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A full-time student (studia stacjonarne) at a Polish university may work without a work permit, and Polish rules set no hour limit at all for this exemption. But since 1 December 2025 the exemption has a second condition: the university must be approved by the Minister of the Interior for admitting foreigners, or must by law not be subject to such approval. The transition period, which for a while preserved the old rule for some universities, ended on 30 June 2026, so articles written earlier describe a rule that no longer exists.
The provision the answer rests on
The exemption is written in § 1(12) of the regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 20 November 2025 (Dz.U. 2025, poz. 1620). It entered into force on 1 December 2025 and was issued on the basis of Article 3(7) of the law of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for permitting the entrustment of work to foreigners (Dz.U. 2025, poz. 621).
The provision requires two things at the same time:
- the mode of study: full-time (studia stacjonarne). Extramural and evening modes do not fall under this point
- the educational unit: either approved by the Minister of the Interior for admitting foreigners for study under Article 144(4) of the Act on Foreigners, or, under Article 144(5), not subject to approval at all, with no decision banning the admission of foreigners issued in respect of it under Article 144a(1)
A separate point (§ 1(13)) exempts work as part of a professional placement provided for by the study program. That is not the same as a side job: the placement follows the university’s program.
What matters to understand before signing a contract: the exemption removes the need for a work permit but does not cancel the requirements attached to your basis of stay. These are different layers, and they are covered separately below.
What has to be checked is your university, not your field of study
The approval condition attaches to the university, so the answer to “do I need a work permit” can differ for two students of the same field at different universities. Not subject to the approval requirement are public academic universities, military universities, universities of the state services, universities of churches and religious associations whose relationship with Poland is governed by an international treaty or a law, and also research institutes and scientific institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Article 144(5)).
The key change: the item about non-public academic universities was removed from this list with effect from 1 July 2025. A private academic university now obtains approval like everyone else, and that is exactly why the transitional provision of the regulation (§ 3) allowed students of non-public academic and public professional universities that had not yet met the condition of Article 144(4) to work until 30 June 2026. This provision of the regulation was not extended: as of 12 August 2026 the regulation has not a single amending act.
The current list of approved units is published by Poland’s Ministry of the Interior on the page about approving units for the admission of foreigners. What you check is your own university, and for the date that matters, not someone else’s article and not a recruiter’s promise.
Visa or karta pobytu: the answer depends on the basis
Free access to the labor market comes from the karta pobytu for study, not from a student visa. This is written directly in Article 3(1)(14) of the law of 20 March 2025: a foreigner holding a temporary residence permit issued in connection with the circumstances of Article 144 of the Act on Foreigners has free access to the labor market. This provision mentions neither the mode of study nor the status of the university.
| Basis of stay | Is a work permit needed | What determines it |
|---|---|---|
| Karta pobytu for study (Article 144) | Not needed | Free access under Article 3(1)(14) of the law of 20 March 2025. The status of the university has already been checked earlier: the residence permit itself is issued only for study at a unit that is approved or exempt from approval |
| National visa for the purpose of study (Article 60(1)(9)) | Not needed, but only with full-time study and a qualifying university | § 1(12) of the regulation of 20 November 2025. The visa by itself gives no exemption, it is only on the list of bases under which work is possible at all (Article 3(3)(1)) |
| A visa, but extramural study or a university without approval | Needed | The employer has to obtain a work permit (zezwolenie na pracę) |
The last row is harder on Kazakhstanis than it looks. The simplified procedure through an oświadczenie o powierzeniu pracy is available only to citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine (Dz.U. 2025, poz. 1617). Kazakhstan is not on the list, so a Kazakhstani student has no alternative to a full work permit.
A separate case that in practice every first-year student meets: the karta pobytu application is filed, the decision is not ready yet, and there is a stamp in the passport. The law takes this into account. Free access is retained if, immediately before filing the application, the person met the conditions giving such access (Article 3(1)(18)), and the route through a permit is retained provided that before filing the person had the right to work (Article 3(3)(2)). Which of these applies to you depends on the basis on which you were living and working before filing. How the first weeks and the karta pobytu application work: first weeks and karta pobytu. Where the visa basis starts and what goes into the document package: student visa to Poland for Kazakhstanis.
How many hours a student can work in Poland
There is no hour limit. Neither the regulation of 20 November 2025 nor the law of 20 March 2025 names, for this exemption, a number of hours per week, a number of days or a number of months. Checked against the full text of the regulation, not against a quotation from someone else’s article.
The figure “20 hours per week” that travels around Russian-language materials is absent from the Polish rules on student work. Most likely it is another country’s rule carried over.
That said, a time restriction did once exist in Polish law, and its text is worth seeing in order to understand the difference. The regulation of 20 July 2011 (Dz.U. 2011 nr 155, poz. 919, § 1(11)) exempted a full-time student from a work permit only in July, August and September. The regulation of 21 April 2015 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2021, poz. 2291, § 1(10)) already exempted any full-time student all year round and contained no condition about the university; it ceased to have effect on 1 December 2025. So when the legislator wanted to limit the time, it wrote that directly into the text. Right now that is not in the text.
The conclusion for planning: your hours are limited not by the rule on work permits but by your studies and your contract. And your own conditions have to be checked against your own basis of stay, not against a number from an article.
The basis of stay is given for study, not for work
The real risk of overworking is not a fine but the basis of stay. A temporary residence permit for the purpose of study is issued when the purpose of the stay is to begin or continue studies, and the foreigner presents a university statement of admission or continuation of studies, proof of payment for the semester or year where the studies are paid, holds health insurance and has sufficient means for maintenance, the return journey and the cost of studies (Article 144(1)).
From there the law works in both directions:
- the permit is revoked if the circumstances of the case show that it is being used for a purpose other than the one it was issued for (Article 148(1)(1))
- the permit may be revoked if the foreigner has been removed from the list of students or doctoral candidates (Article 148(2))
- a further permit is refused if the previous one was used for another purpose (Article 147(2)), and may be refused if the person was removed from the list of students (Article 147(3))
- the general grounds for revocation: the purpose of the stay has ended, or the person has ceased to meet the conditions for the declared purpose (Article 101(1)-(2))
So the phrase “you can work as much as you like” is wrong in substance, even though formally there is no hour limit. The exam session, course credits and keeping student status are not motivation here but a condition of the legality of the stay.
The periods all this is tied to: the first permit for a first-year student is issued for 15 months, a further one for the duration of the studies plus 3 months, but no longer than 3 years (Article 145).
The contract: what the employer must do before day one
A written contract must be concluded before you are allowed to start work (Article 5(1) of the law of 20 March 2025). If the contract is drawn up in Polish and you do not know Polish, the employer is required, before signing, to present the content of the contract to you in writing in a version you understand and to keep it (Article 5(2)). If the contract is in a foreign language, the employer keeps its translation into Polish made by a sworn translator (Article 5(3)). Separately, the employer informs you in writing of the right to join trade unions (Article 5(4)).
This is not a formality: work without the required permit, or on a basis of stay that gives no right to work, is expressly named in the law as illegal performance of work by a foreigner (Article 2(3)).
On money this page gives only the lower limits set by the rules. From 1 January 2026 the minimum remuneration for work is 4 806 zlotys and the minimum hourly rate is 31.40 zlotys (Dz.U. 2025, poz. 1242). That is what may not be paid below, not a guide to income.
How much a student will earn is something this page does not estimate and will not estimate. The mandatory funds for studies and maintenance are confirmed before the residence permit is issued, not afterwards out of a salary, so an admission budget cannot be built on a future side job. Costs are covered separately: how much studying in Poland costs.
ZUS and tax: what student status changes
Student status changes the picture only for a zlecenie contract, and only until the age of 26. Persons working under a zlecenie contract (and under another contract for the provision of services to which the rules on mandate apply) are not subject to compulsory pension and disability insurance if they are pupils of schools above the basic level or students, until they turn 26 (Article 6(4) of the act on the social insurance system, consolidated text Dz.U. 2024, poz. 497). The provision contains no conditions on citizenship: what matters is status and age. As soon as one of the two ends, the exemption ends with it.
Under an employment contract the contributions are paid on general terms: the exception is worded only for persons working under zlecenie and does not extend to employees (Article 6(1)(1) and (4) of the same act).
On tax there is a relief for persons under 26: income up to 85 528 zlotys in a tax year is exempt from tax, and the list of sources is limited, covering an employment contract, some zlecenie contracts, praktyki absolwenckie and staż uczniowski. The official podatki.gov.pl page states separately that the relief also extends to those who have no place of residence in Poland, that is, to non-residents.
Rates and a take-home calculation are deliberately absent here: the calculation depends on the type of contract and on the tax status, and it is checked with the employer or at the tax office, not against an article.
Freelance and your own business: the basis of stay decides here
A sole proprietorship in Poland can be registered by the holder of a temporary residence permit issued in connection with the circumstances of Article 144, that is, by the holder of a karta pobytu for study: they carry on the activity on the same terms as citizens of Poland (Article 4(2)(1)(c) of the act of 6 March 2018 on the participation of foreign entrepreneurs, consolidated text Dz.U. 2022, poz. 470). A visa holder is not on this list, and for those who are not on the list the law leaves only certain forms of partnerships and companies (paragraph 3 of the same article).
The practical meaning is simple: freelancing through your own sole proprietorship is tied to the karta pobytu, not to the visa, and it does not appear in the first month after arrival.
What to check before signing a contract
- the mode of study on your university statement: full-time or not
- whether your university is on the Ministry of the Interior list of approved units, or belongs to those that do not need approval
- what your basis of stay is today: a visa, a karta pobytu or a stamp after filing the application
- whether there is a written contract before the first working day, and a version of its content in a language you understand
- the type of contract: employment or zlecenie, because the contributions depend on it
- how the work fits your timetable and the keeping of your student status