Poland will not grant visas to foreign students who lack high school diplomas, the country’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has announced.
This move follows the “student visa scandal” that erupted in Poland in May 2024, Schengen.News reports.
Back then, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna said that some universities in Poland have been admitting tens of thousands of third-country students without properly checking their eligibility.
Students, mainly from Rwanda, Türkiye, and Zimbabwe, have reportedly enrolled in these universities only to receive Polish visas.
Regarding this issue, Minister Sikorski told TVN 24 that these students often did not attend the universities they were supposed to attend but used their visas to work within the Schengen zone.
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.
The above-mentioned move reportedly aims to prevent foreigners from misusing student visas to work within Poland and the Schengen zone in general.
‘High School Diploma Is a Standard Requirement’
However, the Polish Foreign Minister Siroski says that the diploma requirement does not constitute a new measure but is in accordance with the principles of applying existing regulations, including those related to verifying the eligibility of foreigners applying for visas.
Siroski, as cited by TPV World, said that the requirement for international students to verify high school degrees by Polish institutions should have been a regular procedure while noting that some universities have irregularly imposed this condition.
In practice, this has placed foreign applicants in a privileged position over Polish citizens applying for higher education.
As of August 11, students from specific countries—including Algeria, India, Iraq, Ethiopia, and South Sudan—are required to present their high school degrees before applying for a Polish student visa.
In a recent note, the Polish Embassy warned that students who do not meet this requirement will have their visa refused.
Poland to Introduce Stricter Visa Rules for Students of Third-Countries
In addition to the above-mentioned, Poland is expected to tighten student visa rules further in a bid to prevent potential irregularities.
As announced in May 2024, the Polish government is considering limiting the access of foreign overseas students to the country’s labour market.
Moreover, Poland plans to increase the minimum funds requirement for individuals applying for a student visa or residence permit and to require students to have a specific amount of funds in a blocked account.
