residence. The Office for Foreigners publishes the permit types and their conditions.

PBH visas issued before the suspension remain valid until their expiry date. New PBH visas are not issued, so a PBH visa cannot be renewed.

Holders who want to stay longer apply for a temporary residence permit at the voivodeship office for their place of residence. The permit depends on its own purpose, such as work or business activity, not on the PBH visa (PBH Q&A).

PBH had no tax regime of its own, and Poland's general rules apply to former and current holders alike.

A person is tax resident in Poland with a center of personal or economic interests there, or after more than 183 days in Poland in a tax year. Residents declare all their income in Poland, wherever it was earned (Ministry of Finance). Tax treaties can change the outcome for people with ties to two countries.