The highest number of rejections is faced by applicants from Pakistan, Yemen, and Bangladesh, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented by the Polish daily.
The process of verifying foreign applicants for student visas in Poland has resulted in a notable decline in the number of applications, alongside an increase in the number of visa rejections.
This verification process was implemented at the end of July by Radosław Sikorski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. By the end of August this year, foreign applicants had submitted a total of 13,207 student visa applications, with almost five thousand being turned down. A total of 8,200 visas were granted, mainly to Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The new guidelines from the Minister of Foreign Affairs allow consuls to demand that foreign applicants provide an administrative decision regarding the recognition of their foreign educational credentials. Previously, such a decision was not required by universities for international students.
This year, Poland has seen the highest number of visa rejections for citizens from Algeria (170, with one in two applications being denied), Bangladesh (247, with 70 percent of applications rejected), and Ethiopia (270, with half of the applications resulting in denials). Other countries affected include Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Nigeria, Turkey, and Pakistan.
Source: IAR/"Rzeczpospolita"
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