Study in Poland from Italy

Visas & entry

No visa — EU freedom of movement; register residence if staying >3 months

Where to apply

local voivodeship office (EU residence registration — free, application due no later than the day after 3 months of stay)

Proof of funds

n/a (EU citizen — you declare sufficient resources and health insurance at registration, no set threshold)

Key documents

• Italian ID (carta d'identità) or passport
• university enrolment certificate
• EU residence registration certificate
• health insurance (EHIC/TEAM or private)

Source: migrant.info.pl

Getting there

Rome (FCO) → Warsaw (WAW)

Typical price

€25–120 (one-way est.)

Flight time

2.4 h

Airlines

Ryanair, Wizz Air, LOT, ITA Airways

Rome–Warsaw nonstop is ~2.4h; Milan–Kraków is even quicker (~1.8h, Ryanair/Wizz, ~28 direct flights a week, one-way fares from ~€20).

Prices vary — estimate from kiwi.com

Cost of living

≈ €500–850/mo in Warsaw/Kraków, ~€350–550 in smaller cities. Estimate (study.gov.pl).

Full tuition & costs guide →

What it's really like

Italians enjoy arguably the warmest reception of any nationality in Poland — CBOS's February 2025 survey put them at the very top of the most-liked list, with 60% of Poles declaring sympathy and only 7% dislike. Italian food, fashion and football are mainstream in Polish cities, so Italian students tend to meet friendly curiosity rather than friction. The full-degree cohort is small (544 in 2022/23), so there is no large national student network; the day-to-day annoyances are the shared ones — office queues and the language barrier outside university settings.

Community: Small full-degree cohort — 544 Italian students in 2022/23 (GUS), spread across the Polonia Academy in Częstochowa, the Jagiellonian University, Łódź, Wrocław and several medical universities — plus short-term Erasmus exchange students on top. The wider Italian community was estimated at ~10,000 as early as 2014 (≈4,000 embassy-registered), concentrated in Warsaw, Kraków/Katowice and Wrocław.

Tips from students & forums

1. No visa needed, but if you stay past 3 months you must register your residence at the voivodeship office — the application is due no later than the day after 3 months of stay, the procedure is free and the certificate is valid indefinitely.

   migrant.info.pl ↗

2. Bring your EHIC (TEAM) card — with a valid EHIC and student ID you get public healthcare in Poland free of charge; without it, voluntary NFZ cover costs about €15/month.

   study.gov.pl ↗

3. Budget far less than in Milan or Rome — study.gov.pl puts a realistic all-in student baseline at 1,500–2,000 PLN (~€330–430)/mo including a dorm (dorms €90–140/mo), less than rent alone in most Italian university cities.

   study.gov.pl ↗

Good to know

• GUS counted 544 Italian students at Polish universities in 2022/23; the largest groups studied at the Polonia Academy in Częstochowa (81) and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (40).
• Italians topped CBOS's February 2025 ranking of nationalities most liked by Poles — 60% declared sympathy and only 7% dislike, ahead of Americans, Spaniards and Czechs.
• Substantial Italian migration to Poland began in the 16th century — one of the oldest Western European communities in the country, centuries before today's low-cost-airline student flows.

English-taught programmes for Italian students

All 963 degrees in the catalogue are open to Italian applicants — these picks match what students from Italy most often look for. Tuition shown per year where the university publishes it.

Browse the full catalogue by field of study, city, university or use the programme finder.

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