How to get and survive an internship in Poland

Applying for an internship can be tricky, especially since you need to get a visa (but not always.)

Experience and opportunity is better than money.

First off, if you're just there for the summer, skip the the visa. A tourist visa is good enough for 90 days. Even the 90-day limit is kind of worthless if you come into Poland from another EU country in the Schengen Agreement.

A visa requires health insurance, proof of X-amount of money per month, (the biggest obstacles) and an invitation from the employer. I say forgo the visa and simply work under the radar (it's not too hard.)

Find a company or school (whatever) and imply that you can work for free. You might not get paid, but they'll use you and give you tons of experience (just because they can, and because it costs them nothing.) Use your position to get money on the side by offering English lessons to your colleagues and their colleagues. If you're good, they'll spread the word around.

The dorms here are pretty cheap, around 400zl a month. They're fairly nice, and have tons of young people in them.

Find and date a Polish girl.
They're beautiful, and most have a place where you can stay (even if it's her family's place.)

Read all about my experiences and such in Warsaw at polishmeknob.blogspot.com

And what if you just so happen to be a heterosexual girl, hm? =P

Find yerself a jolly fellow :)

No. Don't skip the visa requirements. If you're caught (and this isn't impossible, the Straż Graniczna like to look through passports) - then a ban from Schengen could happen very easily. Being banned from the Schengen zone is effectively rendering you persona non grata throughout a huge chunk of Europe - and may force you to apply for a visa for any subsequent vists, with a hell of a job to explain just why you overstayed.

It's also a recipe for disaster if you're stopped by the police - it's not completely unrealistic to assume that they might want to see your ID - and if you're found to have overstayed, deportation will follow.

There's enough anecdotes online of people caught and thrown out to make it not worth the risk.

You don't need a visa (at least I don't) to be in Poland. SG isn't coming into my workplace, demanding that I hand over my passport. As far as they know, I'm just a tourist, which is fine. (Because of the Schengen they don't even know when I came into Poland, just when I came into the EU.)