The question has been on many people’s minds for quite some time. Various posts and websites provide conflicting information on whether these changes were made already or will ever be made. Or how the new rules regarding language requirements are supposed to work exactly.
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The short answer
The short answer is: no, the rules regarding using school graduation (such as szkoła policealna) to meet language requirement hasn’t been changed.
As on the day this article is being published (23.01.2025), the rules remain the same. You can still use a szkoła policealna graduation to apply for a Long Term EU Residence Permit.
There are changes planned, but as of now, they are only a draft law. They haven’t been passed or implemented yet and it is unknown whether Polish government will actually make it happen.
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What are the current rules for meeting the language requirement for Long Term EU Residence Permit?
In order to apply for a Long Term EU Residence Permit, you have to prove you speak Polish.
Currently, the following options are available to prove your Polish language skill:
(naturally just one of the below options is enough)
- passed official Polish language exam on B1 level;
- graduation from Polish school (such as szkoła policealna) or university with Polish as the language of instruction for all classes;
- ECL exam certificate;
- TELC exam certificate;
- sworn translator certificate;
- passed Polish language class on B1 level in one of the following types of universities: a university approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs or any academic university, military university, vocational college, government service university or church university, that hasn’t been restricted from admitting foreigners. The main language of instruction for all the classes doesn’t have to be Polish. It’s enough that there was a Polish language course as one of the classes.
Not everyone is able to pass a Polish language exam or study at a university in Polish language. What a lot of people are doing is graduating from a szkoła policealna (post-graduate school). They apply for a short course (usually 1-year) with a simple subject (such as a florist course), that is possible to graduate even if they don’t speak Polish very well.
This alone is currently enough to meet the language requirement and apply for a Long Term EU Residence Permit. If you provide a szkoła policealna diploma, you don’t have to pass any language exam and nobody is checking if you know Polish any further.
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What are the planned changes?
For a few months already, Polish government had plans to change these rules. The current plan is that starting from 1st July 2025, you would no longer be able to use a szkoła policealna graduation to apply for a Long Term EU Residence Permit.
All other forms of proving language skill would remain the same and be available (such as B1 exam, TELC exam, ECL certificate or university graduation). The only change would be to take away the szkoła policealna option.
However, this new law is still only a draft. The government is still working on it and nothing is for sure.
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Will the rules regarding language be changed? What are the chances?
There is no way to know whether these rules will change or when it can happen.
As of now, the legislature process is taking much longer then it was expected. Also, the parliament is receiving some negative feedback from foreigners living in Poland and public organizations. There is no telling whether they will go through with it.
As on the day this article is being published (23.01.2025), the draft is still in Sejm (1st chamber of Polish parliament) and awaits the first reading. It may take some time before it will be passed or rejected by the Sejm.
You can track the progress of the legislation of these changes here:
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What if you applied for the Long Term EU Residence Permit already and then the rules will be changed?
Let’s assume that you graduated from the szkoła policealna and applied for a long term EU residence permit. And then they change the rules and cancel this option of proving language.
Well, according to the abovementioned draft of the law, if you applied before the rules were changes, then they don’t affect you.
The same goes if you graduated before the rules were changed – even if you didn’t apply for a Long Term EU Residence Permit, you would still be able to use a szkoła policealna diploma later on.
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