WARSAW – The government of Poland has announced conditions for the issuance of student visas following a shocking scandal that rocked the nation in May.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has declared that from now on, no foreigner will be granted a student visa without a high school diploma, a change the authorities consider would deter the abuse of the visa.
The new rules are aimed at stopping the abuse of student visas by people looking to sneak into the EU and work illegally.
The change comes after the Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna exposed a massive scam where foreign nationals got student visas despite not qualifying for university in their home countries. Once in Poland, many didn’t even bother to show up at their supposed universities, instead using their visas to work in the Schengen Area.
“A student visa gives the right to work for a year, which led to countless cases of people getting visas and never setting foot in a classroom,” the foreign minister told TVN 24.
The minister stressed that the crackdown is about ensuring only genuine students get visas, to protect Poland’s education system.
It is to be highlighted that the new rules aren’t new laws, but rather a toughening up of the existing ones. The Foreign Ministry admitted that while verifying diplomas should have been standard practice, some universities were not able to do so.
‘In practice, this has placed foreign applicants in a privileged position over Polish citizens applying for higher education,’ the foreign ministry said in a press release.
This visa tightening is also tied to a bigger cash-for-visas scandal, where corruption in visa issuance to migrants was uncovered. The scandal, which dent a huge blow to the previous Law and Justice government, has seen several arrests, including former Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr W., who was nabbed for allegedly speeding up work visas in exchange for bribes.
According to the details, media reports suggested that up to 350,000 visas might have been issued between 2021 and 2023 in exchange for bribes to nationals from different countries; however, later investigations indicated that this figure may have been considerably exaggerated.
