Polish emergency passport

On another forum, there's a thread about a Polish colleague who was mugged and had his wallet, including his Polish passport stolen. His father died suddenly, and he needs to fly home urgently, and apparently the Polish embassy are saying he needs to apply for a visa, which will take several weeks.

This cannot be true, surely? Being Polish, he should not need a visa to visit his own home country. I'm a foreigner int he UK, too, and my embassy can issue emergency passports on the same day, so I cannot believe Poland would be any different.

Any Poles here who know the system?

talk to the embassy.. should be able to get emergency paperwork.

plk123
That's the thing, apparently the Polish embassy here in London are saying he can get a visa, which will take several weeks to get. I don't get it, as a passport shouldn't take that long, a Pole cannot need a visa to visit Poland and surely the embassy/consulate can issue an emergency passport.

consulate/embassy knows better than people from the forum... all the ideas and possibilities must be discussed with cons/emb and not some forum...

they can but it's a slow process.. it won't happen overnight.

You'd think. I was hoping to find a Pole who's actually done that, got an emergency passport from a Polish embassy/consulate, so the Pole in need can quote that info to the embassy/consulate here in London who seem to think he's stuck here for several weeks.

i have gotten a temp passport.. it took 2 weeks, i think.

That's because Polish bureaucrats are the biggest idiots in the world.

plk123
Ooh, that's pretty bad.

Thanks for the info.

Of course not... How a Polish citizen could even apply for a visa to visit own country ?? That's nonsense. Either that person didn't understand what the embassy worker ment or the embassy worker is a total idiot. If that's the 2nd case then he/she should call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland and tell them about It and If they don't react fast enough then contact the media and tell that about this unbelieveable crap.

I was about to say the same. I find it hard to believe that this is true. Forgive my ignorance, but don't you need a passport to get a visa? And sorry, but isn't giving a Polish visa to a Polish person a bit of a nonsense! Just give the damn emergency passport.

you can get a temporary or a short term passport in Poland relatively fast, so surely you can get one from the embassy in UK. what about an ID card, that might be quicker to arrange than a passport and it's just as good. doesn't your friend actually have a Polish id card? that really sucks. the whole idea of a Polish person needing a VISA to go to Poland is ridiculous!