polish identity card and work in england

please could you tell me, if a polish person hoping to come to england to find work must have his polish identity card aswell as his passport to leave poland and enter england ?

is a passport not enough-does the passport not serve as an identity card. i ask this because a polish friend says he lost his polish identity card and is waiting for his new one- which he says may take 2-3 weeks. its just that he has lost some opportunities of a job here because of this delay.

thank-you

You do not need to have a Polish ID card if you have a passport

As far as I am aware, a Polish ID card isn't needed to travel. Though having one might help in other circumstance, like applying for the Worker's Registration Scheme. But the WRS can be applied for after you get here, so the ID card could be sent on to your friend from Poland by post.

More info on the WRS here:

workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/schemes _and_programmes/worker_registration/wrs_faq.html

thanks i have just looked om this site -it is useful-my friend id hoping to stay in england so i think he is making sure he has his documentation- he doesnt understand much english-is there any information he can access in poland-so i can advise him to seek information he needs to work here-or is it best to wait unti lhe gets here?

I'm sure if you asked on here you could get a wealth of information.

For a quick guide though, on the radio orla site is a link to this:

radio-orla.com/survival-kit.pdf

I think it has a fair amount of info for Poles coming to the UK.

I doubt that. You have to sign for it to receive it

exactly, your signature on the new ID card is to be made in the presence of an office employee, so you must be there in person.

Krzysztof,

I think we are a little mixed up here. Your signature is already on the the card when you get it. It's just that you have to show your old ID to get the new one and sign yet another piece of paper.

It might be possible for people abroad to make some arrangement, but I would think that it would be through the Embassy. I really have no idea.

my bad, you're right, Wroclaw, I'm afraid I'm getting senile and my weak memory is playing tricks on me :(

I have a similar problem on some of these threads. I feel sure that the forum collective will put us right in the morning. :)

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7890180.stm

here's the Scottish position. We are unequivocally opposed to such a move, feeling it to be an infraction on civil liberties.

The bit about ID cards that I always object to is the cost, as mentioned in the above article:

"The initial application fee has been fixed at £30 and that is supposedly a cut-price offer to entice citizens to get one before they become compulsory. How much they will cost from 2012 is anyone's guess."

As it's my choice to have a passport, I don't mind paying for it (although I don't think the cost is related to the actual amount of work involved), but as I can prove who I am quite easily, I'm not prepared to pay for an ID card.

The whole thing is a scam to keep tabs on the law-abiding. It won't do anything to stop terrorists or illegal immigration, they'll just buy a fake ID card.

Exactly, they have ways and means of circumventing the law. We are doing just fine without ID cards. The current climate doesn't require them.

I'd be interested to know what plans the Government have to deal with those that don't buy one once they become compulsory.

Will it be a bit like the poll tax where we end up with riots in the streets ? I do hope so ;-)

That wouldn't surprise me. We still have our democratic freedoms intact, which our forefathers fought tooth and nail for. Poll tax, nah, surely we moved on from that??

The problem is that it's not a referendum style issue.