Opening a Business in Poland as Sole Trader

To say that opening your own business in a foreign country is stressful would be a huge understatement. Here’s a clue. Get a professional to help you. It lessens the stress because you know it’s being done right.

From filing immigration papers to opening your own business, if you don’t speak or read the language, these are nearly impossible tasks to do on your own.

In coming to Poland, I came with the help of a business incubator that assisted with getting me a Polish phone number, bank account, work permit, and a PESEL number (the equivalent to a US social security number that allows you to work in-country).

To file my immigration papers for a residence card, I hired an immigration attorney to help me through the process, filling out the paperwork (in which there is a lot) and attending the immigration appointment at The Foreign Office to apply for a Residence Card.

It’s not just the paperwork, although that’s a huge part of it. When you go to your appointment, your attorney knows most everyone at The Foreign Office, which means the workers know they wouldn’t take you on as a client unless you were going to get accepted. With professional help, the paperwork is in order, the appointment takes less than 10 minutes, and you wonder why the hell you were so nervous. But that wasn’t over for me, not yet.

Once I got my residency card paperwork filed, the business incubator that brought me to Poland lost its support from the Polish government to offer work permits. I had to open my own business because my residency card was based on that work permit. So, it was more paperwork, more stress, and more waiting. I hired an accountant who mostly deals with foreigners and is familiar with the process of applying for Sole Trader in Poland.

How can one describe what it feels like to go through this process? Let’s see, take your latest DMV experience and multiply that by 10 and then throw in the language barrier. All the forms are in Polish. And no, not everyone speaks English here. Yes, it’s spoken but not by the majority of the people.

So, far I know yes, no, hello, and thank you. And truly, that’s all I am going to get to know. It’s hard. I think Klingon might be easier to learn.

I am barely into 2022 and onto my next adventure in officially owning my own business. I’ve had a freelance writing business and a website for several years, but I never made it official by filing paperwork with a government agency.

Barbara Nelson Content Strategy is officially opened on 11-2-2022! And here I go. I will not go gently into that good night! Nay, I will venture forth to find my soul tribe, and guess what. I will now be on the EU social services in which I can partake in any EU country.

Do I plan to move back to the states? Why? I will tell you this. I have had NO issues with finding writing gigs here. In fact, because of globalization, the business language among Europeans is English. And they need English writers like addicts need heroin. I kid you not. I’ve had several recruiters after me, not so in the US. I couldn’t get a decent-paying job to save my soul. Maybe the Universe is blessing me after all these years of famine and suffering. But that, my friends, is another story that happened long, long ago. Moving on UP!!!