Context: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Poland faced a shortage of healthcare professionals and streamlined the employment process for doctors from outside the European Union. Foreign medical professionals were permitted to work without undergoing the full credentialing process or obtaining a mandatory language certificate. These measures were implemented as temporary solutions during the crisis.
On May 20, 2026, First Information Channel host Yauhen Horyn reported that Poland had started to remove migrant doctors who had helped the country during the pandemic.
“Polish authorities are intimidating, harassing, and driving out migrant doctors — the very people who helped pull the country through the depths of the COVID crisis and its ‘red zones.’ First, they get fired — for real — and then they’re told, ‘We were just kidding. We’re giving you one last chance. You need to learn Polish quickly.’
Back in 2020, Poland was crying out for help and grabbing any medical professionals it could find from the East like a drowning person clutching at a straw. Ukrainians and Belarusians stepped into the inferno, often without even knowing how to say ‘proszę Pana’ properly. Now that the labor market is creaking under the weight of too many mouths to feed, the authorities have suddenly remembered the language issue. Yes, they granted a one-year extension, but only for those who had not yet been booted out. For the first 208 ‘lucky ones,’ the train has already left the station. Up to 6,000 healthcare workers could be affected,” Horyn said.
Poland indeed made it easier to employ foreign doctors during the pandemic. Medics from non-EU countries were permitted to work without completing the full diploma nostrification process or obtaining the mandatory B1-level language certificate. The authorization was issued for a period of five years.
Such permits have already expired for doctors who came to Poland at the beginning of the pandemic. To continue working, they must follow the profession’s standard admission procedure.
On October 26, 2024, Poland changed the rules regarding foreign medical professionals working under the simplified procedure. By May 1, 2026, doctors who had obtained a work permit before that date had to provide a certificate showing they had at least a B1 level of proficiency in Polish. For those obtaining authorization after that date, proof of language proficiency became mandatory right away.
The established deadline expired in May, resulting in doctors who had never provided certification losing their licenses. Thus, the issue is not sudden mass layoffs of doctors who worked during the pandemic, but rather noncompliance with announced conditions.
The claim that 6,000 doctors are at risk is an exaggeration. According to the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, fewer than 1,000 out of 3,000 migrant doctors are affected by the problem. About 200 doctors have already lost the right to work because they did not confirm their language skills in time. At the same time, the Polish Parliament adopted amendments that allow the deadline for submitting the language certificate to be extended by another year. However, the final decision still requires the president’s approval.
