Study Abroad: Poland tightens visa rules for international students

Following the announcement of May 2024, the Poland government is considering curbing the number of international students in the country's labour market.

After Poland's student visa scandal was reported in May, the country has recently tightened its visa rules for foreign students. Earlier, due to visa system irregularities, it was very easy and cheap to get a Poland visa. The process to tighten visa rules was already started in May 2024.

While announcing an important change in Poland's visa policy, Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski said that the visa will no longer be given to international students who do not have high school diplomas. This change was introduced to prevent misuse by individuals who get student visas to work in the European Union illegally.

As revealed by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna earlier, Poland universities were admitting scores of foreign students without properly checking their eligibility. Mostly these students came from Zimbabwe, Türkiye, Rwanda. The Foreign Minister had also told TVN 24 that these students get visas to work in the Schengen zone but do not attend the universities in which they are enrolled.

"A student visa grants the right to work for one year, which led to numerous cases where individuals obtained visas and never attended the university that facilitated their entry," Radosław Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister, reported by Schengen News.

Foreign students must have high school diploma to get Poland visa

Sikorski added that implementing the diploma requirement is not something new but it is like applying the existing regulations, along with the condition of verifying the eligibility of international students who apply to get the student visa.

The minister said that verifying the high school degrees by universities is an important step which should regularly be followed by Polish universities.

Also, the country is considering increasing fund requirements for getting a residence permit or student visa in Poland which means the students will need to have a specific amount in a blocked account before they will be able to apply for the Poland visa.

Recently, students from India, Algeria, Ethiopia, Iraq, and South Sudan were required to present their high school degrees on August 11 to get student visas.

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