Poland closes the visa-free work route for Colombians, Georgians and Venezuelans

A Polish regulation that took effect on 22 August 2026 has closed the route that thousands of Latin American and Georgian workers have used to start jobs in Poland. Until now, someone from Colombia, Georgia or Venezuela could enter the Schengen area visa-free as a short-stay visitor and, once an employer obtained a work permit for them, legally start work while still on that visa-free stay. Under the regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 31 July 2026, published in Dziennik Ustaw as item 1072 on 7 August, that combination no longer works. A work permit on its own is no longer enough; the worker also needs a residence title that permits work, in practice a Polish national visa or a residence permit.

What the regulation actually says

The instrument is short. Paragraph 1 states that citizens of three countries holding a work permit are not entitled to perform work while staying in Poland under visa-free movement: the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Georgia, and the Republic of Colombia. It was issued under article 3(4) of the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for entrusting work to foreigners in Poland, which gives the minister power to designate such countries by regulation. Paragraph 3 set entry into force at 14 days after publication, which fell on 22 August 2026. No other nationality is listed.

The transitional rule matters

Paragraph 2 protects people already working. Citizens of the three countries who hold a work permit and who started work during a visa-free stay before the regulation entered into force may continue on the existing terms until their visa-free stay period expires. That is a genuine protection, but a narrow one: it runs to the end of the current 90-days-in-180 visa-free period, not to the end of the work permit. Someone who started a job in Poland in July on this basis can finish out their visa-free stay, then must leave and return with a national visa if they want to keep working.

Why Poland did this

Colombians and Georgians are not a marginal group in the Polish labour market. Social insurance data reported by Notes from Poland shows 1.34 million foreign workers registered with ZUS at the end of June 2026, with Colombians the fourth-largest nationality at 23,000 and the fastest-growing of any group at 31% year on year, and Georgians fifth at 22,000, down 17%. Rzeczpospolita reports the government's reasoning as follows: nationals of these countries cross the EU external border in another member state, frequently presenting as tourists, then travel on to Poland and use the work-permit route to take up employment and regularise their stay. Officials cited illegal residence, the growth of the shadow economy and cases of human trafficking. The same report carries criticism from specialists who argue the change treats the symptom, and that Poland's consular network may struggle with the extra visa demand it creates.

What this means in practice

If you are a citizen of Colombia, Georgia or Venezuela planning to work in Poland, the sequence has changed: secure the national visa or residence permit before you travel to start the job, rather than arriving first and sorting the paperwork afterwards. If you are already in Poland and working on a permit obtained during a visa-free stay, check the date your current 90-day visa-free period ends, because that is now the horizon for your right to work. Employers should confirm the residence title of anyone in this group rather than relying on the work permit alone. Our Poland country guide at /country-guides/poland covers Poland's permit categories, and /country-guides/colombia and /country-guides/georgia set out what applicants from those countries face before departure.