Questions about gaining a Polish citizenship and the process of getting one.

Could anyone who gained citizenship please explain the process to me?
I have been looking online and called the Polish embassy. But it is still not 100 percent clear.

What paperwork is needed to pack up and move to Poland?

How long does it take before you have to renounce your American citizenship?

What is the order? Do i come on a visa first, then i become a temporary resident, then
permanent resident, then a citizen??

How long can i stay on each residency (visa,temp,perm...)?

Do I need a visa to work if I'm temporary resident?

Any advise about moving to Poland?

Thank You

Why do you want polish citizenship? I'm not sure how long you can stay on a visa but I have an american friend who books a flight home every 3 months gets a stamp and returns, He's been here for 3 years with no problems. A flight to the UK every few months will probably do the trick as its outside shengen.

I don't think it matters why I want Polish citizenship..
No offence man, just want to get out of the United States.. personal reasons
I want to live there without having to keep refreshing my visa. Thank you though

s a non EU citizen you can stay in the Schengen Zone (which includes Poland) for 90 days out of any 180 days - overstay this and you risk being deported and banned from entering it again for a significant period of time. This has happened to people I know. If you overstay your visa though, as many do, you'll find your employment options severely limited as you won't have a work permit. Getting a work permit generally requires an employer to sponsor it (like in the US) and is usually only granted for people with special/desirable skills. This is a country with 10% unemployment (and heading north) so it won't be easy to persuade the powers that be that you've got something no one else in Europe does.

Obtaining Polish citizenship requires you to prove you have Polish ancestry (grandparents at the least, parents are better) and jump through a series of hoops. If you become a Polish citizen you won't have to renounce your American citizenship but you will be treated as a Pole while you're here (i.e. you can't go running to the US embassy for help if you get into trouble). Once you have Polish citizenship, you can come over and start working straight away.

The other option is to marry a Pole and go through the citizenship process through her - but this can take years and is not straightforward.

If I prove i have Polish grandparents, how long does it take to gain Polish citizenship? 5 years?

I plan on working in the culinary field so hopefully I can get employed.

What is the Schengen Zone?
Do I need a visa to stay in the Schengen Zone?
What is the difference between staying in Poland with a visa and staying in the Schengen Zone?
Do I have to live in this so called Schengen Zone?

Sorry if these are stupid questions

Is it hard to gain Polish citizenship?
Are my chances of becoming a Polish Citizen slim to none?
For an employer to sponsor me, how does this work?

Thank you very much

Schengen Zone are countries that do not have the border control (it can be reinstated though for short periods of time) - you can cross the borders anywhere you like. You can drive a car through Polish-German Polish-Czech Polish-Slovakian border and noone will stop you (normally) to check you pass and the like. Poland is a part of Schengen Zone and I guess all the rules of Schengen Zone for apply

check with American State Department on visa requirements for travel in the EU

Poland is a party to the Schengen agreement. As such, U.S. citizens may enter Poland for up to 90 days for tourist or business purposes without a visa. The passport should be valid for at least three months beyond the period of stay. For further details about travel into and within Schengen countries, please see our fact sheet. - This is a quote from the American Department of State

another quote:

Please note, that while business and tourism visits of less than 90 days to the Schengen countries are visa-free, if you are traveling to Europe for any other reason—employment, study, internship, etc., your host country may require a visa for that purpose, to be obtained before you leave the U.S. Please check with the Embassy or Consulate of the country(ies) you are going for their specific requirements.

Although European Union regulations require that non-EU visitors obtain a stamp in their passports upon initial entry to a Schengen country, many borders are not staffed with officers carrying out this function. If an American citizen wishes to ensure that his or her entry is properly documented, it may be necessary to request a stamp at an official point of entry. Under local law, travelers without a stamp in their passports may be questioned and asked to document the length of their stay in Schengen countries at the time of departure or at any other point during their visit, and could face possible fines or other repercussions if unable to do so.

It took me 1 year to get the passport but I have Polish parents.


If you're visiting, there's only a Schengen visa now (you get it on entry) and it allows you to stay there for 90 days - this includes Poland - and if you're in Poland then you're automatically in the Schengen Zone. If you have a work permit your visa is valid only for you to work in the country that issued it (and company that sponsored it), not in the whole Schengen zone.


Try googling 'work permit Poland' or variations - there are lots of expat websites around, and have a look at the Polish government website: poland.gov.pl/Pozwolenie,na,prace,7037.htm

Thanks,

So if I apply for citizenship (I have Polish great grandparents who are from Poland, but they're dead. My whole family is Polish, but none of them are from Poland, except great grandparents), what do i do while I wait to become a citizen? Would they let me know I'm becoming a citizen? or randomly ill get a passport in the mail. Or while i wait do i have to live off visa's and work permit's..?

You won't get citizenship based on only that, no chance.

It's going to be a lot easier for you to just get a one-year visa, then temporary resident's cards for four years and then a permanent resident's card.

Until it's all confirmed and you have your Polish citizenship and passport, you'll be treated like any other non-EU person here - so finding a sponsor for a work permit or a 90-day visas it is.

so they probably left Poland before 1918, in which case you can't inherit Polish citizenship from them as Harry says.

So I'm asking, how long do i live on visas until I am offered temporary residency? How long after I have lived as a temporary residency will I be considered a permanent resident? How long after that will I become a citizen??

I would just like to know the order in which I'm considered a Polish citizen

I seem to not get this, could anyone please dumb it down a little so I can understand

What do I basically have to do? Get on a plane and leave to Poland, once i get there is when i apply for citizenship??

Please and thank you

3 months + proof you have a reason to be in Poland (difficult as you don't have a work permit but you could try opening a business, enrolling in education or marrying a Pole...)


3 years + proof of permanent family or economic ties with Poland as well as somewhere to live and means of support.


You can apply for citizenship after 5 years of permanent residency (or 6 months if you've been married to a Pole for 3 years)

It's all explained clearly by the Polish Consulate in NY:

polishconsulateny.org/index.php?p=41
polishconsulateny.org/index.php?p=123

There will be background checks. If you are trying to escape something, you will not be approved.

thanks a lot mann, i appreciate it.

So it should take me up to 9 years to become a citizen?
3 month's with a work visa..I plan to work
3 years as a temporary resident..I plan to rent an apartment..pay bills etc.
5 years as a permanent resident..Would Polish girls think I'm marrying just to gain citizenship?? I hope not

Correct me if I'm wrong

BrudnyBrudny

Check into poland foreigner and go to the forums then look under immigration. There you will/should find Immigration to Poland forum. In that forum you will find 3 sections that talk about what and how to obtain Polish citizenship. One person posted information about the 1920/1951/1962 citizenship acts.

If you have direct lineage with people from Poland, you will need to check these acts first to see when your people immigrated to the States. Then that act may give you an idea if you stand a chance. There is also postings about which lawyer to avoid. Also, if you can try to obtain any legal papers on your lineage. Such as when and where they immigrated from, when they obtained American citizenship, any expired passports they may have kept and so forth.

Ask the oldest person of your family if they remember anything of those that immigrated if they may have given up Polish citizenship. If they did, then you may be out of luck. But ask the oldest people of your family anyways in the guise of doing your family tree. Also check into the variant spellings of your last name as well. Sometimes the immigration officials botched up the names because they could not understand what was being said and how it was supposed to be spelled.

Come to Poland, see if you like, get a job as english teacher, the demmand is quite high, find a beautiful girlfriend, get married and live happily ever after or marry a fat ugly one as many students do and no stress.

if one of ur grandparents was polish at least up 1951 and u can prove it then there will be no problem at all. Just go to poland rent a place and register yourself. Then u need to go to Urzad marszałkowski and apply for your citizenship. It can take max. up to 8 month.

Or just do it thought Polish Embassy but for sure it will be much longer.

Or two great-grandparents-- but they have to have left Poland after WWI ended, otherwise you'll have to prove you had family in Poland before the partitions, which can be quite time-consuming and expensive to do.

My great-great grandparents immigrated from Poland sometime between the late 1890s to 1917. My great-great grandfather was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. My great-great grandmother never naturalized and stayed a Polish citizen, who held permanent residence in the U.S. . So her daughter, my great grandmother, was born in the U.S., so she is a us citizen. But what im wondering is if because her mother remained a polish citizen, could she be a dual U.S.-Polish citizen. And if so, could her great grandson be a Polish citizen, as my dad, granddad, and great grandma never renounced any ties to Poland.

I doubt it. Americans clutching at straws now????...:)

Yes but Polish citizens transmit citizenship automatically to there kids, born in Poland or not

In your dreams......

Polish nationality Law states that children automatically are claimed Polish at birth. I'll have to fax/call the Polish Embassy to see eligibility criteria. If that doesn't work, I'll hire an attorney to do complex legal research as it is clearly my right. My great-great grandmother died in 1972 and my polish great grandmother is still alive, 91.

Anyway they can recover the nationality by a "confirmation" what matters is to have Polish roots

Beside each case is different and they check the whole case, they are not square for the law even if you miss documentation

Why is it always, marry a Polish woman to get citizenship? Can't a non Polish woman marry a Polish man and get the same?

as long as you had grandparents born in poland and have their appropriate paperwork (birth certificates) then you should be able to apply.

the application is the hard bit, took my mate over 2 years and cost him a fair bit

Merged: How long does it take to process Polish citizenship ? My dad is Polish.

Can someone tell me that how long does it take to process my polish citizenship.
I've launched my application outside polish soil, to be specifically, It was in polish embassy in Beijing.

And I've been told that the president office of polish goverment had received my application on November 2008.

Is that any method to expedite the process as soon as possible?
Once the citizenship is approved ,how can they inform me ?

Please elaborate more when it's appropriate.

Thank You.

I hope someone with similar experiences sees this thread and help you.
In the meantime - some less useful general informations (which may not be correct, as I'm Polish by birth, so it's all based on what I heard/read about such cases).

They should answer you, the various administration organs have different maximum times to address a complain/demand etc. Normally it's 30 days (they have to start processing your application during that time, when they will finish is another problem), I guess the president office has more time, but after 9 months they really should be able to at least inform you what's going on.

Unfortunatelly, it sometimes requires personal presence and if you're abroad and don't speak Polish it might be difficult (if you can afford a lawyer, such help could be useful, he/she could at least keep in touch with you and inform you about any progress with your application).

There are 2 procedures, the slower one for acquiring Polish citizenship in case your dad had to give it up.
The faster one is only confirming (it's applied when your parent(s) or grandparent(s) left Poland, but never waived his (her, their) Polish citizenships).

In some countries the immigrants could/can gain dual citizenship (country of origin + new host country), in other places you have to renounce your original citizenship to gain the new one (and if such was the case of your father, you won't be confirmed as a Polish citizen, you will be treated as a foreigner and you'll have to deal with all the requirements for foreigners).

I remember there was a thread about what is required to even apply for a Polish citizenship (you must stay in Poland for a minimum period of time, or be married to a Polish citizen and of course you must submit all the necessary documents in a prescribed way, if you don't do it, they may simply reject your application as incorrect), use the "search" function and maybe you'll find something on this forum.