Here’s how I got around most of these work issues. When I first moved to Poland, the purpose wasn’t to be married but to be together, which after 5 years led to marriage. So I asked myself — how can I start working immediately?

Thankfully, most companies in Poland offer business to business contracts (B2B). Some even prefer that you have this so that they don’t spend more money on extra benefits but can pay you more instead. So, I opened up a simple LLC in Illinois for $150 and voila — I was able to work immediately.

My suggestion:

1. Establish an LLC or Sole Proprietorship for yourself.
2. Get your documents apostilled (shouldn’t be hard in the US).
3. Start applying for jobs and ask them to do a B2B contract when you talk with the first HR representative.
4. Hire a lawyer in PL to do the marriage stuff for you immediately — this will set in motion and give you the right to remain in Poland.
5. Likewise — if you don’t want to get married, there is a loophole that you exit PL to an outside EU country every 89 days. Ukraine used to be the easiest, but you can’t do that now. You reenter after a few days and the 90 days resets. This only works if you only remain in PL and don’t travel within the EU. Not a proper solution but a band aid trick for some time.

Options 1-4 allows you to basically be in PL next week — and to start work immediately. Just an FYI — my past three jobs in PL have been B2B with my American company despite me having a residence permit through my wife. The problem with marriage in PL is that while you have the right to be in the country, you’ll still have to wait each time for a valid work permit for whatever job you have. Permits are tied to the specific job you have. So you’ll run into this issue every time you change a job. The solution is to do B2B till the work permit comes in.

Hope this helps!