POLISH VISA (IF NECESSARY)

  accommodation

  health insurance

 pesel number

  bank account

    http://www.go-poland.pl         

• As a general rule you need a visa to enter Poland. There are, however, a number of countries that are free of this requirement. You can check if your country is on the list here: http://www.msz.gov.pl
• Poland is a part of the Schengen zone, so you can apply for a Polish visa and travel all around Europe (excluding the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and states outside of the EU).

Accomodation

health insurance

The health insurance system in Poland is  obligatory. When applying for a visa to Poland and legalising your stay in Poland, you always need to show insurance coverage confirmation.Healthcare services financed with public funds are available to persons covered by national health insurance on a compulsory or voluntary basis. This means that the insured who pay their contributions by a fixed date each month have free access to medical services covered by NFZ.

INDIVIDUAL INSURANCE | You should remember that certain employment contracts do not oblige the employer to insure their employees. So if  your employment contract does not include the insurance, you have to obtain it individually, either in the public healthcare system (National Health Fund - NFZ) or in a private insurance company.

Public health insurance | In order to obtain the National Health Fund insurance, first you need to fill in the NFZ application form and submit it together with your identification document/passport, in one of the National Health Fund departments.

The next step is signing a health insurance agreement. Then, within 7 days you need to go to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) to submit a form called ZUS ZZA in order to prove the signed agreement.

The amount of the monthly health insurance contributions is around PLN 380 - may change every quarter. Foreign students, including doctoral students pay a lower amount of PLN 46.80. The contributions should be paid before 15th day each month to appropriate bank account.

You are obliged to declare also your family members who are not subject to any other health insurance coverage. Adding family members will not result in paying additional or higher contributions.

Private insurance | Numerous private insurance companies offer various customised insurance policies. You need to know that private insurance policies do not provide the same general and equal access to medical services as the public coverage does.

Also note that private policies often set delay periods meaning that you cannot benefit from certain services, usually the most expensive ones, before a certain period of time passes, e.g. you only can use rehabilitation or small surgery treatment after 60 or 120 days of paying the                                 insurance contributions.

Taking the above into consideration, it is advisable to obtain the public National Health Fund insurance.

DOCTORAL STUDENTS | European citizens, who are PhD students in Poland, are insured by their university or institute, unless they are covered by other insurance entitlements, e.g. if they are not insured by their parents (regardless of where they live). Non-European doctoral candidates in Poland should ask at the university whether they will be insured because higher education institutions are not obliged by law to cover health insurance of the students. In such case they are required to take out insurance individually through the below-mentioned voluntary insurance procedure.

THIRD COUNTRIES | Arrangements for nationals of third countries are laid down in relevant bilateral inter-government agreements. For example, citizens of Albania, Bosnia and                                         Herzegovina, Montenegro, Russia and Serbia have the right to free healthcare services in case of emergency (sudden illness or accident) because the expenses for the services are covered by the Ministry of Health.

Insured foreigners are obliged to hold a document confirming their status.

pesel number