The profession of a driver in Poland is regulated. Simply put, to work as a driver, you need to have the appropriate competences and qualifications, and to confirm them, you must have the relevant documents. However, documents for Polish citizens and foreigners are different.
01What documents must an international driver have?
Absolute everyone who wants to work as a driver in Poland must have:
· A driving license of the appropriate category
· No criminal record
· Confirmation of their physical and psychological health.
Accordingly, before starting work as a driver, you will need to undergo a medical examination as well as psychotests that will determine your reaction and psychological state.
How to confirm your qualifications?
In turn, foreigners will need to additionally confirm their qualifications. You can do this by obtaining Code 95. The course can be short or long. The short course is taken by drivers who received category C before 2009, and the long course is for those who received this category after 2009.
In connection with the EU Mobility Package, Poland adopted a number of changes in 2022 that also affected international drivers. Now people receive Code 95 as a plastic card.
This procedure looks as follows: you need to start by obtaining a profil kandydata zawodowego. After receiving it, you begin your training. Having completed it to the end, you get your results, and the Urząd, in turn, prints Code 95 for you.
Increasingly in Europe, they are starting to require Code 95 to be entered into the driving license, so people living for more than 180 days in Poland exchange their driving licenses for Polish ones.
There are two options here: you can simply get a Polish driving license with a note stating that it was issued in Ukraine. And if you want the license to state that it was issued in Poland, initially you need to just exchange your license for a Polish one, and then submit it for replacement so that Code 95 is added to it.
After this, you need to obtain the Red Paper or świadectwo kierowcy – a European-standard document confirming that the driver complies with all the necessary requirements for working in Europe.
In order to obtain the Red Paper, the company must submit an application to the Urząd drogowy. We attach our license, medical examination, driving license, Code 95, and ZUS to the application. Once the red paper is received, the person can safely be sent on a trip.
Visa or Karta pobytu?
Also, do not forget that to work as a driver in the European Union, you must have a valid visa or Karta pobytu.
In 2022, the opportunity appeared in Poland to extend visas or make Karty pobytu for drivers from Ukraine and Belarus.
If you get a Karta once, you get it for 3 years. Accordingly, for the next 3 years you won't have to think about any documents, and you will also effectively confirm that you live in Poland.
From this we can conclude that if you plan to settle down and move your family to Poland, you definitely need to apply for a Karta pobytu.
If you do not plan to settle down in Poland, you can renew your visas annually, but by dealing with the Karta pobytu issue once, you will get rid of this necessity for the next 3 years.
What do we not recommend doing?
There are a lot of scammers on the internet who offer to pass a medical examination without your presence or to get Code 95 without actual training.
We do not recommend resorting to these actions, as this is document forgery and is a criminal offense, which in the future can lead to fatal consequences. Nowadays, such schemes are strictly controlled by the law, and we have repeatedly encountered situations where, after a long period of time, people received reminders of a past mistake.
"My experience working in a transport company has allowed me not only to provide assistance in document legalization, but also to provide comprehensive support in opening a transport company and obtaining licenses. You can always contact Radius Consulting for a consultation and assistance in handling your case. We will be happy to help you," says our specialist Yana Yakubovskaya.
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Useful materials:
RESIDENCE PERMIT AND BUSINESS IN POLAND. How to run a business to get a karta pobytu?
3 reasons why you shouldn't delay getting a karta pobytu after arriving in Poland.
Permanent residency in Poland: EU long-term resident's card - How to get it? Detailed guide.
Karta pobytu based on work or family reunification? Which to choose? Comprehensive analysis.
TOP 5 scenarios where a karta pobytu can actually be independent of an employer
Refusal of a karta pobytu: unspoken reasons (undesirable stay, SIS) - Solutions to the problem
Permanent residency in Poland without a Karta Polaka: the complete process of obtaining a karta stałego pobytu based on ancestry.
Family reunification in Poland - everything about the karta pobytu for spouses and children.
Stały pobyt: Permanent residency in Poland with a Karta Polaka - application and financial support
Blue Card in Poland - everything about the karta pobytu and residence permit for highly qualified specialists.
