For any information regarding your stay in Poland, Biała Podlaska and John Paul II University of Applied Sciences in Biala Podlaska, please contact the university's Welcome Centre at welcome@akademiabialska.pl.
Below, is some crucial information that you may find useful before coming to our university, the town of Biała Podlaska and Poland in general. You can also refer to our international students guide, please feel free to download it:
English language version: international_student_guide_en.pdf
Russian language version: international_student_guide_ru.pdf
ERASMUS "BUDDY"
If you're an exchange student looking for a Polish buddy or a Polish student who wants to be a buddy, contact the university's Welcome Centre at welcome@akademiabialska.pl
The sooner you get in touch with the Welcome Centre the sooner you will get a chance to chat with your buddy trought the web before your arrival!
VISA INFORMATION AND LEGALISING YOUR STAY IN POLAND
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
If you are a citizen of an EU member state the only thing you need to have to enter Poland is a valid travel document or a document confirming identity and citizenship (i.e. your national ID, passport).
If you are non-EU citizen, there are two main documents that are required when entering Poland: a valid travel document (passport) and a visa (if required). Before applying for visa, please check if you need it in the first place as foreigners from a number of countries are exempted from a visa requirement when entering Schengen Area for the periods not exceeding 90 days within a 180-day period: https://udsc.gov.pl/en/cudzoziemcy/obywatele-panstw-trzecich/chce-przyjechac-do-polski/czy-potrzebuje-wizy/
There are several types of visas to choose from:
“A” type – an airport transit Schengen visa, so it cannot be used by a student coming to Poland
“C” type – a short-term Schengen visa allowing the holder to stay in the Schengen territory for up to 90 days in 180 days period
“D” type – a long-term national visa issued for up to one year allowing travel around the Schengen area for up to 90 days in a 180 days period A visa can only be extended in exceptional situations.
How to get a visa to Poland?
1) Find a Polish Consulate/ consular section of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland that can process your application. You can use the MFA’s search engine https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/polands-missions-abroad
2) Read carefully all the information concerning visa application on the consulate’s website and follow the instructions.
3) Set a visa appointment with the consulate. In most cases, you will have to register through the website: https://secure.e-konsulat.gov.pl/
4) Prepare the necessary documents, including application form, travel document (passport), biometric photo, health insurance, sufficient means to support yourself, documents confirming the purpose of your stay. The specifics of the required documentation may vary among consulates, so confirm them with the consulate’s website.
5) Submit all the documents including a printed and signed application form and the visa fee. Your visa application is complete. It should take up to 15 days for it to be reviewed.
Early submission of visa documents is advisable as in some cases procedure may take a considerable amount of time.
LEGALISATION OF STAY
Each stay in Poland which is longer than 30 days must be registered in the Department for Citizen and Foreign Affairs of the Voivodeship Office of a given voivodeship. Temporary residence must be registered:
• no later than on the 30th day from the arrival at the place of your temporary residence in Poland – if you are planning to be in Poland for over 3 months and are:
- a citizen of a member state of the European Union or a member of such a foreigner’s family;
- a citizen of a member state of the European Free Trade Association;
- a party to the agreement on the European Economic Area or a member of such a foreigner’s family;
- a citizen of the Swiss Confederation or a member of such a foreigner’s family.
• no later than on the 4th day from the arrival at the place of your temporary residence in Poland – if you are planning to be in Poland for over 30 days and do not belong to the aforementioned group.
What to prepare
• a temporary residence application form
• if you are a citizen of the EU or EFTA member state or of the Swiss Confederation, you will have to prepare:
- a valid travel document or another valid document which confirms your identity and citizenship
• if you are NOT a citizen of the EU or EFTA member state or of the Swiss Confederation, and you are NOT a member of the aforementioned foreigner’s family, prepare:
- a valid travel document,
- a visa
Registering cost
The registering service is free.
The issuing of the temporary residence certificate costs around PLN 17.
Where to register in Biała Podlaska:
Delegatura w Białej Podlaskiej Oddział Spraw Obywatelskich i Cudzoziemców / Delegation in Biała Podlaska Department for Citizen and Foreigner Affairs
Address: 41 Brzeska street, 21- 500 Biała Podlaska
tel. +48 83 34-49-250
e-mail: bp-pass@lublin.uw.gov.pl
Office hours:
Monday – Friday 8.00 a.m. - 2.30 p.m.
Head of the Department for Citizen and Foreign Affairs – room 109 (1st floor)
Legalisation of stay for foreigners – citizens of third countries – room 103 (1st floor)
Registration of citizens of EU member states – room 103 (1st floor)
Registration of invitations – room 103 (1st floor)
Work permits – room 124 (1st floor)
Polish citizenship – room 120 (1st floor)
HEALTH INSURANCE IN POLAND
Health insurance is an insurance in case of an illness, accident, injury, poisoning, life threatening condition etc. In order to be able to use this insurance, you must pay premiums under the insurance contract. There are two types of insurance in the National Health Fund (Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia – NFZ) – mandatory and voluntary. Both groups of persons insured in the NFZ can benefit from public health care services on the same terms.
Foreigners can benefit from public health care if they belong to one of thefollowing groups:
1. The employed in Poland;
2. Members of insured persons’ families, including members of employed persons’ families;
3. Refugees (the refugee status must be recognised in Poland) and foreigners covered by subsidiary protection and an integration programme, consulted with the county family support centre – such a programme lasts 12 months;
4. The unemployed registered in the job centre (members of the registered unemployed person’s family can also be insured if they are not insured on another account);
5. Clergy;
6. Children attending school (within the care provided by their school), even if their parents’ stay in Poland is not legalised;
7. Persons deprived of liberty (imprisoned or arrested);
8. Persons staying in the territory of Poland, insured in the European Union states or the European Free Trade Association states (including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
The remaining foreigners who legally stay in Poland can benefit from public health care if they are voluntarily insured. Legal residence in Poland is the condition for the NFZ voluntary health insurance. This means that a foreigner must have at least a permit to reside in Poland for a fixed period.
Voluntary health insurance
A person whose stay in Poland is legal and who is not covered with mandatory health insurance can be insured voluntarily. For this purpose, you must submit an appropriate application to the NFZ in a voivodeship branch of the NFZ, which is appropriate for their place of residence.
The application form is available in the NFZ branch and on the Websites
of NFZ branches.
Contact details of the NFZ branch in Biała Podlaska:
Address: 12c Warszawska street, 21-500 Biała Podlaska, Poland
tel.: +48 (83) 344-93-00, +48 (83) 344 93 05
Office hours: Monday – Friday 8.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Foreigners who are not European Union citizens, when applying for a voluntary health insurance, must present their passport and one of the documents beneath:
• a work visa;
• temporary residence permit;
• permanent residence permit;
• residence permit for a long-term EU resident;
• residence permit due to humanitarian reasons;
• permit for tolerated stay;
• a document confirming the refugee status granted in Poland or temporary protection in Poland.
After signing the contract with the NFZ, you must go to a branch or inspectorate of the Polish Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych – ZUS) where you submit a ZUS ZZA form (https://www.zus.pl/wzory-formularzy/firmy/dokumenty-zgloszeniowe-i-rozliczeniowe/-/publisher/details/1/formularz-zus-zza/305061).
A ZUS ZZA form can be printed and taken personally or sent by post to the ZUS branch or inspectorate in your neighbourhood.
Contact details of the ZUS branch in Biała Podlaska:
Address: 23 Sadowa street, 21-500 Biała Podlaska
Tel.: 22 560 16 00
Office hours: Monday 8.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m., Tuesday – Friday 8.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Persons who are voluntarily insured must insure their family members if they are not covered with mandatory insurance on another account. The insurance can cover the same family members as mandatory insurance: children, spouse, and parents and grandparents if they share the household with the insured person.
In order to report family members for insurance, you must submit a ZUS
ZCNA form in the ZUS (https://www.zus.pl/documents/10182/18428/zcna.pdf/42c2bfc3-5281-4b22-8901-7f3d3c9c3c1a). The form can be delivered personally or sent by post.
Premiums are transferred to the ZUS account – detailed information available in the ZUS.
The information on the amount of the health insurance premium is available in the NFZ branch or on the NFZ Website https://www.nfz.gov.pl/dla-pacjenta/zalatw-sprawe-krok-po-kroku/jak-ubezpieczyc-sie-dobrowolnie/
A premium for each calendar month is paid till the 15th day of the next month for the previous month (e.g. till 15 May for April).
A foreigner can also be insured voluntarily in a private insurance company.
TREATMENT
Where to get medical help?
In case of an illness/emergency you can go to the following health care units which provide health care services:
• hospital;
• outpatient clinic (healthcare centre, ambulatory care clinic) – for people who need basic and specialist health care;
• ambulance station – provides assistance in case of an accident, injury, childbirth, sudden illness or sudden health deterioration with a threat to life;
• medical diagnostic laboratory – conducts diagnostic tests and analyses based on the referral from a doctor or a dentist;
• laboratory of dental prosthetics and orthodontics – provides services based on a referral from a dentist;
• therapeutic rehabilitation centre – provides services based on a referral from a doctor.
Health care units may be public or non-public (private).
Services of doctors and health care units which have a contract with the NFZ are free – covered by your health insurance. Usually in such units or hospitals there is an information plate “Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia” (National Health Fund). If a patient uses the services of a doctor or a health careunit which does not have a contract with the NFZ, the patient will have to bear the treatment costs regardless if they are insured or not. Free medical
help from a doctor or a hospital which does not have a contract with the NFZ is possible only in case of sudden deterioration of life or health. Free medical help from such a doctor or hospital is provided only to the extent necessary.
Ambulance station – telephone numbers
In emergency, health care services are provided immediately and without a referral. The patient also has a right to get help from a nurse, midwife, doctor or a hospital which does not have a contract with the NFZ.
In life-threatening situations call an ambulance: 999 – or dial the general emergency number 112 (you can call both the numbers from landline and mobile phones).
The following information must be given to the person receiving the notification:
• an exact location of an incident (address, landmarks);
• the cause of the call;
• who needs help;
• who calls for the ambulance.
In emergencies, the patient may also go to hospital, to the emergency room, without a referral.
Health care provisions financed from public funds:
Foreigners entitled to health care provisions financed from public funds are entitled to the following provisions:
• health provisions, i.e. all activities which serve to save, rescue, restore and improve health, and are related to:
- medical examination and advice,
- treatment,
- medical rehabilitation,
- care of a pregnant woman and her child,
- diagnostic tests,
- nursing and care of ill and disabled people,
- health prevention,
- adjudication and opinions on health state,
- technical activities in prosthetics and orthodontics,
- provision with orthopaedic items and aids;
- health benefits in kind – medicines, medical products, orthopaedic items and aids related to the treatment process;
- accompanying provisions – e.g. accommodation and meals in a 24-hour or all-day institution or sanitary transport services.
Specialist provisions:
In public health care, specialist services are provided based on a referral from a doctor. You do not need such a referral to the following specialist doctors:
- gynaecologist and obstetrician;
- dentist;
- dermatologist;
- venereologist;
- oncologist;
- ophthalmologist;
- psychiatrist.
Hospital:
Persons who have been referred by a doctor have a right for medical treatment or rehabilitation. The referral to hospital may also be issued by a private doctor, without any contract with the NFZ. When the patient cannot be admitted into hospital on the day of coming to hospital, they must be entered into the waiting list.
Only in emergency cases, persons are admitted without any necessary referral.
Dental treatment:
You do not need a referral to a dentist. The patient who comes to a dentist with a pain is admitted on the same day.
Medicines:
Some medicines are available only on prescription; the prescription is issued by an appropriate doctor. Prescription medicines may be refunded partially (they are cheaper in this case) or entirely. Patients in hospitals or other institutions which provide 24-hour health
care are given medicines for free. Prescription medicines must be bought within 30 days of the date of the issue of prescription; for antibiotics this period is 7 days.
Night and holiday medical assistance:
Between 6 p.m. and 8.00 a.m. and on public holidays, in sudden illnesses or sudden deterioration of health and when there is a justified fear that waiting for the opening of the outpatient clinic may unfavourably affect the state of health, patients can use a duty clinic. You do not need a referral then. The doctor on duty may give you advice in the clinic, on the phone or at the patient’s house.
Contact details – medical treatment in Biała Podlaska:
