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I'm planning to travel from the Netherlands to Poland during September and I'm not an EU citizen, I just have a work permit.

When I checked the Poland Gov site for travel, It is allowed traveling for

citizens of European Union Member States, European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) Member States - parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation and their spouses and children, when traveling through the territory of the Republic of Poland to their place of residence or stay

Is that applying for people who are living in the EU with a work permit Or I must have an EU passport?

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    Living in the EU with a work permit doesn’t confer citizenship status. What exactly is unclear about the Polish government’s guidance?
    – Traveller
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 9:04
  • @Traveller You are right, It is my mistake, I didn't read carefully the last point
    – Ahmed
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 10:23
  • There's a thing called the blue card. You may be able to get one from Netherlands.
    – Aleksandr Panzin
    Commented Apr 22, 2021 at 21:47

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A person with a work permit is not a citizen (to make it simple, a citizen is someone who can get a passport from that country). A person with a work permit way be a resident of that country, though.

But the site you linked has a long list which goes well beyond just citizens, and includes:

people who have the right of permanent or temporary residence in the Republic of Poland or a work permit,

(...)

foreigners with a permanent residence permit or a long-term resident's European Union residence permit, in the territory of other European Union Member States, a Member State of the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) – parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation and their spouses and children, when traveling through the territory of the Republic of Poland, to their place of residence or stay.

If you are travelling to Poland, the first item is the one for you. If you are travelling through Poland, it's the second one.

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    @AhmedRagheb Note that this only covers you if you have a Polish work permit or need to transit in Poland on the way to your place of residence but not a visit to Poland from the Netherlands if you live there with under a Dutch work permit. (+1, upvoted the answer earlier)
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 10:08
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    I am pretty confident that the page is poorly and confusingly written. As the page starts, the intra-EU borders were opened on June 13th and all citizens and residents of EU/EEA/Schengen countries are now without restrictions allowed to visit Polan for any purpose. Although not quite clear, the list of "who can enter Poland" applies to people entering from outside the EU.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 10:16
  • @Relaxed That's very confusing now :) .. I just have a Dutch work permit indeed.
    – Ahmed
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 10:18
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    @AhmedRagheb That's what “when traveling through the territory of the Republic of Poland, to their place of residence or stay“ means (but see Tor-Einar's comment and answer, it's likely this rule does not apply to you at all at the moment).
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 10:52
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    @AhmedRagheb You probably have a Residence Title (which will also include a work permit). In Poland this is called a permanent residence permit. Under normal conditions this allows you to visit other Schengen countries based on the 90/180 day rule when a EU Citizen may do the same up to 3 months in one country.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Sep 1, 2020 at 15:44
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The page you are linking to is at least ambigious and if you check the neighbouring page on temporary restrictions (section 10 - Polish Borders), they kind of contradict themselves. Internal EU borders were opened completely on June 13th. Since then, all travel, also for tourism or fun, from all other EU/EEA countries has been allowed without restrictions.

On that page, it is also more clearly written, that the list of exceptions you are quoting from applies to people entering Poland from outside the EU. If you are in the Netherlands now and travel to Poland, these exceptions are not relevant for your case.

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I was a foreigner who lived in a EU member state. You are living and working in Netherlands. So, to travel to another EU member state/Schengen country/Switzerland, you need a valid long-term Visa or a residence permit of Netherlands (or any other EU/Schengen country). As far as I know, a work permit is not accepted as a valid entry document for non-EU citizens in many countries.

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  • Many countries however do not have separate residence permits and work permits, or, perhaps more precisely, the certain classes of residence permit also confer a right to work. In those cases it is not uncommon to call the document a "work permit" even though it is also a residence permit.
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 23, 2021 at 0:02
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Note. The question is tagged covid-19, but the title and body suggests that the question is general. Note 2. The question title "is ... considered citizen?" is different from the body which deals about the ability to travel. I will not take the COVID-19 pandemics into account for the answer.

The answer is very simple. First, you are no EU citizen with a work permit. Second, you can travel freely within Schengen Zone, of which both Nederlands and Poland are members.

By being legally in the Nederlands (thanks to the work permit) you already cleared all sorts of immigration. You can move freely.

No border control is done between states (except for pandemics), so air carriers may just verify your identity but cannot decide on your eligibility to stay in the Schengen Zone.

You can't work or settle in Poland (unlike me for example). Only EU citizens are allowed to move to other states for reasons of work. You would need the EU citizenship. And you wouldn't even need a passport in that case, because a National ID is fine.

The 90/180 days rule applies when traveling to different member states.

Sources

I have queries Traveldoc.aero. To make things more difficult, I selected Zimbabwe as passport nationality. Result is Passenger is travelling within the Schengen Area: no applicable immigration requirements.

Wikipedia about the Schengen Area

For flights within the Schengen Area (omissis), law enforcement agencies, airport authorities and air carriers are only permitted to carry out security checks on passengers and may not carry out border checks. Such security checks can be conducted through the verification of the passenger's passport or national identity card: such a practice must only be used to verify the passenger's identity (for commercial or transport security reasons) and not his or her immigration status. For this reason, law enforcement agencies, airport authorities and air carriers cannot require air passengers flying within the Schengen Area who are third-country nationals to prove the legality of their stay by showing a valid visa or residence permit.

Note about COVID travel

To my record, while there are known limitations to travel because of the pandemics, all restrictions are based on the purpose of the travel and not by immigration status of the traveler. For this, the answer shall not change between pandemic and post-pandemic era.

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  • Long-term residents of EU countries do have increased rights to relocate to other countries, though Ireland and Denmark have opted out of that directive. So the statement "only EU citizens are allowed to move to other states for reasons of work" is incorrect, and the following sentence should be "you would need the EU citizenship or a long-term residence permit." The directive is 2003/109/EC.
    – phoog
    Commented Apr 26, 2021 at 17:19

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