Features of the national visa and its differences from the Schengen visa

What is SCHENGEN - definition, meaning in simple words.

In simple words, Schengen is an opportunity to visit any country that has entered the Schengen zone under a simplified procedure. This visa opens up the opportunity to visit all countries from the list of those that signed the agreement. There is no need to draw up new documents every time or go through lengthy procedures; it is enough to apply for one visa and see the states that have entered the Schengen zone without any problems.

What is the Schengen Agreement?

In 1985, representatives of Luxembourg, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in the village of Luxembourg - Schengen, put their signatures, with which they agreed to simplify the visa regime among themselves.

This agreement was valid for fifteen years, after which time special laws appeared that all current and future members of the European Union must obey. Changes were made regularly in 2006, 2007; in 2008, air control was removed.

Thus, this zone included 26 countries.

Schengen countries and special regime for some territories.

There are a number of states that have made adjustments to their legislation without being subscribers to the Schengen agreement. For example, the dwarf states of Europe, such as the Vatican, Monaco and some others did not enter into this agreement, but previously abolished border controls with their “neighbors.” If you have a Schengen visa, you can safely visit these dwarf states.

Despite the fact that the laws in force for the Schengen area were included in the documentation of EU member states after the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, there are non-EU members whose territory is part of the Schengen area. De facto, three European dwarf states that are not members of the European Union are included in this agreement. Therefore, a multiple visa or Schengen will be very useful if you need to visit the territories of certain countries under a simplified regime.

It is worth noting that all EU members have promised to sign the agreement. Only Great Britain and Ireland refused.

What is the difference between a Polish national visa and a Schengen visa?

It is enough to go to the website of any embassy or visit a diplomatic office in person to obtain basic information about both Schengen and national visas. As a rule, the only official difference that is published is the permissible length of stay.

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However, when trying to obtain this or that visa, such a huge number of different nuances emerge that the list of differences grows quite large.

Terms and descriptions

Let us briefly recall the terminology. Each type of visa is designated by its own Latin letter:

1. “C” visas are documents called “Schengen”.
2. “D” visas are, accordingly, national-type permits.

The letter is followed by a digital designation, indicating in more detail the purpose of entry into the country. More information about visa types can be found in this material.

Difference in length of stay

It is this difference that employees of embassies, consulates and/or visa centers insist on. It is officially stated that:

For foreigners to stay in Poland for up to 90 days per six months, a Schengen visa or a visa-free regime can be used if there are appropriate agreements between the countries. If you need to stay in the country for more than 90 days, you need to apply for a national visa.

This is where official explanations usually end. But the complexities and nuances are just beginning.

Difference in purpose of entry

Until a certain time, the purposes of the trip were quite simple: Schengen is for leisure or shopping, a national visa is for work, study, etc.
However, the liberalization of the Polish labor market, the shortage of personnel that needs to be covered by employing foreigners and other problems, opened up more and more new opportunities for entering the country.

Today, the purposes of stay are not so obvious and may overlap. For example, to work in Poland (from a visa point of view), two factors are sufficient:

• legal stay;
• document permitting work.

In this case, the purpose of the initial entry (the purpose of obtaining a visa) is of secondary importance. A foreigner may have legal residence on the basis of language courses, but receive permission to work officially. Or enter on a visa-free basis (for Ukrainians), or a Schengen visa (Belarusians, Russians), but receive approval and work legally. There are plenty of options.

It is important to understand that this situation is currently only relevant for Poland. Other Schengen countries do not currently provide such facilitated employment opportunities.

Despite all of the above, more often Schengen visas are obtained for tourist purposes, and national ones for work or study.

Registration cost

When deciding on the cost of visas, you need to understand that it consists of several components:

1. Consular fee.
2. Service fee.
3. Additional services.

Ordering additional services (assistance in filling out the application form, photos, copies, courier, etc.) is voluntary and depends on the wishes of the applicant.

The service fee is paid only if you use the so-called services to obtain a visa. Poland visa centers or PPVA (visa application acceptance points). These are official intermediaries who help obtain visas to Poland. They work under contracts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, and have the right to use state symbols.

The consular fee is a mandatory fee for processing a visa issue by embassy or consulate employees. When applying to the PPVA, you will have to pay service and consular fees, and when requesting a visa directly to the visa department of the embassy, ​​you can get by with just the consular fee.

The amount of payments depends on the country and type of visa desired.

Schengen:

*After the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Belarus “On simplification of the visa regime” comes into force, the cost of a Schengen visa for citizens of the Republic of Belarus will drop to 35 euros.

There is no fee for visa-free travel. The decision to enter is made directly at the border. However, certain changes are planned in this area, which can be found out here.

National:

Let us draw your attention to the fact that in accordance with interstate agreements, issuing national visas to the Republic of Poland for Ukrainians is free. This does not eliminate the need to pay for PPVA services before registering for a visa.

Other details about the cost of visas can be found in this article.

Geography of use

This is the simplest question.
Schengen allows you to stay in all countries of the zone of the same name in 90/180 mode. National - the full period of stay allows the foreigner to stay in the country that issued this visa.

However, a national visa, regardless of its validity period, provides the opportunity for a tourist stay in other Schengen countries, but not more than 3 months per six months .

Number of entries

In this aspect, it is possible for novice travelers to get confused. So a Schengen visa can be:

• One-time . It means that you can stay in the Schengen zone for a specified period, but you can only cross the border once.
• Implying a certain number of entries . Rarely used, but nevertheless exists. The number of entries is predetermined. An example is a double-entry visa.
• Multi . The number of entries during the specified period of validity is unlimited.

National, as a rule, does not imply restrictions on the number of border crossings.

Corridors

The same difficult question that causes confusion among experienced travelers. The situation is easiest with Schengen visas or “visa-free travel”, which from the point of view of the corridor is taken into account equally. For both entry possibilities the corridor is 90/180, i.e. You can stay in the Schengen zone for no more than 90 days every six months.

Please note that both the visa-free regime and the Schengen visa are classified as one type of stay - short-term . Their corridors are counted equally, i.e. You cannot immediately get Schengen after staying on a “visa-free” visa, and vice versa.

National visa corridors are a little more complicated. The most common cases:

1. Voivodeship - does not require the presence of a corridor, and can be opened after any other type, even if the corridor “extends” from the previous visa.
2. Non-seasonal working (D05a) - implies a corridor of 180/360, i.e. You can stay no more than six months (in total) during the year.
3. Seasonal (D05b) – similar to the previous one, but implies a 270/360 corridor.

In Poland, bills that involve changing the parameters of some corridors are at the initial discussion level. However, for now these rules are in effect.

It is important to understand that corridors for national (if any) and Schengen visas are taken into account separately. That is, during the operation of a corridor of one type, it is possible to obtain a document of another type if there are grounds for this. Other details about visa corridors can be found in this article.

Features of the Schengen rules.

The rules of the Schengen Agreement boil down to the fact that countries that have signed the agreement must eliminate controls at internal borders between those states that have signed the agreement. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen border controls with those countries that are not part of the Schengen area, but are “neighbors”.

For this to work, states are required to introduce a uniform policy for people who temporarily visit their territories. They must agree on the specifics of border control within this zone and provide for the practice of police and judicial cooperation at the level of signatories to the agreement.

Thus, all countries that decide to enter the Schengen zone adopt uniform rules that relate to cooperation in terms of border control within the zone, as well as cooperation at the level of the police and court systems.

There are exceptions that apply to special situations. For example, conducting events of particular importance, when a country can temporarily, for up to 30 days, restore control at the border with some countries included in this zone.

How to get a Schengen visa?

To obtain Schengen, you must contact the consulate of a specific state that has signed the agreement, or more precisely, the country that is the main purpose of visiting. Even if you plan to visit several countries, to obtain a visa you just need to choose one to visit first.

For example, there is a need to visit Germany, but before that – Belgium. You need to contact the Belgian consulate, fill out documents, and three days are given for transit. But in practice, everything is a little different, if you decide to visit the Schengen countries by your own transport or by train, for example, from Belgium to Germany, then they will not know about your real location, if a visitor to the countries does not want to notify someone, there will be no stamp .

Despite the fact that the space is single, the consulates of a certain country work differently, the requirements are stricter or softer. Even the human factor plays a role. Therefore, when planning a trip to several countries, it makes sense to think about which one to start with in order to make it easier to obtain a multiple visa. True, there are nuances; some rules apply, according to which the document should be drawn up where the visitor will be staying longer.

Each consulate provides for obtaining a visa using a simplified, expedited procedure. It will cost twice as much, but if time is of the essence, a multiple visa can be issued in three days.

Polish work visa options

Work visa d to Poland is divided into several types. There are different requirements, which are usually known only to specialists who have worked in this field for many years:

1. D5 Work visa to Poland, which is issued to employees who have an agreement with the company. You can live for six months, not necessarily without a break. The main thing is that the total number of days of stay should not exceed 180.
2. D6 Currently available only to citizens of Russia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Gives you the right to live and work the whole year without leaving. Optimal if there is employment.

How much does Schengen cost?

An expedited visa, one that is issued urgently within three working days, will cost twice as much. But the price is determined not only by the speed of registration, but also by the purpose of the trip.

The consular fee for a single or multiple document, regardless of the country, for non-urgent processing will be 35 euros. If the purpose is a long stay, for example, a trip for study, work, permanent residence, then the price for non-urgent registration is 90 euros.

A very convenient option for those people who have the opportunity to pay a little more, but time is pressing, contact special travel agencies. The price will be higher, depending on the country (take into account that the requirements differ in different countries, and it is more difficult to enter the territory of some states that are part of the Schengen zone). But if there is no need to rush, you can do it yourself.

How to get a Polish visa based on an invitation to work?

Having clarified the main points, we will combine all the necessary information in the form of step-by-step instructions for obtaining a six-month visa.

Step 1. Find a job

The search for an employer occurs through the usual available means. These could be advertisements in the media, on specialized websites, through acquaintances or with the help of recruitment agencies.

Select several suitable options, specifying the type of employment - whether the consecration will be issued and for what period.

Expert opinion

Yaroslav

Expert of the site “Work in Poland”, “Polish Consultant” | Profile in , .

I recommend that citizens of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia who have a visa-free regime immediately clarify whether visa-free travel can be applied. Theoretically, this is possible, but the period of stay will be no more than 90 days per six months. In order to use this tool to its full potential, it is necessary to formalize the consecration in the appropriate stages - 90 days of work through the 90th corridor, then again 3 months of employment on a visa-free basis. In this case, the instructions for obtaining a visa are irrelevant, since there is no need to obtain such a visa.

Step 2. Clarification of conditions

In addition to what is described above, you need to find out, if possible, most of the issues related to employment. The main ones:

• Schedule.
• Possibility of overtime, work on weekends.
• Salary – size and methods of calculation.
• Providing accommodation.
• Delivery to work.
• Type of employment contract (umova o praca or umova zletseniya).
• Providing work clothing and protective equipment.
• Possibility of further legalization.

There may be many other relevant requests. The main principle is that the more information is clarified in advance, the fewer problems may arise during the work process.

Step 3. Registration of consecration for six months

The selected employer, after agreeing on the conditions, submits documents for the opening of the consecration. The result of this stage is not only the receipt of the document, but also its forwarding to the employee.

Expert opinion

Yaroslav

Expert of the site “Work in Poland”, “Polish Consultant” | Profile in , .

Another frequent question is whether it is possible to obtain a visa not using the original, but using a copy of the approval. The original is officially required. Both consular officers and border guards can go to the meeting and apply for entry using a copy, but they are not required to do this, and refusal is very likely. It’s better not to risk it and submit the original.

Step 4. Collecting documents

At this stage, you need to perform three main steps: prepare everything from the above list, find out at the consulate/PPVA the necessary additional documents and collect them, fill out and sign the visa application forms yourself.

The result of this step is a completely finished package of documents.

Step 5. Payment of the visa fee

Russians and Belarusians can pay for PPVA services and consular fees (if needed) directly when submitting documents.

Ukrainian citizens must pay the required fees in advance. Moreover, it is the fact of payment that is the basis for pre-registration to visit the visa center (see Step 6). Payment is possible through a branch of Credo Bank, Privatbank and Idea Bank, or through their special online services.

Let us remind you that all the details about payment methods can be read here, and the result of the step for Ukrainians will be to receive a PTN - a unique identifier code.

Step 6. Registration at the visa center

This step also differs among citizens of the countries in question. Ukrainians who have completed the previous step will only have to wait for a call from the PPVA and agree on the date/time of visiting the visa center.

Citizens of Belarus and Russia can use online registration services. You can find them using the links: , . Please note that sites may be unavailable under heavy load. In this case, try again later.

In all cases, if you wish to apply directly at the consulate, registration is carried out through the e-consulat system. The result should always be the date and time of submission of documents.

Step 7. Submitting documents to the PPVA

You must visit the selected institution at the specified time. Solve the remaining issues - it is possible to take a photo on the spot, order notification services, delivery of a completed passport, purchase insurance, etc.

Submitted documents will be checked for compliance with standards. This is the initial check. Next, the package will be sent to the consulate for a decision.

Ukrainians can use the postal service through Nova Poshta. To do this, after paying the fees, a package of documents is sent to the address of a specially designated department. Addresses are not permanent, you can check them here. The service is paid, but in this case there is no need to visit the branch.

Step 8. Tracking the readiness of your passport

There are special services to monitor the status of the application. To find out the status of your submitted application, follow the links:

• For Ukraine.
• For Russia.
• For Belarus.

We wrote in more detail about the readiness of a Polish visa earlier. Incl. provided telephone numbers where you can check whether your visa is ready.

Step 9. Obtaining a passport with a visa for 6 months

If the decision is positive, all that remains is to receive a completed passport. To do this, visit the PPVA / consulate again, or order courier delivery services.

How to obtain a Schengen visa.

For those who wish to obtain a visa, the following uniform rules apply:

• possess a foreign passport, the validity of which must not expire at least three months after the end of the planned trip;
• have documents that confirm the purpose of the visit, for example, a meeting, tourism, an invitation from a resident of this country, a hotel or hostel reservation is suitable; It is worth noting that when booking a room, it is enough to pay for just a couple of nights; if the purpose of the trip is several countries, then the overnight reservation must be for at least a couple of days in the country visited first;
• own finances (you need money for each day of your stay in the country, usually at the rate of 100 US dollars per day, plus finances for returning home if the ticket is not purchased/booked in advance);
• mandatory item – insurance; the insurance must be valid in the territories of all countries in this zone.

There are a number of other rules that are important to consider:

• not pose a danger to the national security of the state;
• not be on the list of persons prohibited from entering countries;
• you will need to fill out a special form;
• for those who apply for a multiple visa - documents for real estate in this country, which is a huge advantage when obtaining a visa.

Cost of a set of documents:

1. Six-month work visa to Poland D5 180/180 (180 days of stay within six months) - 17,000 rubles (≈180 euro)

✓ The deadline for issuing an invitation is 1-2 weeks (OSWIADCZENIE). It is possible to issue an urgent invitation.

✓ Documents required for registration - a scan of the first page of the international passport, the start date of the invitation.

(The invitation is issued only for the following countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia)

2. Annual work visa to Poland D5 180/365 (180 days of stay during the year) - 21,000 rubles (≈220 euro)

✓ The deadline for issuing an invitation is 1-2 weeks (OSWIADCZENIE). It is possible to issue an urgent invitation.

✓ Documents required for registration - a scan of the first page of the international passport, the start date of the invitation.

(The invitation is issued only for the following countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia)

3. Annual work visa to Poland D6 365/365 (365 days of stay during the year) - 39,500 rubles (≈400 euro)

✓ The period for issuing an invitation is 1-3 months (ZEZWOLENIE)

✓ Documents required for registration - a scan of all pages of the international passport, the start date of the invitation.

4. Six-month work visa to Poland D5 180/180, set of VIP documents - 34,500 rubles (≈380 euro)

✓ The deadline for issuing an invitation is 1-2 weeks (OSWIADCZENIE)

✓ Documents required for registration - a scan of all pages of the international passport, the start date of the invitation

(The invitation is issued only for the following countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia)

The prepared set of VIP documents includes:

• Original invitation from a Polish employer
• Annual insurance for 180 days of stay with COVID-19 coverage included and the purpose of the trip is “Work”
• Visa application form
• Consent to the processing of personal data
• Photo 3.4 x 4.5 (for clients from Kaliningrad)
• Making an appointment to submit documents to the Poland Visa Application Center
• Consultations throughout the entire period of document preparation
• Refund of funds paid to us in case of visa refusal

For all sets of documents at the visa center, clients pay separately the consular fee - 80 euro and the visa center fee - 11 euro. Submission of documents for national visas category D is personal only.

We work from Kaliningrad with all regions of the Russian Federation! Poland is closer to us than any other region of Russia! We know all the intricacies of preparing documents for a work visa to Poland, we know how best to cross the border now with a national visa D. If you have questions, ask us and we will be happy to answer them! Write to WhatsApp, Viber.

Rules for using a Schengen visa.

There are two basic rules for those preparing to visit several countries:

1. First entry rule
2. Home country rule

The essence of the first rule is that a tourist or visitor to the Schengen zone is required to enter the country in which the visa was issued for the first time. Then you can move to other territories.

According to the second rule , the visitor is obliged to visit the country that issued the visa for longer (even if only for one day). The total time of stay in other countries that have signed the agreement should not exceed even 1 day the time spent in the “main” country.

That is why prices at travel agencies for paperwork differ. If the purpose of the trip is a specific territory where you need to stay longer, you will have to apply for a visa at the consulate of that country.