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What to count from: 1 October and the countdown
In the Polish admission timeline there are only two points a school graduate does not choose. The academic year in Poland starts on 1 October: this is set by the law on higher education and science. A Kazakhstani graduate gets the school certificate in hand only in the second half of June: in 2026 the state final exams for grade 11 ran from 2 to 15 June, and the certificate does not exist before the last exam.
Between those two points there are about three months, and they have to fit the apostille, certificate recognition, university enrollment, tuition payment, insurance, a visa submission slot and the consul’s decision. And one step in that chain, certificate recognition at NAWA, has no published processing time at all: NAWA writes that it issues this information as quickly as possible given a very large number of applications, and names no number.
That is exactly why Poland requires an early start. Not because “it is better that way”, but because a step with no timeline sits in the middle of a chain with a hard end. And the countdown runs into the university enrollment deadline, not the consulate: without the university’s certificate of admission a visa application cannot be submitted, and some universities require the certificate recognition document even before enrollment.
All dates and amounts below were checked against official sources on 28 July 2026. The 2026 dates are given as a confirmed example of how the cycle works, not as next year’s schedule.
Why the sections below name months, not dates
Poland has no national deadline: admission dates are set by each university, for each programme and for each academic year, and for international applicants this is often a separate schedule. Universities adopt their admission rules more than a year in advance: the Jagiellonian University (UJ) had adopted its rules for 2027/2028 by July 2026, but the exact date schedule comes out much later, and as of 28 July 2026 not one of the verified universities had published it. So the calendar below is a diagram of the cycle, and your own dates live in two different documents from your university: the admission rules and the recruitment schedule for international applicants.
The month-by-month calendar
| Period | What the graduate does | What blocks the next step |
|---|---|---|
| September-October of grade 11 | Chooses the country, university, programme and language of instruction | The language of instruction defines the calendar: Polish-taught and English-taught programmes recruit on different dates |
| November-January | Prepares the language certificate the university requires and watches for the admission rules to be published | The language level is set by the university, and at submission the consul has the right to check knowledge of the language of instruction |
| February-March | Registers in the first admission round for international applicants where such a round exists | There is no certificate yet. Applying is possible if the certificate will be received by the enrollment deadline |
| March-April | Sits interviews where they are required, waits for the ranking list, starts enrollment | From here only the university’s qualification moves things forward |
| April-May | A second round where places remain. Registration opens for English-taught programmes | Not every programme and not every university has a second round |
| Late May - mid-June | Finishes school and sits the state final exams | Without the certificate neither the apostille nor the NAWA application can start |
| Right after receiving the certificate | Submits the document for an apostille: 15 working days, 0.5 MRP per document | The apostille is needed for the visa package but not for the NAWA application, so the two steps run in parallel |
| June-July | Sends the NAWA application through SYRENA, free of charge and online only. The main rounds of Polish-taught programmes run in parallel | NAWA publishes no processing time. The clock starts from a complete set; an incomplete package moves it to the date the gaps are fixed |
| July-August | English-taught recruitment and document upload for qualified candidates close | The whole countdown is set by the university enrollment deadline, not by the visa timeline |
| August | Enrollment and money: the recognition document goes to the university, tuition is paid, the university issues its certificate of admission, insurance, a bank statement | Without the university’s certificate of admission the visa application form cannot be submitted |
| August - early September | Gets a slot in e-konsulat and submits the documents in person | Slots open once a week on a set schedule. The visa decision can take up to 60 days |
| September | Late enrollment windows for foreign certificates if the main round was missed | September enrollment leaves almost no time for the visa |
| 1 October | The academic year starts by law; the first day of classes is confirmed with the university | The first visa covers only the first semester |
| October-December | Applies for a residence card (karta pobytu) after arrival | Extending the stay is decided in Poland, not at the consulate |
Autumn and winter of grade 11: the choice and the admission rules
What gets decided in this period is not “where I want to go” but which calendar the student will live by for the whole next year. The language of instruction changes the entire schedule: the University of Warsaw (UW) warns directly that recruitment for English-taught programmes may run on different dates, and those dates are listed separately for each programme, in the rector’s order.
Spring: the first round for international applicants
At some universities the main round for international applicants runs in winter and spring, long before Kazakhstan’s exams. In 2026 the Jagiellonian University accepted international applications for first-cycle and long-cycle master’s programmes from 23 February to 9 March, the ranking list was published on 31 March, and enrollment ran from 13 April to 9 September. The second round, where places remained, closed on 11 May with results on 2 June.
The key detail that reconciles the two calendars: UJ allows taking part in the round even when the certificate does not exist yet, on the condition that the certificate is in hand no later than 9 September 2026. Without that rule a Kazakhstani graduate would not make the February round at all.
English-taught programmes open on their own dates. At the Warsaw University of Technology (PW), registration for English-taught bachelor’s programmes starting in October 2026 opened on 11 May 2026. A private university can open admission even earlier: Kozminski University opened admission to its Bachelor in Management programme on 2 March 2026. Each of these dates belongs to its own university, its own programme and its own academic year, and cannot be transferred to another institution.
Summer: the certificate, the apostille, NAWA and the main rounds
The 2025-2026 school year in Kazakhstan ended on 25 May 2026, and the state final exams for grade 11 ran from 2 to 15 June 2026. The dates of each following school year are set by a separate order, so they need to be checked afresh, not carried over from the previous year.
The apostille for the certificate is arranged through the “Government for Citizens” State Corporation or through egov.kz; the processing time is 15 working days via both channels, and the state fee is 0.5 MRP (the monthly calculation index) per document. At the 2026 MRP of 4,325 tenge that is 2,162.50 tenge per document; the MRP changes every January, so the amount has to be recalculated. The day the documents are accepted at the State Corporation does not count towards the processing time. A university diploma takes longer to apostille, 20 working days. The order of steps is covered separately: apostille for the certificate and sworn translation.
The NAWA application is submitted through the SYRENA system, online only and free of charge. A sworn translation is not required for this step if the documents were issued in Russian. NAWA publishes no processing time, and the clock starts from a complete set of documents, so there is only one way to manage this step: send a complete set as early as possible.
The main rounds of Polish-taught programmes at state universities run in June and July. In 2026, registration at the University of Warsaw ran from 9 June to 9 July, results were announced on 22 July, and documents were accepted from 23 to 31 July. At AGH University in Krakow, first-cycle applications were submitted from 1 June to 9 July and the mathematics exam was on 14 July, but enrollment of candidates without a Polish matura in all cycles took place from 16 to 30 September. That is an important distinction: qualification can happen in July while enrollment waits until mid-September.
August and September: money, visa, arrival
- Tuition payment. At least one university requires payment for the full year before it issues the documents for the visa application, that is, the invitation and the admission decision. Kozminski University writes that if the visa is refused, the tuition payment is returned but the registration fee is not. Check your own university’s payment procedure in advance: this is the largest payment in the calendar.
- The university’s certificate of admission. It must follow the official template set by the decision of Poland’s Minister of Science and Higher Education of 23 September 2019. Without it the visa application form will not be accepted, so the date it is issued is the real start date of the visa stage.
- Insurance. A minimum of 30,000 EUR in coverage, valid for the entire period of the requested visa. The amount alone is not enough: the policy has separate requirements on what the coverage includes and on the insurer’s obligations. The Polish MFA list has a section for the Republic of Kazakhstan, but both the list and the specific policy need to be checked against the requirements before buying.
- Money in the account. Under the regulation of Poland’s Minister of Internal Affairs of 23 February 2015 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2017 poz. 2122), a student must have at least 1,270 zloty for the first 2 months of stay, plus 2,500 zloty for the return journey when arriving from a country outside the EU. The consulate asks for a bank account statement for the last 3 months, specifically a statement, not a certificate, so the account is prepared well before August.
- The submission slot. New dates in the e-konsulat system open on a schedule: in Astana every Wednesday from 15:00 to 16:00 local time, in Almaty every Monday from 09:00 to 10:00 local time. Documents are submitted in person; applications by post or email are not accepted.
- The submission window. No earlier than 6 months before the planned trip and no later than 2 weeks before departure. The stated processing time is 2 weeks, but it can be extended to 60 days, and you should plan around 60: an extension that starts in September ends after the academic year has already begun.
- If the student is under 18. Submission by power of attorney is not allowed: one of the parents signs and submits the application form in person, and their trip to Astana or Almaty has to be planned along with the rest of the calendar. In addition, a notarized consent of both parents is required for the trip and for obtaining the visa, covering the entire Schengen area and the full validity of the visa.
- Housing. Proof of accommodation in Poland is not on the published list of student visa documents, but the search for it belongs before arrival, not after.
The full list of visa documents and the slot schedule are collected in a separate guide: Poland student visa for Kazakhstani applicants.
Applying after grade 11: the typical route
For a graduate of a Kazakhstani school the right sequence is not “get the certificate, then apply”, but the reverse. Registration in the round for international applicants happens in winter or spring, still without the certificate, and the certificate is delivered by the enrollment deadline where the university allows it.
From there the chain is always the same: the certificate in mid-June, the apostille and the NAWA application in parallel, enrollment and payment in August, the visa submission in August or early September. The certificate recognition document is needed twice in this chain, and the university asks for it first, not the consul.
What can be done before the certificate is received
- Choose the university and programme and settle the language of instruction, which the recruitment calendar depends on.
- Get the language certificate the university requires.
- Register in the round for international applicants where registration without a certificate is allowed.
- Gather the document on the previous level of education: it is mandatory in the NAWA set and it is the one most often forgotten.
- Check that the spelling of the first and last name in the passport matches how it will appear in the application form and the university documents.
The apostille and the NAWA application cannot be started before the certificate is received: both steps are done on the certificate itself.
If the time has already been missed
The verified calendars contain no separate spring intake: the late window is an additional round of the same October intake, and not every university has one. In 2026 the University of Warsaw’s additional round opened on 19 August, with registration until 10 September, results on 22 September and document submission until 30 September. At AGH the third cycle accepted applications until 4 September, the exam was on 10 September, results on 14 September, and enrollment ran from 16 to 30 September.
The honest arithmetic on these windows is this: a student qualified on 22 September and submitting documents on 30 September has 8 days or less before the academic year starts, while the visa decision can take up to 60 days. That is a route to a late arrival, not to a 1 October start. A late start has two realistic ways out: agree a late arrival with the university, or move the application to the next academic year and spend the freed-up time on the language and the documents. Both options beat submitting on the assumption that the visa will arrive in two weeks.
What cannot be sped up
The consular section in Astana and the Consulate General in Almaty state directly that they do not cooperate with agencies or other intermediaries in providing visa services. NAWA applications from intermediaries without a notarized power of attorney are rejected, and consuls play no part in certificate recognition at all. Which means nobody speeds up NAWA’s timelines, consular processing or the slot schedule.
The only thing that can be sped up is your own readiness: a document set without formal defects and a submission in the first available slot. EEC’s role here is checking the documents, tracking the deadlines and joining the steps together, while the decisions are made by the university and the consulate.