Polonia / Bringing a car from Germany to Poland + Registration [5]

you need to have a registered address if you want to register a car in your name in Poland - i.e. zameldowanie. But your vehicle document will only be valid as long as your zameldowanie is, so if your zameldowanie is only 3 months long so is your car registration.

no you don't need a Pesel but there is no harm or trouble in getting one so you might as well.
no - VAT is not reclaimable within the EU for consumers.
I think you have to be careful whereever you buy a car, not just in Poland.

You will also have to pay tax on registering the vehicle. This depends on engine capacity. You can go to the urząd skarbowy in your town to ask.

From another discussion:

Import Tax on LKW and PKW

Can someone tell me the percentage % Import Tax (Zoll) for an LKV with over 2100cc.
Pkv is 18.6% are they classed the same or not?
Is it correct to have to also pay 22% VAT/Mvst also on inported cars form Germany?


they aren't PKW so zero%


yes

Life / ANYONE CELEBRATE ANDRZEJKI (ST ANDREW'S EVE)? [21]

wow - hadn't associated "andrzejki" with "saint Andrew's day"...

In fact being English I wouldn't have had a clue when St. Andrew's day even was.

I know why it's a big deal in Scotland - but is there any interesting history as to why St. Andrew's day is celebrated in Poland?

Language / WILL "TĄ" REPLACE "TĘ" SOON? [14]

The more frequently used the word then the slower it evolves. Apparently that's the general rule of thumb. I guess that is why tę has not fully evolved into tą yet like the other forms did and we get the situation now where what is technically correct sounds odd.

It makes life harder for me as a non-native speaker to know which form to go with..

Language / Which case for adjectives? [47]

You are muddling up two different words - wszyscy and wszystko.

Wszyscy is similar to "everybody, everyone", where as wszystko is similar to "everything".

When you are talking about wszystkie you are talking about wszystko....

Edit - I probably shouldn't have said "two different words" - grammatically it's probably the same root I guess...

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


But they don't earn a wage - that's the whole point. They just get a little pocket money given that their food and accomodation is covered already.

[Edit - I can't spell today]

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]

Tax evasion? Being reported? These girls are normally earning a pittance - £50 a week or so. I think HMRC have got bigger fish to fry...

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


Well I think that technically you aren't supposed to work 'cash in hand'. Normally you should apply for a National Insurance number and pay tax. But I don't think anybody will care about that for au pair work so I wouldn't worry about it.

But that aside then because you are an EU citizen you are totally free to stay in the UK and work or don't work where you choose.


No you don't need anything else. There is no 'zameldowanie' or any other crap. The UK is a 'free' country :-)

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


I am going to guess she's not paying any tax - she's just being paid cash in hand directly by the family. Wyspianska - is that correct?

I presume also that the agency were paid a finder's fee at the start by the au pair and also the family and therefore are no longer involved and thus don't particularly care now. That's usually how it works - again Wyspianska, is that the case?

Realistically there is nothing to stop you just leaving and finding a new family. They might try and scare you about the contract but I seriously doubt anyone will try and enforce it, especially if you are unhappy with the current family.

But as SeanBM says, it would be polite to give them some notice to find a replacement. But I don't know what you reason is for wanting to leave the current family - if they are treating you badly then don't feel guilty about just leaving.

Study / Where can I study Polish in Wroclaw? [8]

To the best of my knowledge they have stopped offering free English lessons in the UK and there are no free Polish lessons in Poland.

If anyone knows anything otherwise I am keen to hear though!

Life / Calling Emergency Services in Poland [6]


In fact it is the universal number across the EU:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-1-2

They called it the "European Health Insurance Card" or EHIC for short.

ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do

UK, Ireland / Irish Tax / Polish Tax [3]

Basically if you are now resident in Poland you are required to pay tax in Poland. Normally you are resident in a country if you spend more than 6 months per year there, but that is a grey area and can depend on where your main house is, where your partner/kids live etc.. etc..

As vndunne has said, always best to get advice.

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

I am going to guess that mobiles are smart enough to work it out so you don't need the zero.

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]


Not exactly because the area code is "22" not "022" for Warsaw. Dialling within the country you add a zero whether it's a mobile/cell or landline. All domestic calls start with 0 because that tells the phone system you want to dial a domestic number. Likewise all international numbers start 00 because that tells the system you are dialling internationally.

But you are correct in that for a landline call you need 0 + area code + number. In some countries (e.g. UK) often the number suffices if you are calling within the same area code.

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

You are right in that cities are usually 2 digits but 607 is in fact a mobile phone. You can see the list here:

pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Telefoniczne_numery_kierunkowe_w_Polsce

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]

this peculiarity of using the instrumental like this leads to the funny following case - if you say "Jestem samochodem" then that can mean either "I'm driving" (in the sense of don't give me any alcohol) or it can mean "I am a car" (if for example you were playing a role playing game or had some serious mental problems)...

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

I think you need to add the zero first when you dial as in other countries.

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]

No - the case has nothing to do with the tense. But normally in sentences talking about identity such as "Tommy is a Policeman" the occupation is in the instrumental not nominative.

But I am going to guess that to keep the exercise simple they used the nominative as that is the dictionary form.

Law / Working in Poland - do I need a work permit as a British citizen? [7]

You can read to your heart's content about tax, NI and all the different bits of paper you will have to fill out here: british in poland.

Law / My father is 100% Polish, mother is 0% Polish. Citizenship in Poland. [29]

No, Gregorz is right. There is nothing to stop you having Polish plus other citizenships (as far as Polish law is concerned), it's just that Poland will not recognise your other citizenships. As far as Poland is concerned you are 100% Polish if you are in Poland or travelling on a Polish passport.

The complication is that sometimes the other country (e.g. Japan I think is one) might not allow you to have multiple citizenships and so you have to give one up.

But there is no problem in having both Polish and American, or Polish and British etc..

Language / What do you find difficult about learning Polish? [98]

Personally I didn't mind the perfective/imperfective. Once you get your head around that concept the verb tenses aren't too bad. Took me a while to feel the difference between the determinate and indeterminate verbs of motion though (e.g. chodzić versus iść, latać versus lecieć).

For me I find it hard to get the pronunciation right. I am making a big effort to pronounce cz, sz and ż hard as opposed to the soft ones like ć/ci and ś/si and zi. There are so many difficult words to pronounce. An example is "wszcząć" which I came across yesterday and made me stop and think for a few seconds!

I think the hardest think is that there are so many exceptions to every rule. Just when you think you have got the hang of one rule you find a bunch of words that appear to work differently....

I am planning to sit the Polish exam for foreigners when they announce the dates for next year so am studying hard....

Life / PAYING TO TAKE A PISS IN POLAND, it's BIZARRE [77]

my theory is that in the small towns everybody has outdoor garden dogs that never get taken for walks, as opposed to pet dogs that live indoors and get taken on walkies on pavements and then crap everywhere.

UK, Ireland / Registering a Polish car in UK..? [13]


For that you will have to check with the local council that covers that area.

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]


That means something else. Chłopak (guy/boyfriend) and chłopiec (boy) are two different words.

Work / NIP number - can I get this before I am employed? [13]

Yes, it doesn't make sense at all. Welcome to Poland.

Work / NIP number - can I get this before I am employed? [13]

There is a picture of the form here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/10/how-to-get-a-nip-number/

There are actually quite a few sections so I suggest you take someone with you. Plus they will ask you why you want a NIP number too.

Love / Tips for organizing Polish-English wedding in Poland with US guests. [17]

I was at a Polish wedding where some English guests were invited. The English were told beforehand what to expect and English speakers were put near them and it went absolutely fine. I am sure it will go fine for you too.

Food / MIÓD PITNY = MEAD / dwojniak - trojniak [13]

yes I was given a bottle from zakopane. Very nice. At the time I looked up what "miód pitny' meant and was just as confused when I saw 'mead' as I had never heard of mead before...

Life / Paying bribes in Poland - necessity or a luxury? [41]

and in Lisbon when I was there....

Law / How do I get a .pl / Poland domain name? [9]

in fact the last time I checked Poland and Portugal have the most expensive domains in the whole of the EU. I can only guess that because they don't sell many the cost hasn't yet come down....

Law / How do I get a .pl / Poland domain name? [9]

personally I just buy .com domains even for my Polish projects because 200 zloty is outrageously expensive in my opinion.

But if you really want one go to dns.pl/english/fees.html