News / ARE POLISH PEOPLE TAKING OUR JOBS OR DOING OUR JOBS??!! DISCUSS. [126]


Of course they can. You can get a council flat for about 200 pounds a month, council tax of around 100 pounds - leaves around 500 pounds a month to play with. Might not be in the nicest of areas, but hey, they're available.

Of course, the real problem is that Brits are spoiled and MUST have that new television just because Mr Jones next door has one.

UK, Ireland / Petrol costs, Ford Transit travelling Poznan to Wales and then returning [26]


Tell me about it, I've heard stories of them waiting up to a week in some cases to get backloads. That's just mental, I definitely can't imagine Brits abroad waiting for a week just to get a load back - maybe a few hours, but definitely no longer.

UK, Ireland / Petrol costs, Ford Transit travelling Poznan to Wales and then returning [26]


No luck so far? I've got his English number somewhere, I'll see if I can find it for you.

One suggestion I've seen is to try the lorries going back from the UK empty - as far as I know, many of them don't have backloads and would probably do it for peanuts. But even I can't see anyone doing it for less than 275 pounds :(

(have you tried looking into getting it shipped by sea?)

Law / The new Law in acquisation of Polish citizenship in 2009 [15]


More importantly, how will they force their 85 years old granny to get the Polish passport that she's always wanted just so they can get EU citizenship?

It's not a bad idea at all, but I imagine the oh-so-proud Polish American will be howling at this, even though their parents and grandparents couldn't be bothered to teach them the language.

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


Take a trip to the Eastern border and look for yourself. There's big ugly fences on the Polish-Belarussian frontier, the green border between Ukraine and Poland is heavily monitored too. Controls at the Eastern Border are thorough as hell - and possibly the only place in the EU where they're worse than UK immigration in terms of being absolutely thorough and pedantic, even to EU citizens.

By the way, a question - ignoring all the hypothetical one-Ireland stuff and going on current realities, how would you defend the Irish border?

Life / Authenticate Drivers licence [6]


The best bet would be to check the PESEL - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PESEL

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


Considering the 'No' campaign is full of 'can't be bothered' types lke yourself, is it any surprise that the referendum should pass? After all, it does amaze me that someone so passionately against the EU can't even be bothered to stand in Grafton Street for a few hours...

Who said anything about me being female, or indeed having anything to do with English teaching? Indeed, you don't even know what nationality I am...


Funnily enough, the same 95% of the population has consistently voted in pro-EU parties. You've had plenty of chances since 1973 to leave the Union, so why haven't you, if you're so utterly against it as a nation?


Also to do with the ease of access to the European market. An Ireland located outside of the EEC wouldn't have nearly been as attractive to multinationals - after all, why did the same companies ignore Cyprus and Malta, both of which have a considerable English speaking workforce? That's right - they were outside the EU and thus not as attractive.


And taxes were paid to fuel the Celtic Tiger, or have you forgotten this too? Of course, if you wish to claim that the EU stole your gas, that's fine - but funnily enough, the UK managed to profit just fine from it.


Nor has he anything to say about the masses of Irish that claimed British unemployment benefits in the past.

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


As you say, the fishing rights. I don't deny this - it's well known that the only reason Ireland was admitted was for access to the fishing stocks. But you did benefit vastly from it - Microsoft, Dell, et al wouldn't have gone near an Ireland that wasn't in the EC at the time. And of course, you benefitted from things such as the CAP - what benefit did British taxpayers get from subsidising Irish farmers?

Of course, ultimately, the people decide. The Lisbon Referendum will show all - but I get the distinct feeling that with neutrality and abortion rights reserved to Ireland, the Irish people will drop their opposition to Lisbon...

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]

Dunno, maybe you should tell us why the EEC/EC/EU subsidised nearly 4 million Irish (plus the ones in NI) for so long?

UK, Ireland / British news: The Poles might be leaving but the prejudice remains [52]


By that definition, you'd have to leave absolutely every single international agreement - and be even more isolated than North Korea.

My definition is simple - can the Irish (or any government) revoke the acts of Parliament which establish their membership of the EU? Yes. Can the EU stop them? No. Therefore, ultimate power still lies with the Member States.

Compare this to the States of the USA - which clearly cannot leave the Union. Lisbon will even include an exit clause for the first time!

The fact that you can't be bothered to canvass for a No vote says a lot about you, though.

Law / Invoice Terms in Poland [8]


Seems horrifically short, given that many smaller businesses will survive on credit.

But as the cheese person says, if they've got to pay VAT based on invoices, no wonder they have such short payment terms.

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


Shh, it's a sore point with many Irish that they were absolutely **** poor for the vast majority of their existence. In fact, it's quite ironic that an Irishman is complaining about Poles sucking money from his country when Ireland sucked money from others for most of their existence.

UK, Ireland / British news: The Poles might be leaving but the prejudice remains [52]


Nonsense. I think it's an accepted principle that Member States have the right to revoke the act establishing their membership of the EU - indeed, Greenland is a good example of a territory that did just that.

As far as I remeber, Lisbon includes (for the first time) details of how a Member State can leave the EU.

Anyway, Lisbon discussion is irrelevant - the Czech Klaus seems to be hell bent on refusing to sign Lisbon into Czech law and has Kaczynski on his side. If those two refuse the ratification of Lisbon until after the next UK election, then the possibility of a refendum on Lisbon in the UK will kill it dead.

And maybe this time, Irish voters will teach their government a lesson and reject the treaty for a second time.

Law / Invoice Terms in Poland [8]


Probably just the terms and conditions of payment - ie, pay me by the 14th or you owe me the money plus interest, discounts for prompt payment, etc etc.

Life / How much cash to give as a wedding gift? [25]


Just as bad, I think. I know I won't have gift lists or anything for mine! I'm cool with getting endless junk that I'll never use - at least people won't feel pressured into spending money that they don't have, just to keep up with everyone else.

Those 'bridal showers' are also a complete joke, as far as I can tell.

Life / How much cash to give as a wedding gift? [25]


I was just wondering the same thing myself...the thought of asking for money seems disgusting to me :/ If people want to spend a huge amount of money on their wedding, it's fine by me, but don't expect me to pay!

Food / Where to buy Irn Bru in Poland (Lublin)? [14]


Bah, I'd kill for some diet Irn Bru right now :(

Life / Pre Paid Visa cards [27]

Yep, ING definitely give proper visa debit cards, as do PKO.

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


Very true. It's quite sad actually - while people were desperate to employ hard working Poles in 2004, they're not so keen now - and as you say, the market isn't allowing Poles opportunity in their own country because they've spent several years out of touch with their own industry. However, it is their own making.


No, you're missing the point. Brits should stop whining and start moving to where the jobs are - after all, it's well documented that a Brit who knows a building site can get 15-20zl an hour in Warsaw without much fuss. That's not bad money - 3200zl a month without language skills isn't a bad wage at all!

After all, if you're a builder and can't get work in the UK because the state of the construction sector, doesn't it make sense to move?


1) You can get the money easily enough. If you look on Gumtree, you can get a room for 600zl a month in Warsaw. Add to that maybe 100zl for a flight, and you're looking at needing around 300 pounds to get your feet on the ground. If you can't raise 300 pounds, something is seriously wrong with you.

2) Language barrier? It didn't stop Poles working in the UK.

3) There are opportunities in Poland for skilled foreigners, particularly in more working-class environments.

4) Point taken - but even the most PiS voting nationalist is going to go with the person who makes him the most money.

5) That's greed, nothing more - and you can continue paying UK National Insurance when you're resident outside of the UK anyway. If you want a job, the jobs are there!


But that's only the case in the last what, 12 months? Before that, many Brits wouldn't be seen dead cleaning toilets, partially because their husband was too busy creaming in huge bonuses in the City. Now that he's unemployed, they have no choice - and it's the very same people whining about Poles stealing jobs!

I can put my money where my mouth is - if any Brit wants a job, I can sort them out a job in Poland tomorrow, starting Monday.

Work / Salary Expectations for Language Schools in Krakow [6]


It depends, but the best piece of advice is to look at the amount of work needed to work one 'clock' hour - if they expect constant lesson plans handed in and expects you to attend constant professional development courses, then ask for considerably more than you would from a school that's happy for you to turn up and do what you want.

Also, tailor it according to what they want - if they want you to work awkward split shifts, then of course, raise the amount requested.

What money you get - well, it's up to you to negotiate this. Many people will share stories of how they get 60-70zl net an hour from schools, but I don't believe the vast majority of stories. Realistically, you should aim for 35zl net minimum from a 'method' school and at least 45zl net from a 'traditional' school - to reflect the workload. Don't be so quick to discount such 'method' schools though - financially, it may work out much better to work 25 hours in a 'method' school with no preparation versus 25 hours in a 'traditional' school that requires oodles of preparation and leaves you no time for the private lessons.

Life / Help required obtaining Polish Passport for Granny [10]

I'm wondering the same thing. My gut feeling is that the 2nd Republic might have granted citizenship to anyone born within the borders of what was Poland before the partitions - but I can't find out one way or another. I'm certainly not convinced that the grand-grandfather in this case would have had Polish citizenship - as you say, Poland didn't exist in 1870. But even if the 2nd Republic did grant it, it would've been lost if (presumably) the Grandmother had become an American citizen before 1951, ignoring the fact that the great-grandfather would have lost it as well.

Is it just me that gets the feeling that grandchildren are putting pressure on the grandmother to obtain EU citizenship so that the family can obtain EU passports? Certainly seems strange that a woman of 85 would suddenly decide that she needs to have Polish citizenship NOW when she's retired to Mexico - and thus presumably she's independently wealthy enough to reside in Poland if she wants to?

UK, Ireland / "Polish ambassador warns - think twice about coming to Britain for work " [126]


If anything, they're underskilled. Someone who did a Masters in biology, only to work as a waitress in the UK for three years is going to find it incredibly difficult to get work in their field in Poland - and among the educated ones that left, I don't think this is an uncommon story.

Their language skills might be a bit better, but given that there's plenty of people in Poland who have wonderful English abilities, I don't see what advantage they're going to have, apart from having the experience of living elsewhere.

I wouldn't be surprised in the next year or so to hear about a growing economic problem of migrants who returned home, only to realise that there's no place for them in Poland.


What stops the Brit from moving abroad for work, apart from his own bloody laziness?

Let's not forget that until very recently, many people didn't want the lousy jobs that Poles were doing.

Law / Start IT business in Poland [17]


The thing is, 10zl an hour isn't bad money if you don't have much rent/any rent to pay and can live according to how many Poles live. But if you're from the West and want to have at least an okay lifestyle, you'd have to work 50 hour weeks (not including free assistance/travelling time/etc) in order to have a hope of a comparable lifestyle. It's just not realistic - even if you assume 2000zl, you'd be down to 1670zl after ZUS comes off and then 19% of that, so even if you can get creative with taxes, you'll still only get about 1400zl in the hand. For a foreigner, they'll struggle to live on such.

Travel / Camping in Poland - are there any laws? [47]


Wildcamping is pretty much prohibited, particularly in Tatra and Karkonosze.

Life / Help required obtaining Polish Passport for Granny [10]

Unfortunately, she may be out of luck. I'm not sure of the exact wording of the relevant laws, but to the best of my knowledge, if her father gained American citizenship in 1945, he automatically lost Polish citizenship. For that reason, she may not be able to claim Polish citizenship if she didn't do so before.

It certainly won't be quick, easy or cheap to obtain Polish citizenship in this case. Is there any particular reason why she wants to obtain Polish citizenship at 85 years old? I'd certainly recommend not putting a woman of that age through the stress and expense of a claim for something that may not be successful.

History / What would Europe look like with Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth today [209]


That's purely from my perspective. For example, Shevchenko Prospekt comes across as being very very Austrian - I don't see the Polish influence at all there. Even the Rynok looks like something straight out of the 'how to design a square by A. Germanic Architect' - it just doesn't feel or look Polish at all. Even the streets around the Opera feel much more Germanic than Polish.

To be honest, Poland should be looking at their own border proceedures before complaining about Lwów being in Ukraine. If they worked to try and bring the formalities down, then that part of Ukraine would open up considerably for Poland - but who wants to visit Ukraine when every single person working for the Polish Customs wants to search absolutely everyone coming back across the border?

Life / Driving school doing b1 - possibly in english [6]


That's no guarantee that the WORD in Warsaw will use such a thing, though. You should contact them and find out what they're using for the test first, before signing up for any classes. Officially, you can only use a vehicle provided by you if it's for disability related reasons - so if they're conducting the B1 test using something unsuitable for 3 passengers, then you're stuffed.


You don't need a sworn translator for lessons, just for the driving test.

How's your Polish?

Travel / Alcohol on trains in Poland [40]


Like I was saying above, limit drinking to EX, IC, EC and private sleeping compartments and much of the trouble will vanish. The idiots (as far as I've seen) won't travel by expensive trains.

Life / Driving school doing b1 - possibly in english [6]

Read the previous threads on the matter.

It is very unlikely that you'll be able to sit the test due to the requirement for a sworn translator. Test vehicles are supplied by the WORD, and it would seem unlikely that they would bother obtaining a car capable of carrying 3 people for the purpose of the B1 exam.

If you desperately need to get on the road, then get a moped. I don't believe that you have 'needs' that can't be met by a 50cc moped that's had the restrictor removed.

Travel / Alcohol on trains in Poland [40]

Serves them right.

To be honest, if you want to drink on a train, there's nothing stopping you - the police are hardly going to check every bottle!

Maybe an amusing compromise could be to ban drinking in all but 1st class...

Having said this, they could probably just ban alcohol from all but IC and EX services, with an exception for alcohol consumed in sleeping cars (not couchettes, though). That would probably solve most of the problems overnight.