Poland has become an attractive place for Ukrainian citizens to do business. In 2024 alone, they have already registered several thousand new companies, writes the Do Rzeczy news portal.
From January to April 2025, foreigners established 13,700 sole proprietorships in Poland. This has been an increasing trend, with Belarusians, Germans, Russians, and Romanians often being among those setting up shop.
However, the highest percentage goes to Ukrainians, with some 80 percent of active businesses registered by foreigners in Poland from January to the end of April 2025 run by Ukrainians.
Foreigners most often try their hand at construction (22 percent of companies registered for this in 2025), telecommunications services and information service activities (15 percent) and service activities (11 percent). In 2024, the most common sectors were information and communication (23 percent), construction (19 percent) and other service activities (10 percent).
Ukrainians (22 percent) and Romanians (32 percent) are most likely to try their hand at construction. Belarusian, German, Russian, Italian, British, American and French companies are focused on professional, scientific and technical activities.
Ukrainian companies also often engage in service activities in the field of telecommunications and information, according to an analysis by the Polish Economic Institute.
Nevertheless, Ukrainians by and large do not want to stay in Poland, with one recent study confirming that just 13.2 percent want to stay permanently.
According to the Gremi Personal report, 45.3 percent of Ukrainians do not know whether they will stay in Poland, 17.9 percent want to return to their homeland as soon as the war is over, and 10.4 percent said their stay in Poland is temporary.
At stake, as noted by Do Rzeczy, is the Polish economy, which has come to rely on these laborers. However, recent data shows this is maybe less and less the case.
In April, Remix News reported on a labor survey indicating that although workers from Ukraine and Belarus were still largely in demand, 36 percent of companies are now considering candidates from India, Nepal, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.
In November 2024, 1.2 million foreigners were registered in the social insurance system, of which the largest groups, right after Ukrainians, were citizens of Belarus (135,600) and Georgia (26,500). But the number of workers from Asia is clearly growing, with 22,600 Indians, 14,600 Filipinos, 9,300 Nepalese, and 10,500 Vietnamese registered as working in Poland, according to data from Poland’s Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).
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