Conditions for foreign students in Poland to become stricter

Poland plans to tighten the visa system for foreign students, Polish Radio reports. According to the Minister of Science and Higher Education, Dariusz Wieczorek, the draft of the relevant decisions is almost ready.

Over 321 thousand foreign students from almost two hundred countries have come to Poland in the last ten years. At the same time, every second student has not even finished the first year. Applicants (usually in private universities) are not checked for their knowledge of the Polish language, nor are their educational records.

Science Minister Dariusz Wieczorek recently spoke with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski about the changes in the law. "There is an agreement that, firstly, the visa system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be integrated into the POL-on system and all information about each foreign student who receives a visa will be checked. Secondly, it will probably also be necessary to limit the number of universities authorized to receive foreign students," the official said, explaining the planned changes.

Wieczorek added that this does not mean that Poland does not want to accept foreign students. But the country is interested in having them come and actually study, rather than getting visas just for the sake of moving to the Schengen zone.

Today the largest number of students studying in Poland are from Ukraine - 45 thousand people. Belarusians occupy the second place - 12.4 thousand. More than 4 thousand students came from Zimbabwe, the same number from Turkey, more than 3 thousand - from India.

In Poland a visa scandal has been going on since the end of 2023. As a result, the Poland Business Harbor program was terminated and visa refusals became more frequent.