I am in Poland on a tourist visa and have been here for 2 years..

I have never left. My mom is sick and I am afraid to leave because I am afraid I will get arrested at the border. This Schengen things really stinks.

I have a flat and my life is invested in Poland. What do I do now? What will happen to me if I try to leave?

Couldn't you stay here legally ?

I can't answer your question I'm afraid, but I hope you are able to get home and see your mum with minimum difficulty

No. I cannot. I am an American citizen. And it seems that EU and Schengen changed all that. Truth is, I've been in and out of Poland since 1995. I lived in Poland the first time for almost 3 years without leaving at all. When I crossed the border near Zakopane for the first time in 1998, no one said a word.

I just never married. I have worked, but it was always just "You work and we will pay you" No one ever worried about work visas until the whole Schengen thing and the EU membership in 2004.

I have nothing to return to in the United States. All my friends are here. I have my mom, but I otherwise have no life in the US and do not care to have one there. I never liked the US.

I couldn't stand to be banned from Poland. The rest of the EU can go to hell. Just, I cannot lose Poland. Poland is all I have.

Personally I don't care If you are here legally or not but for the same thing in America they treat people like a pieace of sh*t and kick them out forever.

If by this, you mean, "give them free education and medical care, and give free passes in criminal cases," or when they are caught by border patrol/immigration enforcement, give them a ticket with a court date and tell them to be there, prior to releasing them never to be seen again.... you are right.

I've been considering trying to get myself labeled an "illegal immigrant" here in the US, so I can go to college....and be guaranteed a loan by lenders afraid I will call them "racists".

John P.

1.)you should go to american embassy and discuss the issue with them..
Then there would be a probability that you will get a chance to move out of Poland but then may be you wont be allowed to enter Poland for some period (say for 10 years)

And yes if you decide to goto american embassy for help then try to explain a genuine reason why you stayed here illegally may be like you lost/got stolen your passport,etc....

2.)Else to avoid such situation you may call your mother here in Poland.

3.)May be you can consult a Polish immigration Lawyer..this would be a best solution.

4.)Else you can go to America back through Czech Republic because American citizens dont need any visa to stay in Czech for 3 months..

That was what views I could suggest you...

And yes try to make your status legal at the earliest because in Poland till now the condition is not that strict like in Czech Republic the governemnt is having Foreign police which keeps an eye on the foreigners especially the american english teachers staying in Czech...

Poland is the greatest country on Earth. There is no country better than Poland. I want to stay here forever.

then forget other worries and enjoy the environment and continue your stay here..
;)

Regards.

then do so legally

Well, as Poles you may not understand. Schengen has displaced a lot of American floaters. We were allowed to live in Poland and the Czech Republic for as long as we like and just run across the border from time to time. Then one day, these countries decided that it would be a good idea to join Schengen. What ensued was the displacement of 1000's of Americans who had invested their lives in some kind of quasi-normal state of existence.

We cannot go home, and we cannot stay in Poland. We cannot do anything.

I believe that it is best to live a normal life. I don't like being stopped at border crossings and wonder if I am going to be led away in handcuffs...arrested..deported..never allowed to return. Can you imagine living your life in the US, not having any family back in Poland, but being deported and sent back to Poland...to Warsaw...you get off the plane..and you are broke..you have no family..no home..nothing...and let's say you are 40 years old.

You have the clothes on your back...and that's all. What would you do? Where would you go? Would you want to do anything?

You might find the nearest dworcec'. Sit with the pijaks. Beg for money. Stay drunk..get hassled by the police. You have no home. And let's say it's winter. No one cares. Nobody cares anywhere. You are unknown. You have a history you remember, but the people are all gone..or they have changed.

It is the end of your life. But you live...day to day...and you wonder how you let it happen. You were not a bad person. IF you had been, maybe you would have a life.

Ive got an American friend in the same position as you who flew to the UK and back earlier this year with no problems.

I know that the US government don't protect the borders well enough and don't really search for illegals inside the country but If somebody is caught anyway then that's a serious thing, they are treated like criminals and kicked out.


Come on. You were allowed to stay here up to 90 days, just that you were using a loophole, leave for one day and you had next 90 days. And Schengen has been planned since years, months before It was all over the media.

The whole idea of illegal American immigration to Poland is still so bizarre that with a bit of good luck you should get away with this. Especially on the land borders, at the airports there could be some problems. So maybe It would be better to travel to Ukraine and fly to USA from there ? But that's just a thought.

But there's one thing I don't get. This is not America... here you have problems to borrow a book from the library without Polish ID... So you don't have Pesel, NIP, you don't pay ZUS, taxes ? If yes then I would rather worry more about these things than about immigration regulations.

You can get anything for a price, Im sure ID's are easy to get same as in any country - the guy already stated he worked for cash in hand so he's never paid any tax.

Whilst I feel sorry for him, I don't understand why he didn't try for some kind of permenant residency - maybe he just didn't like the idea of paying tax!

Why don't you just open your own business here as many Americans do and stay legally....here is how to LINK

well, if you were there legally you wouldnt have problems now would you??
i for one and many dont feel sorry for people who when caught breaking the law have some sorry story.
laws are im place for a reason.

Thanks, Marek. You have won the prize for being the only dupek on this forum. You must be a very lowly Pole with no life and no girlfriend or friends for that matter. I do NOT live in Poland. I am a businessman in the United States. In fact, I am an automotive consultant for Mercedes Benz. I lived in Poland many years ago, and I knew people such as I described. Loophole? No such thing. The law allowed border corssings to renew a tourist visa. That is no loophole. People dont seem to understand the appeal of Poland to Americans. Well, there used to be an appeal, but guys like you detract from the appeal.

No, there are more. I have read their postings.

I'm not Marek, but Michael, you said you've been here for two years and not left and now you are saying that you don't live here. You really ought to work it out. In another place you said something about being here since 1995.

You have a life here, but unless you are so old you can't adjust, even if they ban you from Poland, "you'll live" and "life goes on" and it can go on for you in another country if you are banned from Poland. We may have to go through hard times, but manage to live. I'm sure you could find help from someone back in the states if you have to relearn how to live there. There are rescue missions and other agencies who help people.

But for those of you who think it was a "loophole" to go out of the country...I don't think so. It was the law.

I really think that Poland benefits from us being here...so they should work with us being here.

Most Americans I know help and help many others around them...financially, English help (often free), etc., give away food, help with charities....

Whether you are an American, European, Asian, etc, if you choose, you be beyond your race. Border is an illusion. Don't mind what people say about being illegal. Just because there are borders and races doesn't mean you have to live within the limit of those.

Once you decided to live in Poland because that's all you have, you simply do not cross the border. Find a way to live happily within the border as for now. Do not waste your time worrying about crossing the border and what happens. Do not worry about your mother because you love her and you want to see her.

She may come see you. She may not be physically able. You may find a wife, or not.
What is important is that she does not want you to get in anyway trouble and emotionally caught and most importantly she wants you to be happy there.

Because you choose to live there and you are so determined to live there forever, then, so be it. Sometimes you get what you want and you think you lose something.

However, in essence you did not lose anything. When you don't get what you want, and get frustrated, you simply lose trust in divine and in your ability to create your reality.

There are ALWAYS ways to go back to America without any trouble,
but you have to be patient and don't get panic.

In the meantime, you call her and make her feel loved, be in touch.
Though you are not physically with her, your mother is always in your heart.
Tell her that. Tell her how much you love her.

Don't mind anything else.

Things will naturally fall in your way, be open to the information, people, place, things, times and events around you.

You will be okay. You can still see her and live in Poland.

From what you've written there are two basic options:

1. Try to legalize your stay (which may not work and will result in you getting kicked out).

2. Keep on until they catch you or you have to cross the Schengen border for something and you definitely get kicked out.

My advice is to try to legalize your stay and get a residence card (yeah it's a bureaucratic hassle but it beats being thrown out).

The good news is that the current laws weren't put in place to keep out Americans so that works in your favor.

1. Go to the embassy if you haven't and find out what your options are. I doubt that you're the only one in this particular situation.

2. Go to the foreigner's office and tell them the situation. Accept that you're going to be yelled at for screwing up because .... you screwed up. If you admit your guilt and apologize (and can demonstrate you are not and will not be a drain on the Polish economy, if you haven't been paying taxes then things will be much more complicated) if you haven, then I'm pretty sure it can be worked out sooner or later (though you might have to leave the country for a bit - perhaps combining that with a visit to your mom).

3. Stop putting things off. The longer you don't do anything the worse it'll get.

I am kind of in the same position...
I came last September as I was a volunteer, and always left Poland before the 90 days as Shengen wasn't in place yet..but after it came in I still never overstayed the 90 days and flew out to non-shengen countries like Ireland/Uk and I have never had any problems...however if you have overstayed the 90 allowed for the shengen zone the UK will refuse entry as they are very strict

Apply for a temporary resident permit (which I did) but you will have to leave the Shengen Area and you need to state the reason for applying either school or work..as you already have a job there should be no problem in getting a work promise/contract

Anyway I suggest flying home and applying at the polish consulate there..that way you are out of europe and you can see you mum, just fly out of non shengen countries as airports are risky

Hope all will work out for you

Tell this to the thousands of illegal Poles in the US. They are in the same situation as you. They have no family left in Poland, they have invested everything in a country that wont allow them to remain legally. You both break the rules... those are the consequences.


I think lots of countries benefit from their immigrants, but they dont necessarily work with them. The US certainly doesn't do it. Immigrants are usually cheap labor... when Americans come to PL its the other way around, they are expen$ive.

This is one of those times in life, where you need to find an immigration lawyer. One visit will give you all the information you need. Then you can at least file all the necessary documents and save money. Pay for the first visit though, and get as much information as possible.

michael mansun... hmm... an interesting nickname. You are a bogus person who wants to spread dissatisfaction about Poland joining Shengen by playing on people's empathy and sympathy given a situation that does not exist.

It is clear that You were just fishing for comments on the forum and that indeed you do not reside in Poland. Your comments about Poland being great and so on, all insincere. For people that are posting comments for this jerk, and yes, this guy is a jerk, an american jerk that likes to have a laugh at polish people. Do you really think that Polish people are that stupid? Get real matey, it is a fact that a world wide IQ study has found that the average IQ in Poland is 109 and the average in the United States is 98 ... what does that tell you?

How did you give yourself away? Well, for one thing you were gushing about Poland. It is a country like any other, not so special. Secondly, you placed emphasis on Shengen. Well, yeah, the States are having their butts kicked by the European Union as is evident by the slide in the value of the US Dollar and the strong Euro. It was very clever of Poland to join Shengen and yeah, if you are a USA businessman then it will not be as easy for you to rip off countries that have joined Shengen. Things are indeed more transparent and there to catch criminals like yourself. It is Yourself who is the "dupek". At least in Poland no-one would insult you, no-one would throw you in jail and no-one would shoot you for being an arsehole.

For the genuine people out there that are hurting, please go to the proper authorities and plead your case, the sooner such cases are resolved the sooner things will be normal and a normal life will ensue.

michealmansun, you are a wanker, get off this forum.

Wow I swear I hear this every other day. I have never been to a place so keen on telling you how smart they are all the time.

Why are you hiding behind a guest name? Its obvious you are a regular and its an anonymous internet forum anway...

Yes,because immigrants from new EU coutries are usually menial workers while immigrants from western EU countries are usually investors or managers.

I think the beaten path to solve the problem is to marry a polish girl.(polish girls are the medication for everything).

Yeah including having any disposable income ;)

My medication is cheap.

What you go for the old lady streetwalkers on Nowogrodska or something?