Poland Schengen Visa Processing Time from India: Two Missions, Two Release Cadences

Poland runs on the same EU 15/45-day legal clock as every other Schengen country, but reaching that clock from India depends on a detail the generic rule never covers: Poland keeps two missions in India, and they release appointment slots on completely different schedules.

Which mission has your file#

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in New Delhi handles most of the country — Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, among other states — plus Afghanistan and Bhutan. The Consulate General in Mumbai takes Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa and the western Union Territories. If you are applying from Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives or Bangladesh, neither Indian mission serves you — those applications route to other Polish posts entirely.

The detail that actually decides your wait#

Neither mission books appointments itself. Every Schengen application goes through VFS Global; national visas for work or study go through the separate e-Konsulat portal. On gov.pl's own India page, the release cadence is stated precisely: New Delhi opens new appointment slots once a week, every Wednesday at 11:00 local time. Mumbai opens new slots once a month, on the last working day, roughly two months ahead of that batch. Both missions add the same warning: going through a travel agent or visa consultant buys no earlier or better slot than booking yourself the moment a batch opens.

That structural gap — weekly versus monthly — is the single biggest, most controllable variable in a Poland application timeline from India. A Delhi-jurisdiction applicant who misses one Wednesday loses seven days; a Mumbai-jurisdiction applicant who misses the monthly release can lose most of a month before the next batch opens.

The filing window and what VFS adds#

Applications can be lodged from six months before travel and, as a rule, no later than 15 calendar days before the trip starts — VFS's own one-pager confirms the six-month window is current for 2026. Two operational details worth planning around: the online application form must be completed no more than five days before your scheduled appointment, and applicants booking through one of VFS's satellite collection centres should budget an extra 48-72 hours for the file to reach the New Delhi or Mumbai processing hub before the 15/45-day clock even starts moving in earnest.

What it costs#

The Schengen C-visa fee is ₹9,504 (€90 equivalent), with a reduced ₹4,752 for children aged 6-12. VFS adds a separate service charge of ₹1,026, and optional passport-return courier runs ₹960. An appeal against a refusal carries the same ₹9,504 fee. None of this is refunded if the application is refused — the full fee breakdown across every Schengen country is in Schengen visa fee for Indians.

Bottom line for planning#

Budget the legal 15-45 days for the decision itself, then add whichever release cycle applies to you — up to a week of slippage under Delhi's weekly system, potentially several weeks under Mumbai's monthly one if you miss a release date. The general playbook for making a Schengen file admissible on the first pass — documents, insurance, bank balance — is in Schengen visa documents required from India.

VisaGyan is an independent journal, not affiliated with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, the Consulate General in Mumbai, or VFS Global. Appointment cadence and filing rules checked against gov.pl's India portal and VFS Global's Poland-India one-pager, 23 August 2026.