Jun 20, 2022
9 min read
One day, my spouse and I decided to go to Poland to see the 13th-century Wieliczka salt mine as we both majored in History.
The one problem that I realized is that my spouse gets very nervous about traveling and the documentation process when applying for Visas.
Today, I am here to put your minds at ease and give you all the information you will need to apply for a Schengen Visa to Poland which is one of the Schengen states.
Let's dig into it:
As soon as we realized that we needed to apply for a Schengen Visa, we went on the internet to get the correct information.
We found the perfect app to help all tourists apply for their Schengen Visa online! Isn't that just convenience at its best?
These are the easy steps you will use:
Atlys Visa Applications. With Atlys, you can effortlessly apply for your visa application online.
Upon entering your personal details in the trip information, you will be guided through the application process.
This means that they will help you with your visa appointment and your required documents. This is what you call a "Stress-free" application.
Thanks to Atlys, there is no need to worry about anything when applying for your Poland Schengen Visa.
The Poland Schengen Visa, also known as a Poland Tourist Visa, enables you to travel to Poland for short stays. The duration of your stay depends on the type of visa you are applying for.
I will explain all the necessary information that you need to know when applying for a Schengen Visa to travel to Poland:
To apply for your Poland Schengen Visa, you have to register on the e-Konsulat portal. At first, this might seem confusing, but later in the post, I'll outline the exact steps you need to take.
We, the Asantes, are from Ghana, and we will need to apply for a Schengen Visa to visit Poland. Unfortunately, we don't enjoy visa-free traveling to Poland.
Similarly, countries such as Egypt and India are also required to apply for a Schengen Visa when traveling to Poland. However, in contrast to the above countries, other nationalities like citizens from the US or European Union enjoy "visa-free travel."
If you enjoy visa-free travel, you don't need to worry about applying for a Schengen Visa.
The question you're now asking yourself is, "what countries do you need to apply for a Schengen Visa?". Look no further as here is a list of all the countries that has to apply for a Schengen Visa.
Before my wife Kwame and I decided to apply for a Visa, we had to state our purpose for visiting Poland.
As our main purpose was to travel for tourism, this should have been stated during our Schengen Visa Application Process.
There are also other purposes for applying for a Schengen Visa, which are most commonly business, visiting friends or family members, and medical reasons.
During our web searching, I found the 10 different types of reasons that can be used when applying for a Schengen Visa.
As my spouse and I were looking for a Tourist Visa, we only had to apply for the Uniform Schengen Visa (USV). This type of visa is also known as a short stay Visa.
The USV enables us to not only go to Poland but rather allows us to do more traveling to the entire Schengen area. This also exempts us from having to apply for a transit visa (Type A).
We applied for the Uniform Schengen Visa because we thought we could maybe do a bit more traveling after our spectacular trip to Krakow and Warsaw.
As you might think, we historians cherish museums and art.
Other types of visas let you only travel to a single Schengen country called a Limited Territorial Visa (LTV).
My wife and I, Kwame, only decided to travel for about 30 days; we had to find out what the duration that we were allowed to travel in Poland was.
Now that we had decided on the Schengen Visa, we had to conclude the duration of our stay.
Because we only wanted to travel for 30 days, we decided to apply for the C-Type Visa. The C-Type Visa allowed us to stay in Poland for 90 days within 180 days. This was more than enough for us to do all our traveling without any worries.
The only mistake me and my spouse made was that we should've planned our trip for more than 30 days.
When applying for a Limited Territorial Visa (LTV), ensure that you apply for a Type A (Airport Transit) Visa.
This is required for transiting through airports when traveling to your desired destination, in our case, Poland. This visa does not allow you access to the area outside of the airport.
That was one of the reasons why we applied for the USV. We could go out for a quick tourist detour in the centre of Munich during our transit flight.
When I searched for the visa types, I also discovered a long-stay visa called a National Visa (Type D). This particular visa enables an applicant to stay in a Schengen country for more than 90-days up to a 180-day period.
Here I will briefly explain all the required documents for a Schengen Visa application.
If there is anything that you are not sure about, please feel free to read this post for a detailed explanation of each required document that will accompany your application.
Here I will explain all the steps that you must follow to complete your application with all visa requirements:
My advice would be to collect all the required documents before starting your application process.
This could be done later, but to be sure that all your bases are covered, ensure to have it on hand when starting with your application.
Things can get tricky from here, but I will guide you through these steps seamlessly if you follow these steps.
Follow this link that will take you to the E-Konsulat website to start the application process. After you have clicked on the link and are on the website, enter the country name you are traveling from.
Once you have entered the name of your country, select your consulate. For example, I chose "Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago" as we live in the USA and our closest Polish consulate is in Chicago.
After you have selected your preferred consulate, navigate to the left-hand side of the website to the "Schengen Visa - Register form" (#1). Here you will enter "Type of Service" (#2), "Location" (#3), and "Date of appointment" (#4) as seen below:
On the date of your Schengen Visa appointment you will need to attend a short in-person interview at the Consular office or Polish embassy. Generally this interview would be conducted by a consulate staff member. I know this is nerve-racking for some people but just know this is normal procedure for all Schengen Visa applications.
During this appointment, you will submit your Schengen Visa application, which you already printed after booking your appointment on E-Konsulat. In addition, you will also be required to submit all your required/supporting documents that you gathered during your application process.
We all have a bit of fear bubbling in our bellies when we hear the word "interview," but stress no further. I know you will do great with your Schengen Visa interview.
Just sit tight as you are almost at the end of your Schengen Tourist Visa process. After that, all you have to do is wait for your visa to be processed.
This can normally take between 15 - and 30 business days to be processed.
Once your visa has been processed, you will receive a confirmation via email, SMS, or phone call. This will depend on the contact method chosen during your application process.
At last! You are finished with your application.
The only thing left for you to do is collect your tourist visa at the location where all your documents have been submitted.
After an exciting and stressful documentation process, you are ready to begin your incredible journey.
The last thing that you need to do is give yourself a break and plan for your next adventure.
Suppose you are a Green Card holder from the US, and you also are from a third country that has not established a visa-free regime with the EU. In that case, you will have to apply for a Schengen Visa to travel to Schengen countries.
You can visit the following Schengen countries in Europe with a Poland Schengen Visa:
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The standard price for a Schengen Visa is around 80 Euros. However, some applicants are exempt from all visa fees. These applicants are normally students and children under the age of 6. There are also service fees that have to be paid when applying for a Poland Schengen Visa.
Additional note: all fees are non-refundable in the case of visa rejection.
Poland is rated one of the top 10 easiest countries to get a Schengen Visa with a processing time of 15 to 30 days. In other words, it is relatively easy to acquire a Schengen Visa for Poland. Furthermore, as Poland is situated in the more central part of the Schengen areas, they are more likely to offer visa applications a higher acceptance rate.