Polish Green Card

I have a question. If I marry my girlfriend she can get a green card and stay in the US. If we get married is it possible for me to get a Green Card and stay in Poland or is it some kind of long term Visa?

There's no such think as "Polish green card"; you can go and stay in Poland without any special permit like in the US.

Are you sure ? Isn't that only 3 months ?

I thought there was a 90 day limit on visiting? Once someone has a green card they can work. I need to be able to work in Poland.

Well, it's not permenently - but 3 months indeed. But that should be enough time to arrange a permanent stay in Poland - I don't know the details how to do it but I'm sure you'll get a work permit if your spouse is a Polish citizen and you are a US citizen.

You still have to go through the process of getting a residence permit. You have to get all the necessary paperwork and file it before 45days after your entry into the country. This is if you are in the country already. I'm sure you can also do this from the States.

You will hear people say Americans don't need this to stay in Poland. But to work you will need it. In the past Americans could stay in Poland without a permit to live, because there was a loophole that basically allowed us to go to another country and come back. That would reset the 90day visa. But this all changed after Decemeber 2007 when Poland joined the Schengen Zone.

Those are the requirements if applying from the U.S. They ask for a lot more information and documents if you are actually in the country. Really depends on where you plan to apply. Inside Poland everything has to be in Polish, english documents have to be translated by a Notary translator. You have to be registered with the city and have a form of Health Insurance, basically something to cover your doctor's visits. I also believe if you are in the country you need to leave back to the States to get your permit to be able work. I haven't applied for that, but I have heard that. Hospital and Emergency insurance is not necessary. Obtaining proper insurance for that is a bit more of a challenge due to Polish laws associated with it.

Welcome to the fun process of Polish government. If it's confusing now, just wait till you actually start asking questions. One person will tell you one thing, another will completely contradict the other person. It's how most things work here. It won't be easy getting through all the b.s.

This is not required for a 2 week vacation is it?

I am going hopefully in May for 2 weeks to see my girl friend. If our relation is still strong I plan on teaching English. Then I can put in for a work visa for the fall. The gentle man I spoke with at the consulate in Chicago said that going to Germany or another country to apply might be faster if i decide to stay there. Because then I would be leaving the country.

Not usually, certain countries need a visa to travel for any amount of time but most can stay 90days without a visa.

You don't need a visa for 2 weeks, just get on a plane. But the guy at the consulate telling you to leave to Germany would count as leaving the country is exactly my point. That law doesn't exist anymore because of joining the Schengen Agreement in December of 2007. They have a common border now with most of western Europe. So if you enter in Germany and then stay for 30 days, then Poland for 30 days. They both count to your total of 90days in a 180 day period. Most government workers have no idea what they are talking about. But if your just traveling for 2 weeks, none of this really applies to you.

How long does it take to get a Working Visa for when I go back and teach?

Well first you would need to get hired by a school in Poland. Then get the necessary paperwork from them. As for length, I have no idea, I bet most working in the consulate wouldn't give you a set date either. I wouldn't count on it being any less than a month.

I don't think getting a job will be hard. I'm planning on specializing in Business English. I have sent in a few requests and have received prompt replies. I plan on having my certification when I visit that way I can interview months in advance.

Well good luck with all that. You should probably get more answers to your questions from an employer. They most likely will treat you a bit better than the local government offices. Other than the crap quality of the state offices, Poland is actually pretty nice to live. You just have to get used to the bit of "I'm doing you a favor" attitude of authorities and some of the major service companies like TP (phone). American style of "ass licking" (as my Polish girlfriend likes to say) is not really the way they do things here. But that's another subject entirely.

Thats good I have never been a butt kisser. My GF thinks that I won't like it, the pace of life and the smallness. I don't need allot to live. Of course I'm not going to tell any potential employers that. I am either going to be at or near Zeliona Gora or Malbork/Gdansk. Do you live in Poland?

Yea I live in Krakow. Been in Poland for about 2 1/2 years. Polish tend to think very poorly of their life in this country. Dealing with some aspects of life like getting paperwork and dealing with some of these offices their entire life, I can see why. It's pretty much this way with any office with some kind of authority. The best is the blame is always on you, regardless of how much they screw up. The pay to cost of living ratio is pretty bad as well. I have no idea what they pay people to teach english, but I can't imagine it being to lucrative.

That gentleman probably doesn't know his arse from his elbow: work visas can only be issued in the county where the applicant is permanently resident. For you that will be the USA.


Not really. It can easily pay 6,000zl a month.

Talk about unfair to polish.

In the short term maybe. Most of my money would go back to the local economy. English is the language of business and computers. The more someone knows the better they can do.

Just to put in perspective, my gf's mother is a headmaster at a primary school here in Poland. She makes 2800zl/month pretax. That is for running an entire school. Not really putting you down for pay that a company will give you, but in reality it's pretty unfair.

Why? They make the same wages as native speakers when they do the same job.

I'm talking about regular poles. Check my post above. Teaching english for some reason is more important then regular education. Teachers in schools get paid next to nothing, but an industry based on shipping people out of the country makes the most. I think personally it's unfair. That's just my opinion. It's a free market so nothing technically wrong with it, just unfair.

I don't disagree. Where I live jobs are hard to find also. As the auto industry dies in the US so does Detroit. What used be allot of great paying jobs now are low paying fast food and retail jobs. Poland is still in a hang over from the communist rule. Once they figure it out the economy will come back.

I'm an American working for a school in Gdansk. When I came to Poland in August it was on a 90 day visa. When I got my job in Gdansk in September I had to make a border run to Germany because I didn't have 45 days left on my visa and you need that to apply for a residency card. You don't need a work visa if you have that and you don't have to return to the US to apply.

My school helped me with this and in December I received a proclamation that my residency card had been approved and I would have it soon. Soon is a relative term in Poland and because I began the process last year I'll probably receive the actual card in February.

It'll be valid until October and before it expires I'll have to apply for another one. You will need a contract from your school, proof of insurance and some other papers. I didn't have all of them-didn't know I'd need them-so I had to sign an affadavit that I'm not an axe murderer (really I'm not!) and a couple of others, but those sufficed in lieu of the actual documents. It helped to have the school's support during this process.

If you're coming for less than 90 days you don't need anything but a passport.