It happened. There rules regarding language requirements for Long Term EU Residence Permit and citizenship applications have changed. But how exactly? Do they affect all cases?
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The short answer
Yes, the Polish government has changed the rules. Starting from 1st July 2025, you can no longer use szkoła policealna (post-secondary school) graduation to meet the language requirement for Long Term EU Residence Permit or Polish citizenship applications.
However, there are two exceptions to this rule:
- if you applied for a Long Term EU Residence Permit and Polish citizenship before 1st July, these changes don’t apply to your case and you can use szkoła policealna graduation diploma,
- if you graduated from szkoła policealna before 1st July 2025 (meaning your diploma indicates the graduation date as 30th June at the latest), you can still use it to prove language to prove language.
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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 (except for 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.
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What are the current rules for meeting the language requirement for Polish citizenship?
In order to apply for a Polish citizenship, you also have to prove you speak Polish, but the options to meet the language requirement are more limited:
- passed official Polish language exam on B1 level;
- graduation from Polish school (except for szkoła policealna) or university with Polish as the language of instruction for all classes.
Would you like to know more? Do you need assistance with applying for your next residence permit or citizenship?
Feel free to contact us and take advantage of our services.