Student visa for Poland, for students from Kenya

Non-EU students staying over three months need a national D visa with annotation "09", obtained at the consulate before travel, then converted to a temporary residence permit for studies after arrival.

• D visa: €80. Officially issued within 30 days, but the consulate checklist warns it may extend to 60, and applying within 60 days of travel is at your own risk. Appointments go through e-KONSULAT.
• Travel medical insurance is mandatory, minimum €30,000 cover, Schengen-wide, for the whole stay.
• Residence permit, PLN 340 stamp duty plus PLN 100 for the card. Should conclude within 60 days of a complete application, though Warsaw and Kraków run long backlogs.
• Your first permit as a first-year student is 15 months, not 12.

Now the trap, and it is worth reading twice. The funds requirement is calculated over that 15-month period, not a year:

• PLN 1,010 a month if you live alone (PLN 823 per person with family)
• plus 15 × your monthly rent and utilities
• plus return travel: PLN 200 to a neighbouring country, PLN 500 elsewhere in the EU, PLN 2,500 outside the EU, waived if you hold a return ticket
• plus tuition

So the living-cost element alone is 15 × PLN 1,010 = PLN 15,150, and a realistic total for a student renting at PLN 1,000 a month is around PLN 32,000-35,000 (roughly €7,500-8,100) plus tuition.

Meanwhile, some consulate checklists still quote PLN 701 a month. Two different legal standards are genuinely in play: the entry regulation the consulate applies, and the Foreigners Act the voivode applies, but the consulate figure also appears simply out of date. Budget to PLN 1,010 over 15 months, because even if the consulate accepts less for the visa, the voivode will apply the higher figure a few months later when you convert to a residence permit. Students who budget to the consulate figure get the visa and then fail the permit.