Posts by james

james_warszawa

10 Feb 2009

Life / Polish Residency - Zameldowanie to be abolished? [49]

Hello all.

I recently moved to Poland and I am wishing to apply for Polish residency. I have been told of all the details I must supply, but the one that eludes me is the Zamildowanie. I have been told that I MUST have this.

I have recently rented a flat and must produce a Zamildowanie signed by my landlady. The catch is, is that it is very common that land lords/ladies are reluctant to sign such a document because of one of the two following cases:

a) Once signed, land lords/ladies find it really difficult (legally) to remove a tenant from a rented flat.

b) Most land lords/ladies are renting flats on the sly, therefore not paying taxes for these flats. This means they don't want to give the game away by signing such a document.

So this creates a Catch 22 situation. I want to live in Poland for longer than 3 months, but I can't because I can't get Residenct, because no-one will give me a Zamildowanie.

Recently, I heard from Polish friends, that on the news, they heard that the Zamildowanie is to be abolished and a law has been passed that one does not need this document to apply for residnency. However, I do not know how long this takes to filter through the legal and administrative system.

The trail has gone cold over the past few weeks in regards to this document being abolished. Has anyone else heard of any news about this? Is it true?

james_warszawa

10 Feb 2009

Life / Polish Residency - Zameldowanie to be abolished? [49]

Hi all.

I moved to Poland in October, and would like to stay and work here for some time. I am still a University student in the UK, on a long-term break.

I know that to be here for longer than 3 months, which, I already have (am I in trouble here?), even though I am also from the EU, I need an EU short-term Polish residency. I visited the place where this is supplied, and I was told what I need to produce, which is:

- Correctly filled application form (4 copies)
- Photocopy of Passport (4 copies)
- 2 x Passport sized photos
- Proof of medical cover insurance
- Photocopy of European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) (4 copies)
- Proof of income (POLISH BANK ACCOUNT only! - not English bank account) bank statement
- Zamildowanie

Is there anything missing, that I should be including?

I have also been told, that instead of supplying a bank statement as proof of income (because I don't yet have a Polish bank account), I can instead supply, a formal letter of employment to them, from a company I work for in Poland.

I started working as a native English speaker in November, for a school in Warsaw. So they can supply this document of employment.

2nd Problem - Contracts, Taxes & NIP

Now, I have really got myself in a mess here ... please let me explain ...

My school can produce this letter of employment, but they assume that they must also include a copy of my contract of employment with this. This may be true so I am assuming it is.

The problem is, I don't have a NIP no. at the moment, so I am pretty sure I cannot be paying TAX, even though my school are collecting around 18% "TAX" from my wages - how?

So if I am not paying TAX, my school cannot complete my contract details and send it with this letter of employment to the organsation sorting my residency. This is because it looks like (and probably is) I am not paying taxes, and therefore, working illegally.

I don't know how things have got this complex.

I would really appreciate some advice and suggestions on what my next steps are and what information I should be looking into.

Kind regards,

james_warszawa

11 Feb 2009

Life / Polish Residency - Zameldowanie to be abolished? [49]

Thanks for the info, delphiandomine.

It's nice to hear that there is no punishment that the State is willing to chase up on EU members without the residency. As I am indeed an EU citizen (UK to be precise). The honourable fact is, is that at least I am trying to obtain it.

I should look into this alternative method with my landlady, because I think there is no way that she would sign it if left to herself.

I just hope there are other methods to try and get this Zamildowanie, or something else I can do, other than just waiting for the Zamildowanie to die.

The thing is, I have a Polish girlfriend, who is familiar with the system, but at this point, she can't help. It relies on more people and other contributing factors, to be able to be dealt with in one person's hands.

james_warszawa

21 Feb 2009

Life / Polish Residency - Zameldowanie to be abolished? [49]

Thanks for your detailed info, delphiandomine. That's great.

The place where I applied for residency is in Warsaw (where I'm living).
The address is as follows:

MAZOWIECKI URZĄD WOJEWÓDZKI
ODDZIA£ D/S CUDZOZIEMCÓW
Ul. Dluga 5
1st Floor, Room 42.43
WARSAW
Tel: 695 6752
mazowieckie.pl

I was told to apply here by the British Embassy, who gave me an information sheet for EU-Member Short Term Residency. On the sheet of information, is the address above, and also the requirements for the residency, as I stated before in my previous forum post.

When I went to the building at the above address, they knew that I was British, obviously an EU member. I applied for residency and gave them all of the details they asked for except for the Zameldowanie, which at the time, I didn't know I needed, because it WASN'T on the info sheet the Embassy gave me.

Make sure that you get given a PESEL number when you register - it's not required, but makes life much easier for you.

May I ask what the PESEL is? Does this office give it to me ONCE I've registered, and not before? What is the "Gmina"?

But - and this is the important question. Do you know what type of contract you have?

I have an Umowa o Dzieło. This, I have heard, is the "Contract of Death". I would have much prefered the Złacenie. Is Dzieło the one where you can get really screwed over with?

Look into the umowa o najmu lokalu. I didn't have this document for so long but it is needed to apply. My landlord and I drew one up. Other documents from your landlord are also needed as evidence.

What is the umowa o najmu lokalu? This cannot be something compulsory to residency registration because I have never heard about it before.

And the NIP can be obtained from "Urząd Skarbowy"??

james_warszawa

21 Feb 2009

Life / Polish Residency - Zameldowanie to be abolished? [49]

I guess this is where he's going wrong then - he's trying to register at the provincial office without having the zameldowanie from the local council first. And of course, they'll tell him to piss off without having the zameldowanie as you have to be registered locally first.

And you can't get registered locally without the landlord's consent. What a mess.

This is exactly the case.

james_warszawa

24 Feb 2009

Law / Applying for Russian VISA in Poland [7]

Hi,

I'm a UK citizen travelling through Europe and one of my next stops is Russia.

Because I knew I was travelling for a long time, I wouldn't be able to apply for the Russian VISA at the Russian Embassy in my home country (England), so I knew I needed to get it en route. I know I need a tourist VISA (with invitation) to get into Russia so I made sure I had all the requirements needed to apply.

I had all the requirements as specified here: warsaw.rusembassy.org/rusvisa.html#tourist

Except, when I visited the VISA office in Warsaw, they told me I also needed to have Polish residency, and be a resident, living here in Poland, for at least 90 days. They couldn't even consider my application otherwise.

I don't know if any of this is true. It is the strangest thing I've ever heard. The simplest thing would be to fly back to UK, get it at the Embassy there, and then come back. However, I would like to avoid doing this and would like an alternative solution.

Has any other British / English (or EU members) had experience or difficulty with getting a Russian VISA in Poland or another foreign country??

I've looked all over the Net and I'm not finding any useful information in relation to my situation.

Thanks.

james_warszawa

25 Feb 2009

Law / Applying for Russian VISA in Poland [7]

Does anyone know the exact requirements? The Warsaw Russian Embassy site makes no mention of EXTRA requirements for EU citizens applying for a Russian VISA whilst in Poland.

There should be some info on this, as I am sure, I am neither the first nor the last person to try and get a Russian VISA in this way.

Any help would be appreciated.

Does anyone know of any VISA websites or forums where I could also ask this question, and maybe get a more informed response?

james_warszawa

9 Mar 2009

Law / Applying for Russian VISA in Poland [7]

Thanks for the info. I will check that out.

I would be going by train. The added complication is that I expect to also travel from Belarus (another country where I need a VISA and have bizarre application requirements) through into Russia.

If this makes things more complicated than necessary, then I will travel from Ukraine and into Russia. AFAIK, EU citizens no longer need VISA for entry and exit into Ukraine.

james_warszawa

16 Aug 2009

Life / Taking action against landlords / landladies [10]

Once again, I've had another bad situation with landlord and landlady trying to scam more money out of me, rip me off and not give me my deposit back after agreeing to leave the flat on their terms. It's clear they are not paying taxes for the flat, and they are also applying for large credit sums.

This time I want to so something about it. They've really inconvienced me and I think they should suffer the same.

I have a copy of flat contract (although - written in English - maybe not submissable as evidence in a Polish court), with landlord / landlady signatures, dates ... the works.

They even wanted me to be bring the final contract to our last meet so they could destroy it ... silly, ignorant people.

Which is the easiest and most effective way of reporting them to the authorities for tax evasion, and land them in the schnizzle?

Police, some authority (if so, which??)

james_warszawa

16 Aug 2009

Life / I'm an American who lived in Poland for 6 years. I'm not welcome anymore. [169]

European Union - One rule for One ... another rule for Poles.