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Guide For Foreigners: Global Service Delivery Center Katowice
Guide For Foreigners: Global Service Delivery Center Katowice
Katowice
To open a bank account in Poland, you will usually have to provide your passport
and a postal address, which does not have to be in Poland. Sometimes
additional documentation is needed. Most expats will find they need a local bank
account for day-to-day living (paying bills, receiving salary, etc.).
There are different types of banks and they all offer different services. In most
banks you can easily open any type of account without major problems. There
are also international banks located in Poland, among which you can find the
most common European banks.
While services offered are more or less the same with every bank, charges differ
greatly. Depending on what services you mainly want to use you should take
some time to compare different offers.
Healthcare
Public healthcare (RMUA)
● 20 days (160h) – if an employee has been employed for a period shorter than 10 years,
● 26 days (208 h) – if an employee has been employed for a period of at least 10 years.
Period of previous employment and educations period are counted into the employment period determining the
right to leave and the length of leave (Art. 155 LC).
An employee who takes up the first job becomes entitled to leave after each month of the employment in the
calendar year in which the employee took up the job, in the length of 1/12 of the leave due to the employee after
one year of work.
Next leaves:
An employer is obliged to grant up to 4 days of leave at the request of an employee in each calandar year, within
the period specified by the employee.
According to IBM GSDC Work Regulations employee shall submit a request for leave on request on the start date
of such leave, two hours after the employee’s standard work start time at the latest.
& Upper Silesia
Katowice is the largest city in Upper Silesia in Poland with a population of about 320,000 in the city itself
and over 2.1 million if the surrounding cities of the Upper-Silesian Metropolitan Union are taken into
account. Located in the middle of Silesia on the banks of the river Rawa, Katowice's historical importance
as Poland's main industrial centre has been indisputable in recent decades.
Nowadays Katowice has also a rich cultural life with theatres, the Silesian Philharmonic, the Silesian
Museum and famous concert hall known as the Spodek. Visitors will find an interesting city with charming
secessionist architecture from the early 1900s, several historic relics, stunning modern architecture,
hospitable and proud local people, and easy access to the Beskidy Mountains and other Silesian Cities.
One of the hidden gems of Poland, Katowice especially delights the senses in April with its numerous
flowering lilac trees.
Silesia (Górny Śląsk) of which Katowice is the regional capital. Silesia then, in some ways, is an abstract
concept and a geographical anomaly. The region spreads out from Katowice’s suburbs and sprawls into a
matrix of towns and cities that were once historically connected through heavy industry and political
autonomy. This shared history helped forge a strong regional identity and indeed Silesia has its own
dialect (Silesian) which is a mix of Polish, German and Czech.
Costs of living - examples
● Renting a flat (2 rooms) – 1200 – 1600 PLN
● Gas – 5,60 PLN/1 liter
● Bread – 4 PLN
● Sugar 1kg – 3.50 PLN
● Eggs – 3,70 PLN/10
● Water – 1,30 PLN/ 1.5 liter
● Chicken – 8 PLN/1kg
● Pork – 17 PLN/1kg
● Beer – 5 PLN
● Cinema ticket – 25 PLN
● Cigarets – 15 PLN
Accomodation – first days in
Katowice
Katowice offers a wide range of hostels and hotels If you are looking for a comfortable place to stay and
where you can stay during your first days in the city. you want to save some money – you can choose a
They are mostly situated in the center with a good hostel. Here are some places, where you can stay at
connection to other parts of the city. It’s quite easy to the beginning:
get buses or trams to wherever you want. And always
you can ask at reception about getting around the city – Jopi Hostel
in most of places, staff speak English and are well http://www.jopihostel.pl/
informed! ul. Plebiscytowa 23, Katowice
+48 32 204 34 32
You can find place to stay: http://www.hrs.com/
Useful links:
http://www.gumtree.pl/fp-mieszkania-i-domy-do-wynajecia/katowice/c9008l3200285
http://olx.pl/nieruchomosci/mieszkania/wynajem/katowice/?search[dist]=5
http://otodom.pl/wynajem/mieszkanie/katowice
http://dom.gratka.pl/mieszkania/katowice/wynajem/
Renting - tips
Making contact: Real estate agencies:
Train
Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish Railway)
http://rozklad-pkp.pl/bin/query.exe/en
Public Transport
An extremely well developed system of trams and buses operated by the
wonderfully named KZK GOP provide a simple and fast way of getting around
Katowice and its surrounding towns. The tickets for the network are valid for both
buses and trams. A three-zone system is used, of which Katowice is in zone-one
and Chorzów in zone-two. Accordingly, a one-zone ticket is required for the former
and a two-zone ticket for travelling between the two. A one-zone ticket costs 3.20zł
and now also serves as a 15min ticket allowing you to swap forms of transport (bus
to tram and onto a different tram for instance) within that time period. A two-zone
ticket costs 3.80zł and also serves as a 30min ticket. There is also a three-
zone/one-hour ticket available for 4.80 zł.
Link to portal:
http://www.kzkgop.com.pl//
Link to timetable:
http://77.252.189.162/index.php?co=rozklady
Spanning 620 hectares, it claims to be the biggest park in Europe and who are we to claim otherwise? We get lost
in here routinely. Among the outstanding attractions are an amusement park with some 50 rides, a 4 pool water
park, a large rose garden, an outdoor ethnographic museum, zoo, planetarium, high ropes course, sports
courts, cycling paths and a pond where you have the opportunity to rent kayaks, canoes and other floatable
transports in season.
Officially located in Chorzów, this is by far the region’s best attraction and an absolute no-brainer for anyone with
some spare time on a sunny day. To get there take tram 6 from Katowice's Rynek, which makes several stops
along the course of the Park, including at the zoo, on its way to Chorzów's Rynek. For more info check the
individual Leisure listings of the attractions in link: http://parkslaski.pl/
Worth to see..
●
Oświęcim and Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi camp there
http://en.auschwitz.org/m/
● Central Firefighting Museum in Mysłowice
http://www.silesia.travel/en-US/Poi/Pokaz/1720/81/the-central-museum-of-firefighting-in-myslowice
● Mining skansen in Zabrze
http://www.kopalniaguido.pl/en/
●
Silver mine and Black Trout Gallery (Adit) in Tarnowskie Góry
http://www.poland.travel/en/underground-tourist-route/black-trout-adit
● Silesian Ethnographic Park in Chorzów
http://muzeumgpe-chorzow.pl/
●
Brewing Museum in Tychy
http://www.tyskiebrowarium.pl/en/tyskie-muzeum-piwowarstwa.html
●
Enjoy your stay!