The Polish government has just announced sweeping changes to tighten their visa rules for international students who have been abusing the system. This comes following a “Student Visa Scandal” that unfolded in the country in May last year, where it emerged that some foreign nationals were misusing the student visas for working illegally within the European Union instead of following these students’ educational goals.
It is the “student visa scandal” that was exposed by the Polish daily, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The investigation discovered that among these foreigners, there were individuals who gained student visas despite never having passed university entrance exams in their home countries. After arriving in Poland, such aliens barely ever showed up at the respective universities where they were enrolled to study; their student visas were merely a pretext for finding jobs within the Schengen Area.
This abuse of the visa system did not only destroy the reputation of Poland’s educational establishments but also triggered allegations of illegal labour in European Union countries.
General New Visa Rules by Poland
These findings prompted the Foreign Minister of Poland, Mr. Radoslaw Sikorski, to declare that the country will enforce a very big amendment into its visa policy: a student visa will not be issued to any foreigner who fails to present his high school diploma. In this way, the country can stop those fake students from securing visas from the embassy.
He emphasised the need to strengthen the law enforcement that is in place to protect Poland’s education from the act of violation. He said, in a statement to TVN 24: “A student visa gives the right to work for one year, which was the reason behind many cases of people getting visas and never even entering the universities that authorised their entrance.” The new guidelines have, therefore, come to stamp out such abuses that exploit the visa regime to sneak into the European labour market.
Strengthening visa verification processes
The Polish foreign ministry underlined that the new regulations do not establish new legal solutions but strengthen the principles of the regulations in force. A crucial aspect of this policy amendment imposes an obligation on foreign graduates to have their diploma documents verified by Polish authorities. Even if this should have constituted regular practice, some universities were unequally monitoring and enforcing this provision, hence the current problems.
Broader context: Cash-for-Visas Scandal
This policy shift was also tied to a broader scandal of cash-for-visas to the degree that alleged corruption in the issuance of travel visas to migrants began to be unraveled. Also, a former deputy foreign minister, Piotr W., was arrested over accusations of expediting work visas at a bribe. This incident in itself indicated the urgency of firmer visa regimes to prevent abuse and corruption in the system.
In Conclusion: Protecting the Integrity of Poland's Education System
The policy runs in parallel with what Poland has done, while tightening the leash in which international students hold around visa bids to protect their academic system from visa abuse to undertake illegal labor. The visas granted are only meant for real students meeting the exact criteria under which to pursue the academic, all aiming to keep the Polish academic system clean, ultimately showing respect for labour regulations within the European Union.
Prospective international students must be prepared and aware of the forthcoming strict levels of scrutiny that will be required to prove their genuine intentions of pursuing higher education in Poland.
