New Polish I.D. card. [Dowód Osobisty] - big fine if you don't apply

If you are Polish and don't apply for the new I.D before the end of the year you will find yourself with a very big fine and possibly prison.

If you are in Wroclaw the queue starts at about 06:30. If you join the queue at 09:00 or 10:00 it might be too late for that day.

I have no idea what it's like in other cities

Cost: 30zl

my gf is just back home in szczecin and after having her id stolen in the uk she still has to go through the whole stupid procedure again.

in szczecin there are very long queues to apply and on the website it says "zero people waiting" from about 10am... so you would think it is empty... as a matter of fact they just close the doors at 10am as there are too many people already!!!

how do they expect everyone having applied for the id before the end of the year?
or are they just waiting to fine people??

The deadline is for lazy people who have actually had a couple of years to sort it out.

There were no queues a month ago, until they said the fine would be about 4,000zl

Waiting until the last moment is the Polish way.

It's the same in Warsaw - massive queues.

not only the polish way, believe me... ;-)

4000zl is quite a hefty fine though...

If there's a big queue, one of your friends will have an Aunty or Uncle working in the office, problem solved...

is this a new id card that has come into existance from 2006?so what if you have an old one? does this new one have to be renewed yearly? what if you had an old one that ran out say end of 2007-can you wait until then to apply for new one?

I asked my brother about it and
whoever posted this post may be very wrong.
there is no fine if you permenantly live overseas , that is more than 182 days a year.
and one is allowed to use the old Id until the end of March after that , It is illegal
to use the old ones and there is a fine for doing that.

This is the sorty how I underestand it.

so does everyone in poland have to have an id card?

If you are Polish citizen you have to have one !

i see-i have posted a question relating to id cards-a polish friend says he is waiting for his new id card-he is to come to england for work-he will stay beyond march so i think his old one must have ran out- he was here last year-so from what you said this must be the case-if he didnt have one or he used his old one came to england and then returned to poland in june on his old id-would he be fined?

Did anyone here living outside of Poland apply for the new ID card in the local consulates? Any experiences to share?

I am no expert but all I know you are not allowed to use the old ones beyond
March 31 ,2008. I don't know anything else.

so polish living outside poland have to apply?

One is not allowed to apply through consulate , I have tried and
this lady was screeming at me that they do not deal with it .
Through the net I found out that one is only allowed to apply in person and can
recieve is in person only.

I didn't say that.
Don't panic :))

You don't have to have ID if you live permanently overseas, you have to have valid passport then .

My fiancee just talked to the office the other day and the lady laughed when she asked about the fine. She said they just said that to scare people into getting it done quickly and that there is actually no fine at all.

my question is if you travel on an old id card today to come for work in the uk-then return to poland in june-after the march deadline will there be a problem? my polish friend hasd work here but he say he is waiting for his new id-so he is loosing the offer of work here-

also when you go to the office to get this id is it issued on the same day or do you have to wait or go back and collect it?

I don't know what will happen in his case !

one has to wait few weeks for it from the day of filling in application .

he told me it will take 2/3 weeks so i think this is what is happening-he would like to work here permeantly-i have just-from my thread i posted found out he needs to register with the WRA-if he wants to work here-so i think his id will help-so i think it is best he gets his new id before coming here

angel, I see you're pretty lost in this topic, so here are some general informations for you:
- Polish citizens needed an ID card (dowód osobisty) for many years, an ID card was issued (after you were 18 years old) with no time limit, so it could serve you for the whole life, but you usually needed to exchange it once or twice in a lifetime (it got deterirated, lost, stolen, the photo of you being 18 y.o. completely didn't match your current look, your personal data changed).

- it was announced several years ago that everbody has to exchange their old "dowód osobisty" (book type, with 20 pages) to the new type - two-sided plastic card (valid for 10 years).

- 2007 was the last year to complete the exchange, but only about half of the people did it in the previous years, so now there's a little mess at the offices.

- I never worked abroad, but I figure a passport is enough for this, so your friend could come to England anyway, if he has a passport, I guess

I simply posted what was mentioned on the TV at the time.

Anyway, I'm glad people have looked into it and know where they stand.

Gosiaa is right, I watched a program on this last week which said that, for all intents and purposes, the current ID will be null and void as of April the 1st. My girl got hers updated 3 months back, just to be on the safe side. Scaring people by stating that there is a fine and then saying otherwise is just unprofessional. Why not be honest and say that there is?! I'm led to believe, from several reliable sources, that such a fine exists and will be enforced. Ignorantia jura neminem excusat

you're sure of this?

anyone have pertinent links? thanks

yes, I had to stand in line at 7 am on Saturday to hand in the application before the end of the year. I had rather spend time with my friends or sleep in but I felt that I had to fulfill my citizen duty of lining up in order to get the w ID even though I don't live in Poland right now. I have to amit that lining up brought back good, old memories of communism;)- I experiance some bonding with other people like myslef, so it wasn't so bad.

The whole operation was idiotic, to say the least. Instead of telling people "Your ID will be no good after Date X" and letting them figure out the consequences, they told everyone "You must do it by Date X or else". Then they moved the date by three months, which confused everyone, and when I asked at my local office what the consequences of not getting mine on time would be, they at first said that it would just be not having a valid ID. On a second visit they said the late cases would be sent to court to get sorted out and there might be a fine, but they didn't really know. I can just see how the courts will deal with even a million cases like this - with many of the tardy applications from people not even living in the country. Of course the reason I asked in the first place was that there were 77 people waiting in front of me, with only one of three windows open for business, and even that working at a snail's pace. I finally paid my PLN 30 and left - if they send me to court at least I have the argument that I tried to comply and it was they who didn't do their job properly.

Of course the first idiotic thing is the REQUIREMENT of having an ID in the first place - frigging totalitarian, if you ask me - but that's another story.

what information is on this new id ? is it name address date of birth, occupation and photo- how much info is on it?

I'm curious about this - can't you just use a Polish passport instead of a Dowód? Is there anything that you can ONLY do with a Dowód and not with a passport?

this is what i would like an answer to- is a passport not enough legal id?