Hi, I am British and have been living in Poland for 15 months now. At the start I didn't bother to put myself through the pain of registering (zameldowanie) because I don't work for Polish companies (I am self-employed and continue to run my UK company from Poland) and basically didn't need it.
Because I recently bought a house with my wife and wanted to register a car I started to do the temporary registration (tymczasowe zameldowanie) at the local town office (urząd miasta). Annoyingly I have to go back there and repeat this every 3 months because the temporary registration is only valid for 3 months.
More annoyingly, because my Polish car is registered to me, I therefore have to return to the motoring office (wywiad transportu) every 3 months to update my car registration too.
I was told that if I go to the Krakow office (urząd wojewódzki) then I can get a 5 year residence permit (karta pobytu). Does anyone have experience of actually doing this themselves? What documents did you need? How long did it take? How painful is the process?
I did this in Kraków last summer, it wasn’t too painful. Without any problems the process should take about a month.
As an EU citizen you will need to apply for a “ZAŚWIADCZENIE O ZAREJESTROWANIU POBYTU OBYWATELA UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ”, not a „KARTA POBYTU CZ£ONKA RODZINY OBYWATELA UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ”. The latter is for non-EU family members of a Polish citizen.
My recollection of the process is:
1.) I was temporarily melded locally 2.) My Polish wife called up the office in Krakow (the local melding office gave us the direct number). The person in Krakow directed us to a website where the application forms are located. I filled out 2 copies of the forms (they are in Polish and English)
3.) I brought the forms and my Irish passport to Krakow. (I don’t remember if I also had to bring the Polish version of my marriage certificate) The office had a queue of about 200 people going down the street. This is not the right queue; push your way through the door (Polish style; throw your shoulder into everyone, don’t apologize). The office is on the first floor. I waited about 30 minutes.
4.) Submit the forms, sign a few papers, (have a few photocopies of your passport with you, otherwise they will send you back outside to hunt down a “ksero”). They told me to call back in 30 days to confirm all was okay and then I could come and pick up my Karta.
5.) During those 30 days the office is supposed to ensure that you are not a threat to national security by checking with the Interior Ministry, the Polish Police, and your home country police. In my case the local Police showed unannounced at the door one day. They had a list of questions that my wife translated. Mostly to do with work and education experience. (which in some way is used to evaluate what kind of threat you pose to Poland)
6.) I get a letter in the post to call the office. For some reason my Irish passport does not list the city of my birth, and they did not pick up on this when I first presented my passport. This rocked their world! There was no-way that I could get a Karta without this. I had to go back to Krakow with other documents proving my city of birth.
7.) Two weeks later I get a letter in the post. Come pick up your Karta, and bring 1 zloty with you. I had to wait about 30 minutes again to get the card. When I get to the desk they already had my "file" right there with them; a folder with my name on the front and about 15 pages of paperwork inside. Creepy! I tried to get a peek at the contents, but they were having none of it.
8.) I then bring my new Karta to the local melding office so I can now be permanently melded. They have no idea what the Karta is and we had to get the office from Krakow on the phone to verbally abuse them before they gave me my permanent melding, which is just a tiny slip of paper with a stamp on it. No ID cards for foreigners.
...and one more thing. I read an article recently in which Mr. Tusk promised to get rid of the whole melding process by close of 2008 as it is just pointless bureaucracy. Maybe I misunderstood the article though?
Thanks for the info. I just found [mazowsze.uw.gov.pl/news.php?id=8934] this link that from my understanding means I need: the form filled out (they have the link), photocopies like you say of my passport, photocopies of my local temporary registration.
When the weather warms up a bit I'll get myself up to Krakow and have a go.
well today I went to Kraków and applied for my karta pobytu. What a joke this system is. I have blogged about it here in case anyone else has to do the same in Krakow again.
[british-in-poland.blogspot.com/2008/03/5-year-registration-karta-pobytu.html] - Polish residence card - karta pobytu from Krakow
I recently got my second residence and work permits in Krakow - they were applied for at the same time, and sadly are only valid for one year. The process takes around 2 months in my experience, but can be longer if you don't have all the documents they require. I wouldn't have attempted it on my own. A lawyer helped me with getting it all sorted out, and it was money well spent.
I too have tried getting a karta pobytu. But the experience left me in a state of total nervous exhaustion up to the point where I said...Oh, dear me, except the 'f' letter was used.
And now the story.... I bought a flat in 2002 in Krakow and was told that I needed to be registered (zameldowanie). (This is where it all went wrong-I was told duff info). I live in UK permanently.
I am on a British passport, so I could only get the 3 month zameld. It meant that for a few years I had to make sure that every 3 months I turned up to renew the 3 month zameld. However, doing it for the umpteenth time, last time, some job's worth told me that they couldn't do it anymore, as the 3 months zamel. no longer existed and I had to register for the 5 year one. From Urzad Miasta I went to St. Sebastian St, where I was told that I needed 'insurance'. This is where it became laughable. I told the girl, that never in a million years would I use the Polish Health Service, as I would go private anyway, bo no, it wouldn't do. I did not realize at the time, that UK NHS card would have done for that-thank you for that.
Story continues...I walked out...and told them to stick it. As I live in the UK I did not see why I should be zameld. in Poland anyway, as the longest I ever spend in 2 weeks 5 times a year in my flat. And that was another thing..even when I was doing the 3 months zamel. I had to prove that I am the owner and I am the tenant of the flat, therefore I had to give myself permission to live there. Laughable, I know.
However, now that I have calmed down, after the last experience about a year ago...I have not given up and will try again. And don't even get me started on trying to get proof my my Polish nationality. I was born in Poland of Polish parents and Polish grandparents. I have my Polish birth certificate, my Polish christening form, my exam results from school (I attended for a few years) and the woman told me that these facts did not mean that they would recognise my Polish nationality...When I said I was born in Krakow, she said that she wasn't exactly sure if she could accept that Krakow was in Poland. I left without saying a word and got drunk that night.
Terri, I think you should probably just get a polish passport. It would be a lot easier, then you could just show them you're polish. Unless you're trying to evade military service? You don't forfeit your UK citizenship thereby either.
