New ID 'card' in Poland

At last, I get my new 10 year id 'card'. WTF!!!!????

Ha! Next time a Pole laughs at my huge green paper attachment on my UK driving licence, I'll pull out the big, flimsy piece of paper which is my new id.

Come on, guys... I know I'm a foreigner but do you have to remind me at every turn? The 5 year card was OK, it was credit card sized (like a Polish ID) and fitted in my wallet. After 5 years it was still in good shape. But what the hell is it replaced with? A big piece of paper, unlaminated and too big to fit in my wallet without screwing it up. And this is supposed to last for 10 years? It'll be lucky to last 10 months?

Is this just so i don't forget over the next ten years that i'm not Polish?

well, most likely somebody made money on taxpayers expanse again and nobody gives **** about sense or reason nor some foreigners comfort - there is age of capital:P

vive la bastardS!

yeah, probably had a job lot of pale paper sitting around. mind you, why should I be surprised... nobody in my local immigration office speaks English or German.

what does it have to do with tax payers?


LES, to be exact.

As for the ID, I don't know why polish government always has to make things more complicated.ALWAYS and usually with EVERYTHING.

Who do you think paid for this little "improvement"?


les or la whats matters is bastardS :)


money, money .......

les batards if we're being picky:)

How many ten year 'ID' cards are issued in Poland? Not many I guess so that may be why the paper version persists.

maybe but I like my version better

This must be be an EU thing as I've just collected my piece of A4 paper here in Spain. Here it's for an indefinite period. I also had an ID card every 5 years. Fortunately my Spanish driving license has the same information so I use that in banks and other places for ID.

By the way my piece of paper is bright green...lol

Huh? My permanent residence card is a plastic laminated thing about the size of a credit card. It looks different from the previous 2 year cards, but it was the same size.

Why have the id card anyway? Are there any advantages? I've not been required to get one yet ...

Rogalski

Exactly. A passport suffices for most things including utilities.

If you want a Polish credit card or a mortgage you should probably have one.

I have a credit card and no id, just my passport sufficed. Haven't even thought about a mortgage yet!

Non-EU citizens need them to have longer stays legalized or risk probable deportation (or not being allowed back in when travelling abroad).

This is because it's not a replacement for your national ID - it's just a piece of paper to confirm your permanent residency in Poland. Likewise with the EU 5 year permit - it's not meant to be carried round on a day-to-day basis.

Why they can't just issue something like this - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_ID_card#Categories_of_Estonian_identity_cards - is entirely beyond me.


Are you Polish? If so, you're breaking the law by not having one - it's compulsory for any Polish citizen resident in Poland to have one. Otherwise, as an EU citizen, it makes life significantly easier to have legal residence - though you can live here happily without it.

Well, it helps with things like credit. I'm married to a Pole and have my own firm but still have trouble getting things like credit ("Sorry, can't give credit to someone without a pesel on their id" said GE Moneybank, or "Sorry, you can't have 5 year credit because there's only 3 years left on your id" said Skoda car-showroom). Also, I don't want to carry my passport around everywhere everyday.


So what am I supposed to carry around on a day to day basis?

There are two seperate issues here -

1) being able to identify yourself if requested to do so by for instance the police, the Straz Graniczna, Sluzba Celna, etc - in this case, an EU/EEA/CH driving licence is enough. They might want to clarify it, so carrying around a photocopy of the permanent residence certificate will be more than enough to satisfy them.

If they get really arsey, they could demand an ID card or passport, but in this case, the permanent residence certificate wouldn't satisfy them anyway. The only time that they would expect to see the national ID would be if you're stopped crossing a Schengen border - Schengen law says that you must carry national ID when doing so, and again, the permanent residence certificate wouldn't be enough to satisfy them.

2) Being able to identify yourself when a dowod osobisty is requested, such as at the bank, the Urzad Miasta, etc - in this case, you need to have a national ID, which is either a passport or national ID card - again, the permanent residence certificate isn't a national ID and shouldn't be accepted.

What nationality are you?

Incidentally, anyone refusing credit for stupid reasons like you list above should be ignored anyway - who wants to deal with outdated thinking?

But...if you want something convenient, couldn't you just obtain Polish citizenship if you're married to a Pole and have been here for over 5 years? It's certainly the easiest way!

I'm British, so technically I don't need it anyway. The thing is Olsztyn has a weird mindset...

Seriously, when I applied for GE Moneybank credit they were fine; I showed them all my residency docs, firm paperwork, ZUS and tax payments etc... then they asked for my PESEL. I handed over my pobyt and the lad said, "There's no PESEL." I said that I had one on a piece of paper from the ratusz (obviously, I'd need one to start a firm). He made a few calls and then apologised, saying they wouldn't give credit to someone who didn't have PESEL number on his pobyt. No amount of meetings with other meletters was of any use.

The Skoda shop... well, I wanted 5 year credit to buy a car 'on the firm' (paid about 10-15k up front). They said i had only 3 years on my id so they wouldn't do it in case i ran away to UK (duh!). My wife said she'd take the credit and run away to UK the next day. Mind you, we are talking about a car showroom where you have to carry cash because you can't pay 1000 zlots insurance with plastic.

I should take citizenship, then I could go to UK and get all the preferential treatment (translators, free money transfers etc) that i can't get as a Brit in Poland.

I've been through the same crap for over ten years. It's a lottery when you are dealing with banks etc. Had the situation where my wife had to take the mortgage in her name and with worse terms because they wouldn't take my income into account (because I could return to the UK at any moment).

I thought it would improve once we joined the EU but to be honest It's not much better.
I was already eligible for a 'karta stałego pobytu' when we joined the EU only to be told that these didn't exist any longer for citizens of EU countries (I was re-applying only a few months after we joined the EU). The next year I was applying for a loan only to be told by the bank that 'stałego pobytu' was needed and of course seeing that in the meantime they'd changed the rules I had problems once again.

I've given up and am in the process of applying for citizenship (of course I have to apply for stałego pobytu first).
Just one more thing, I was once pulled for speeding on one of the major routes 'Poznanska' and even though I have a polish driving license and had been living here for over 6 years. The police officer insisted on payment of the fine immediately because I didn't have permanent residency in Poland. I didn't have any money with me and he told me that the regulations were that anyone not zameldowania na pobyt stałego had to pay or be detained until the payment was made (luckily enough my passenger had some cash). He radioed through to his controller to check but they confirmed that he was correct. They new all my details as well. I went to the town hall later and persuaded them to give me 'poświadczenie zameldowania na pobytu stałego' but again without 'karta stałego pobytu' it was a struggle.

I've been pulled by the local police a couple of times and just got a ticket that can be payed later (before I changed my residency status). What the actual laws are concerning this I don't know. But be warned!

I know what you mean, Steve. I've been here 8 years myself. That said, I've still got a UK/EU driving licence. Occassionally makes them feel sorry for me when they pull me over.

Ironic thing is that a UK driving licence is now not considered legitimate id in UK! (go figure).