Poland to Tighten Student Visa Regulations to Prevent Abuse
Poland is set to implement stricter rules on student visas, excluding foreign applicants without high school diplomas to curb misuse of these visas for employment purposes in the EU, Foreign Minister…
Poland is set to implement stricter rules on student visas, excluding foreign applicants without high school diplomas to curb misuse of these visas for employment purposes in the EU, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced.
A controversy erupted in May when Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported that some foreign nationals were securing student visas despite lacking eligibility for university admission in their home countries. These individuals often failed to attend their designated universities and used their visas to work within the Schengen Area, Sikorski revealed in an interview with TVN 24.
“A student visa, which permits work for one year, has led to numerous cases where individuals acquired visas but did not attend the universities they were supposed to,” Sikorski explained.
The new regulations aim to ensure that only legitimate students are granted visas, thereby upholding the integrity of Poland's educational system. Sikorski emphasised that the student visa system should not be exploited to bypass labour laws. Previous attempts by universities to address this issue on their own proved inadequate, prompting the introduction of new government guidelines.
The foreign ministry stated in a press release that the updated rules do not introduce new legal measures but rather reinforce the application of existing laws. It stressed that verifying foreign students' diplomas should have been standard practice but has been inconsistently applied by some universities.
“This requirement aligns with the standard practice of requiring a high school diploma for university admissions and should not be considered an extraordinary demand,” the ministry said.
Cash-for-Visas Scandal
The new guidelines are part of broader efforts to address a cash-for-visas scandal involving alleged corruption in the issuance of travel visas. The previous Law and Justice government is accused of issuing visas to hundreds of thousands of migrants in exchange for bribes. The current administration, in office since December, has formed a parliamentary commission to investigate these allegations.
Reports suggested that between 2021 and 2023, up to 350,000 visas might have been issued in exchange for bribes from nationals of countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria. However, later investigations indicated that this number might have been inflated.
Polish news portal OKO.press reported that about 34,000 people from these countries entered Poland legally during that period. Many of these arrivals were for work, family reunification, or education, while a significant number crossed the border in 2022 to escape the war in Ukraine.
So far, 607 individuals are believed to have received visas through corrupt means, according to OKO.press. Nine people have been detained in connection with the scandal, including Piotr W., a former deputy foreign minister, who is accused of facilitating work visas in exchange for bribes.
