Business Harbour (PBH) programme is a comprehensive package designed to help IT specialists, start-ups, and small, medium-sized and large companies to relocate to Poland in a hassle-free manner. Today, the programme has been expanded to cover strategic industries from all over the world.

This “safe business harbour” offers three paths for potential participants: individual IT specialists, start-ups and mature companies – from microenterpreneurs to biggest players on the market. The programme was designed as a response to the situation in Belarus and the need to provide a safe haven and a growth opportunity for the still thriving Belarusian IT sector, which is particularly vulnerable to persecution. It is worth highlighting that the programme is the only solution of this kind in Poland’s and Europe’s history, and one which supports both companies and individuals.
Under the scheme, a special type of visa was created, the only one allowing its beneficiaries to take up work without the need of a permit, set up business activity, and bring their immediate family to Poland. So far, over 55,000 visas of this kind have been issued.

Anyone recommended by one of the partner companies listed on gov.pl/pbh can obtain a special PBH visa. There are already around 300 of them today, but the list remains open and is available on the programme’s website.

“Polish economic diplomacy rests on two pillars: supporting foreign expansion of Polish companies, goods, and services, and attracting foreign investors to Poland. The Poland. Business Harbour programme is perfectly in line with these goals as it enhances both the innovation of our economy and the creation of jobs,” said the MFA’s Undersecretary of State Paweł Jabłoński.

PBH’s extended business path welcomes companies from strategic industries which carry out projects of importance to the Polish economy.

Over the programme’s two years of operation, the Polish Investment and Trade Agency aided more than 140 companies which reported a total of nearly 49,000 employees to be relocated, around 35,000 (70%) of whom after Russian aggression against Ukraine. Most of relocated staff were nationals of Belarus. Complete and pending investments amount to nearly EUR 180 million in value.

The programme is organised by: The GovTech Centre at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology, the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

The central information point for those interested in using or joining the programme is a dedicated website, available at gov.pl/pbh in eight language versions (in the languages of each of the six countries and in Polish and English).

A dedicated helpline has also been launched for the programme, available at +48 22 334 99 77, which operates from Monday to Friday, 24 hours a day, in Polish, Russian and English. You can also ask questions by e-mail to: pbh@paih.gov.pl

 

MFA Press Office