Study in Poland, wanting to travel around Europe; Having Visa concerns

Hi There!

I am a Singapore student who is going to Poland for a school exchange soon. I have already planned to travel 2 months in the Schengen region before school starts in Poland. In between, I plan to travel around the Schengen region and even out of Schengen region like UK. My in between trips may take more than 5 days.

I went to the Poland embassy in Singapore and was told this.

With a Singapore passport, we are entitled to travel in the Schengen region for max 90 days out of 180 days so we do not need a visa to travel.

However when I told the person at the embassy that we need a visa that allow us to stay more than 90 days, he told us about the Poland national visa however we are not allowed to travel to other areas out of Poland for more than 5 days as stated below.

"Long-stay visas (type D) with permission of staying in Poland longer than 90 days are national Polish visas and enable you to stay only on the territory of Poland (staying on this kind of visa in any other Schengen countries for any other reason than transit will be treated as an offense - it's allowed to stay on Polish long-stay visa maximum 5 days in Schengen countries for transit reasons)."

Therefore, is there a way which allow me to stay in Poland for more than 90 days and still able to travel around Schengen area and UK for more than 5 days at a time throughout my school term in Poland?

Please advise!

Thank you!

That's out of date - holders of a D visa can now travel for 3 months in Schengen freely now.

But it's irrelevant to you - as you have a 3 month tourist 'visa' anyway - you're free to do as you please during that time. Just make sure that you stick to the 90 out of 180 day limit when out of Poland and you'll be fine.

Hmm but the guy from the Poland embassy told us that if we obtain the Poland National Visa, we cannot visit other parts of Europe, eg Germany for more than 5 days.

Another question, how does the 90 days out of 180 days work?

If I travel 30 days out of Poland in Italy then return back to Poland for 65 days then travel to France for 8 days. Will they still consider my days in France as the 90 days? Cause technically, I have only used 30 days for italy out of my 90 days. So will they consider my days in Poland as part of the 90 days too if I have a Poland National visa?

It's nonsense - the old regulations said that, but as you're from Singapore - you don't need to worry about the 5 days anyway, because you have the right to 90 days in 180 in Schengen anyway.


No - it's only counted from when you use it. It's advised to keep with you a record of all your trips, so you can prove how long you've spent in non-Poland Schengen - in your case, you'd be back to 90 days with the trip. Essentially, one day in the zone must be equalled with one day out of the zone (or in a country for which you have a national visa). In your case - you'll have 60 days left, but then as you spend 65 days 'out of zone' - you'll be back to 90 days.

The embassy is quite frankly wrong - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area#Schengen_visa

Thank you Delphiandomine for your wonderful and helpful reply!

I will email the guy from the embassy again! =D

Delphiandomine you are right of course but it always surprises me in the amount of disparity there is between advising organisations - it is about time there was some common advisory body that you can turn to, apart from your good self that is lol

It's nonsense :( Even I get it wrong - but when you have such nonsense as several different types of Karta Pobytu that give you different rights to work, yet all the cards are identical - are you surprised?

Merged: With Poland visa can I travel to Brno?

Hello there, I'm from Nepal. I'm planning to fly for Warsaw on August 5 and arrival is on August 6. My classes are from September, so there is 1 month of off. So why I'm thinking to visit my uncle and auntie at Bruno on August 7. I will take metor after arriving Warsaw airport to Bruno. So suggest me possible ways. Will it be illegal to visit Bruno, Czech Republic without university studnet ID card???

Read the topic in which you have written...

And there is a whole long page on Wikipedia about it.

First google, then ask.

From what I know, you can. With a visa of any Schengen country you can legally travel to any Schengen country and probably even stay there however long you want (within the validity period of your visa). But, again, check it, because I am not 100% sure about this. And remember that not all the EU countries are in the Schengen zone, so if you want to go for example to the UK, then even if it stays in the EU after today's referendum, the regulations might be different.

And anyway noone checks the documents on the Polish-Czech border. Although there might be random controls, with police/border guard stopping random cars and checking the documents, in the area around the border - but they are not so frequent.

The city is called Brno, not Bruno, and you cannot get there by the metro (it's over 500 km!) - probably it will be easiest (although rather not cheapest) to get there by train.

Thank you so much kpc21. But I just want to be sure that without university's student ID card, can I visit Brno? My agent in Nepal said that I can't travel with out getting student ID card and university will take about 2 weeks to provide studnet ID card.

Why not? University student ID has no meaning for crossing the border. It just may be useful if you want to visit some museums and other objects, then it's possible that you could get a discount on the entrance fee with a student ID. Also if you want to travel by trains in Poland (but not in Czech Republic), you get a 51% discount with a Polish student ID - although if you buy an international train ticket, the discount doesn't apply.

You just need the document confirming your legal stay in the EU. I am not sure if it's your passport with the visa, or maybe also the residence permit - but it's enough.

That was great help. Thank you kcp21