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


I argue against the UK's plans to keep a ridiculous amount of data in one (well, three) places about people. ID cards to prove identity are fine - I have absolutely no issue with them. But there is absolutely no need to hold the masses of data that the UK intends to hold on people - and anyway, with the Labour government's record of failures in IT projects, does anyone think the data will be secure?

It creates a single point of failure, and this is never good.

Life / Opinions about Radio Maryja [134]

There's an advertising board for them near where my school is. I keep having to resist the temptation to chop the thing down ;)

Life / Question: Illegal Aliens in Poland [17]


Yup, it is.

I'm not sure if a systematic record of entries/exits from non-EU citizens is kept - I would suspect that stamps are used to keep track rather than SIS4All, simply because it seems unlikely that the computer system could handle it.


A ban from the Schengen zone would almost certainly occur. Apart from that, I think it would be unlikely that they would be prosecuted - banning them from Schengen would be more than enough punishment and be the easiest way to deal with it.

Allegedly, a red stamp is placed in the passport of those that overstay in the Schengen area - but I've never seen any proof of this.

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

Do you have an EU passport?

If you don't, and you've been here more than 45 days - it's time to go home :)

Work / A Pilot moving to Poland - jobs and courses? [6]

You shouldn't do, I'd imagine that the JAA will recognise a Canadian licence quite happily.

winnipegaviation.com/International/LicenceConversion.asp seems to give a bit more information on it.

Law / Bailing out the Polish Zloty.... [11]


I thought they had accepted this and had decided not to do anything about it, particularly as the weakening Złoty is good news for exporters and thus industries such as the car industry will be doing well?

UK, Ireland / Supermarkets in Poland: differences and similarities to the UK. [62]

Norco, Seanus? You're showing your age now! I remeber it well though, the cafe there did an amazing mince pie.

You should see Danestone Tesco now though, you wouldn't recognise it at all, it's almost completely changed (well, the booze is still a hideously long walk to the other side of the store, but...).

UK, Ireland / Supermarkets in Poland: differences and similarities to the UK. [62]


It amazes me that in a country that has so much distrust towards strangers, they allow cigarettes to be sold by individual cashiers.

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


This is where I'm getting confused - in Poznań, you first register with the "Urzędu Miasta Poznania" (which is effectively the city administration) for the three months temporary residence permit, and then you go to the "Wielkopolski Urząd Wojewódzki" (provincial administration) to obtain the 5 year residence permit given to EU citizens.

As far as I know, there's no way round this - you cannot jump straight to the 5 year permit, as the 'zameldowanie' is granted by the city administration. But you certainly don't need all the documentation listed by the British Embassy for local (temporary) registration to obtain the 'zameldowanie' to begin with.

This could be where you're going wrong - although Warsaw might be a special case in terms of registration of foreigners.


Apparently, you can get it when you first register for the three months. But you might not get it until you apply for the 5 year residence card - either way, you won't be getting it until you're registered in some way. The best bet is simply to ask at every stage of the way - and someone will give you it.

It's probably closest to our National Insurance numbers in the UK in terms of what it does.


Yup, basically. Usually the best way to find out their intentions is to tell them that the tax office wants to see your contract - if they tell you not to show them, then you know they're operating some sort of tax dodge.

UK, Ireland / Supermarkets in Poland: differences and similarities to the UK. [62]


Bloody snob :P

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned - Tesco is regarded by many people (at least in Poznań) as being a supermarket for poorer people. Certainly, the prices and the appearance of the shop look more like Lidl in the UK as opposed to Tesco.

I'd definitely argue that Tesco was a lower class of supermarket than in the UK.

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

Foreigners as in non-EU, right?

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.


I wouldn't be surprised if they were charging him the tax and then keeping it to themselves, seems to be a rather common scam in Poland towards naive foreigners. No ZUS as well, although the EHIC card is good enough even though you really shouldn't use it if you're not resident in the UK...

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

I'd be willing to bet that this is just them closing the loophole where non-EU citizens can register a company and end up legally staying on this basis more than anything else.

UK, Ireland / List of goods taken from living in the UK [64]

I've got one for you...

I saw a shop in Stary Browar in Poznan selling all sorts of 'world foods'. I went in to laugh at how much of a rip off they are. First thing I see is a box of Weetabix with "SPECIAL PRICE - 1 POUND 29" written on it. I checked the Złoty price - 25zł...how I laughed.

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

To be honest though, if it is just closing the door to non-EU citizens getting in without a work permit, I'm not too fussed. Less competition and all that ;)

Travel / Going to visit Poland for long period of time - need passport? [25]

It's pretty simple.

If you're an EU citizen, you can come here and stay for as long as you like. You should get formally registered in the country, but in practice, no-one cares about EU citizens. You'll need either a passport or a national ID card.

If you're non-EU, then either you need a visa or you don't. Either way, a passport is obligatory. If you access Poland visa-free, then you'll only be allowed to stay for 90 days out of every 180. You can stay longer if you apply for a visa/etc - or you can just overstay. But there are quite tough penalties associated with that, so be careful.

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


Me, for one. But I have a good deal with my school - I'm responsible for their spoken English and the Polish teachers are more responsible for the grammar side of things. It works nicely - I don't have any desire to teach grammar, as the technical aspects of languages have always bored me. Certainly, I've found that many people are interested in the more bizzare uses of English, such as talking about how you can be in a pickle. But I have quite a nice deal really - and it suits me.

To the original poster - don't sell yourself too low. I've seen adverts in Poznań from 'native speakers' who are charging as little as 30zl, yet virtually every Polish person I know wouldn't consider them on the grounds that they're probably doing little to no preparation for their classes. Even for a conversation class, you should be doing at least some preparation.

One thing I'm curious in - how on earth did the original poster get a job in a bar in Poland without Polish?

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


Murphy is a fantastic book, I've lost count of the amount of times when it's proven to be invaluable, even for just testing purposes.

But I think that part of the problem in Poland is that many people seem to think that native speakers should be teaching grammar. There's a school of thought in my school that we (well, I) shouldn't be teaching them - so we've developed a system where the initial teaching is done by a Polish teacher, but I expand on it. It seems to work.

One thing I'd certainly suggest is learning a specialist English topic. Even if it's just about working in a bar - then you should be able to teach someone comprehensively about this, even about the more arcane differences (such as what a Vodka Martini is and why it'll differ in America to Europe). For instance, my personal expertise is Business English - but I teach them the nonsense they can expect from English speakers. They know it's nonsense, I know it's nonsense - and I usually get questions along the lines of 'Do people really speak like this?'.

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


I think it's simply explaining many of the corporate bullshit terms that are thrown around freely - stuff like 'let's knock this out of the park' and so on. At least, this is what I teach - I'm not going to insult their intelligence by teaching them *about* business when they evidently know much more than me.

Life / Healthcare In Poland For An EU Citizen [10]


Yep, there's something called the NFZ. It operates slightly differently to the NHS - many places will be both NFZ and private, so you have to ensure that you're being treated under the NFZ scheme and not privately.

But you won't qualify automatically...

The UK NHS won't be covering you anymore, as you will have lost residence in the UK.


It's cheap for me, but it depends on your age. medicover.pl is your friend in this respect for health care.

Public health care is funded via something that you'll grow to hate called ZUS - which is basically a horrifically high social tax that goes to pay pensions and health care. But be warned, the system is very awkward - residence alone doesn't give you NFZ cover (unlike the UK NHS), although there are apparently ways to get round the requirement to actually pay ZUS a penny.

Life / Where to buy bedding in Poznan? [5]

IKEA's a doddle to get to - there's a free bus, but I'm not certain on how it actually gets there. I *think* it might leave from Rondo Kapionera, but don't quote me on this.

Otherwise on MPK, there's quite a few ways from the centre to IKEA. It's near Centrum M1 in Rataje - so the easiest bet is to make your way to Rondo Rataje (three stops from Stary Browar) and hop on a bus from there. There's other ways, but this is the easiest.

If you give me your nearest bus/tram stop, I'll give you the best directions :)

Love / Looking for ideal place in Poznan to propose to my girlfriend. [14]


Stary Browar. Or failing that, Rondo Kaponiera.

Okay, I'll be serious. Poznan isn't really too great for such things - although it depends entirely on what you want. Nice restaurants are commonplace, but there's nowhere really completely romantic - all depends on the girl. But you probably can't go far wrong with some of the restaurants located around Plac Wolnośći, I think.

Just not Stary Browar, whatever you do.

Life / English Books in Poznan [13]

There's two great places, located almost next door to each other.

The AMU British Library is on ul. Ratajczaka, next door to Piccolo and located about two minutes walk from Plac Wolnośći. 40zl for a year's membership, and has a decent amount of books. It's about a ten minute walk from the 'new' (Pasaz) part of Stary Browar. For 60zl/year, you can rent DVD's too.

Meanwhile, on Plac Wolnośći, there's an Empik which has a fairly decent English language section. They've also got English language newspapers and some magazines in English too.

There's other places scattered about, for instance, there's a kiosk in the PKP station that sells quite a decent range too. There's also a bookshop in Stary Rynek that sells English books - not in the horrific communist-era concrete block, but across from it.

Life / English Books in Poznan [13]

Aha, now you're talking about something that I don't know about.

I would recommend not taking a course to begin with - Polish is quite an easy language to pick up, and people are generally friendly enough to not be bothered by dreadful grammar. I picked up a book from Empik called 'Polish in 4 weeks' - and it gives you more than enough to actually be able to get by in Poland. I know the letters look dreadful, especially the ł and ż - but in speech, they're actually quite easy to work out.

I've never heard of the school in question, which isn't too good. I'll ask in my school if anyone has heard of it - but i don't think they have, otherwise it would've been mentioned to me by now.

Anything else I can help with, feel free to ask :)

Life / English Books in Poznan [13]

To be honest, with the current exchange rate, it works out cheaper to buy them here. Amazon's delivery costs are pretty hefty, and you can find English books for around 35zl or so for your average paperback.

And there's nothing like buying books in the flesh ;)

Life / Sat TV providers in Poland [18]


Is there any reasonably pain-free way of getting iPlayer and 4oD? The lack of 4oD has been driving me crazy here, particularly with the lack of Hollyoaks*.

(*yes, I know)

Life / English Books in Poznan [13]


It is hard going, but it is logical...probably best not for complete beginners though, as they won't be familiar at all with how the language sounds.

Work / JOBS IN Hp AND GOOGLE IN WROCLAW [17]

How much are you looking for? You could probably earn up to 10zl an hour easily enough, but I wouldn't hold out for any more. There will be opportunities in big companies - but it's by no means a certainty, especially as Poland is churning out very high quality information scientists.

Work / Interview at a Callan School [204]

It's worth asking to observe a couple of lessons before accepting the job if they offer you it - you'll soon see if the school encourages creativity or not. A Callan school that doesn't want their teachers to be individuals is likely to make you thoroughly miserable - so if you find that they're looking for a droid, keep well away.

Just use your instinct - and don't be afraid to negotiate your conditions.

Work / Interview at a Callan School [204]


Yup, it will tell a lot if the teachers you observe don't change the material around. Even little things - like one question 'are you always willing to do things for other people?'. If someone says yes, then it can be fun to throw a pen/the book/whatever on the floor and ask them to pick it up.

Even sometimes, asking "why?" after a random question can get some interesting answers. If you find the school doesn't entertain this and sticks rigidly to the amount of revision/readings/writings/dictations, then it's not likely to be worth any amount of money.

One thing that stands out about Callan more than anything - some people will use the language and have fun with it, while others will repeat the 'expected' answer even when you'd expect them to be able to discuss something. The earlier ones will encourage you, the latter ones will make you want to throw yourself off the building.

As for negotiating conditions - sure, moneywise they might be fixed. But don't be afraid to negotiate on points such as teaching Grammar - I managed to get an agreement that I wouldn't teach anything 'new' to students when it came to grammar, for instance. I could, but I don't like it and don't particularly want to teach it.