NIPiP (Polish nurses' chamber): PWZ, Requirements and Fees

• Nurse (pielęgniarka, pielęgniarz)
• Midwife (położna, położny)
• Right to practise, permanent or fixed-term, for foreigners (Article 35)
• Limited right to practise for the adaptation placement or postgraduate education (Article 36)
• Right to practise on a set scope, period and place under a Ministry of Health consent (Article 35a)
• Central Register of Nurses and Midwives (Centralny Rejestr Pielęgniarek i Położnych)

• A nursing or midwifery diploma issued outside the EU, legalised by the Polish consul or apostilled.
• Full route: the diploma recognised in Poland as equivalent through nostrification at a Polish university, and meeting the EU minimum training requirements.
• Full route: an official certificate of Polish (urzędowe poświadczenie znajomości języka polskiego) covering speech and writing to the level needed for the profession.
• Full route: a certificate that you practise as a nurse or midwife in the country where you have worked, and a certificate from your country of citizenship that your right to practise has not been withdrawn or suspended and no such case is pending.
• Full route: a 6-month adaptation placement in a named healthcare provider, unless you trained in a Polish nursing or midwifery school.
• Simplified route: at least 3 years of experience as a nurse or midwife in the 5 years before the employer's certificate, an employer's certificate, a Ministry of Health consent and a Polish certificate at level B1 or higher.
• Both routes: full legal capacity, health that allows you to practise and an impeccable ethical record.

Check your route with the route finder

1. 1

   1. Decide between the full and the simplified route

   If you have at least 3 years of recent experience and a Polish employer, the simplified route lets you start work sooner, but only with that employer and for at most 5 years. The full route takes longer but gives a right to practise that is not tied to one employer. The Ministry of Health notes that you can nostrify your diploma or start a Polish bachelor's degree in nursing or midwifery while working on the simplified route.
2. 2

   2. Full route: nostrify your diploma at a Polish university

   Apply to a university that holds an A+, A or B+ research category in the relevant discipline; NIPiP suggests contacting the health sciences faculties of medical universities. Send your diploma, documents showing the course, learning outcomes and length of study, and the document that admitted you to the course. The university decides within 90 days of a formally complete application and can require you to pass exams or complete placements first; its fee can be up to 50% of a professor's salary.
3. 3

   3. Full route: get an official certificate of Polish

   NIPiP explains that the certificate comes from the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language after a paid examination, with dates, centres and fees on certyfikatpolski.pl. The Minister of Health's regulation sets the scope of Polish needed to work as a nurse or midwife.
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   4. Full route: apply for a limited right to practise and do the adaptation placement

   Apply to the regional council where you will work for a limited right to practise for the placement, with your nostrification certificate, diploma and sworn translation, an occupational health certificate, two photographs, identity document and Polish certificate. The placement lasts 6 months in a named healthcare provider, needs no work permit, and its costs are borne by you under an agreement with the provider.
5. 5

   5. Full route: apply for your right to practise

   After the placement, apply to the regional council for a permanent right to practise (with a permanent residence permit) or a fixed-term one. You also present certificates of practice and good standing from the countries where you have worked and are a citizen. The council confirms receipt and lists any gaps within 1 month and must decide within 3 months of receiving all the documents.
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   6. Simplified route: get the employer's certificate and apply to the Ministry

   Ask the provider that will employ you for a certificate listing the units where you may work, the planned period and a scope of work matching your training. Send it to the Ministry of Health with the signed application, your declaration on Polish, a medical certificate no more than 3 months old, declarations on legal capacity and good conduct, a good-standing document from your regulator where one is available, proof of 3 years of experience and your legalised diploma, with sworn translations. The service is free.
7. 7

   7. Simplified route: get the right to practise from the regional council

   With a positive decision, go to the regional council for the place of work. It grants the right to practise for the scope, period and place in the decision within 30 days and enters you in its register, but only after you show a Polish certificate at level B1 or higher from the Minister of Health's list. You work your first year under the supervision of a nurse or midwife named by the employer.
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   8. Simplified route: keep within the limits

   You are employed on a fixed-term contract and may not work outside that provider without a further Ministry decision. If the contract ends and you do not tell the chamber within a month that you have a permitted new post, you are removed from the register and the right lapses. The right lasts at most 5 years, extendable by up to 3 years only while you study at a Polish nursing or midwifery school.

• No national nursing licensing exam for foreign nurses

  Poland does not set a licensing exam like the NCLEX for nurses trained abroad. Your training is assessed through nostrification by a university on the full route, or by the Ministry of Health's review of your documents on the simplified route.

• Nostrification exams or placements

  If the nostrifying university finds differences in the programme, learning outcomes or length of study, it can require you to pass specific exams or complete placements before it recognises the diploma.

• Polish certificate examination

  The official certificate needed on the full route is gained by passing the state examination in Polish as a foreign language. On the simplified route you need a certificate at level B1 or higher from the Minister of Health's list.

• Adaptation placement (staż adaptacyjny)

  A 6-month supervised placement in a named healthcare provider, run under a Minister of Health regulation that sets its framework programme, how it is completed and signed off, and what you may do during it.

• No English test is required. The language requirement is Polish.
• Full route: an official certificate of Polish in speech and writing issued under the Polish Language Act by the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language.
• Simplified route: a signed declaration that your Polish is sufficient for your work, and a Polish certificate at level B1 or higher from the Minister of Health's list before the regional council issues the right to practise.
• The B1 requirement for the simplified route applies to applications made after 24 October 2024; consents based on applications made by that date are covered by transitional rules.
• The Minister of Health's 2012 regulation sets the detailed scope of Polish needed to work as a nurse or midwife.

Estimate your total cost

• Nostrification: the university decides within 90 days of a formally complete application, plus any exams or placements it requires.
• Adaptation placement: 6 months.
• Full route application: the regional council confirms receipt and lists gaps within 1 month and decides within 3 months of receiving all documents.
• Simplified route: the Ministry may ask a nursing consultant for an opinion, given within 7 days; the regional council then acts within 30 days of receiving the decision.
• Simplified route right to practise: at most 5 years, with up to 3 more years only while studying at a Polish nursing or midwifery school.
• No authority publishes an overall timeline. Reaching the required level of Polish is usually the longest stage.