Page 4 - bne_newspaper_November_09_2018

Top Stories
November 9, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Germany do Ukrainians remain marginal among groups of foreign workers. No further rapid increase in migration from Ukraine is possible, due to the country’s dramatic demographic situation, the problems on local labour markets in western Ukraine, and the falling numbers of people of working age,” says Jaroszewicz.
Ukraine and Hungary got embroiled in a diplomatic row in October after it was discovered the Hungarian consulate in the western town of Berehove near the Hungarian border was issuing passports to the locals, many of whom are ethnic Hungarians. The consul was made persona non grata and expelled. However, granting Hungarian citizenship has not benefited Hungary as most of the Ukrainians that received the passports used the full right to residency and work to simply move to more prosperous EU member states.
The flood of workers into Poland will slow in 2018 as Poland has recently tightened the rules that allow temporary labour to work in the country. On Janu- ary 1, 2018, significant legal changes covering the employment of foreigners in Poland came into force.
First of all, the category of work that can be performed on the basis of the “declaration
of intention to employ a foreigner” has been narrowed. This currently covers all types of work that are not seasonal, and can be carried out by citizens of Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries for up to six months within a 12-month period.
There have also been changes to the system of granting declarations: a fee for their issue is now being charged, and the employer must provide notification that the employee to whom he or she issued the statement has actually taken up a job.
A new type of work permit, that covers seasonal work, has also been introduced, which entitles any foreigner to work for a period of no more than nine months per year.
“According to [Ministry of Labour] data for the first half of 2018, the number of declarations received by district labour offices was 820,000, although only about 756,000 were entered in the appropriate register. These covered about 687,000 foreigners (92% of whom are citizens of Ukraine). However, the number of people who actually
took up work on the basis of the statements was smaller because, according to the verification system, in the case of about a third of the declarations issued and registered the foreigner had not taken up the position,” says Jaroszewicz.
While working out how many of these applications for permits to work actually translate into Ukrainians on a job in Poland is difficult, Jaroszewicz says that the numbers are clearly down by about a third, according to her estimates, from 948,000 Ukrainians employed in Poland in the first half of 2017 to about 600,000 for the same period this year.