Law / Overstaying Tourist Visa and not getting deported from Poland? I'm from USA [13]

There is a "tolerated stay permit" that might be issued in this case - they tend to issue it when there are genuine screw-ups like this. But there will need to be very serious evidence that it was just a blunder and nothing more.

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]


etc comes from "et cetera", which is Latin. It most certainly isn't "ect" in the US.


Yawn. No they don't and no they won't

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]

Sorry Polonius, but President Narutowicz won the majority of votes from the National Assembly at the time, which gave him the Presidency. He was supported by the left, the centre and the national minorities - which seems to me that it was a clear-cut win for him from a broad section of Polish society. As a minister, he was highly capable as well.

Off the top of my head, he won a decisive victory in the election as well, it wasn't just one or two votes.

Study / Vistula University in Poland. Any experience? Any student? [57]


Yes, they are accredited, and for some people, that's all that matters.

I know a few people that have taken various accredited courses in order to be qualified to do something - it doesn't matter if the paper comes from one of the top 3 universities or from a private school, as the qualification is what matters.

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]

Narutowicz could have been an excellent President - his organisational skills were second to none, and I think he would've done a fantastic job in building up the ex-Russian partition. Perhaps if he had been allowed to do the job, we wouldn't be speaking of Polska A and Polska B today.

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]


What?

How can it be OK to be racist?

That's like saying "it's ok to pretend to be a teenage girl online when you're actually a fat middle-aged American man"

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]


Benevolent dictator, I'd certainly agree with.


I'd argue that it protected everyone provided they didn't get involved with politics. Sanacja went very badly wrong after his death, but when you consider the general European environment at the time, Sanacja and Pilsudski were probably about as good as it was going to get.


Well, after all, he was one of the few that believed in the idea of a strong Polish nation made up of many ethnically different Polish citizens.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

This is the question - I don't think it's more than that, but it depends on the electoral lists.

But if the situation arises where Gowin has 10 seats and PiS have 235 overall, then it could be a nasty situation for PiS if they suddenly have to deal with Gowin demanding economically liberal policies.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

Except the problem is that it won't be a PiS majority, but rather a coalition of three parties. Do you trust Gowin to stay in line when confronted with socialist economics, for instance?

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]

Well, the current system exists solely because of Walesa's incompetent handling of the Presidency between 1990 and 1995.

I don't think we should forget that Piłsudski was a dictator in the modern sense of the word.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

I think we need to watch carefully as to what happens in the JOW referendum. Palikot has positioned himself as the leader of the anti-JOW campaign, Kukiz is obviously the leader of the pro-JOW campaign and PO/PiS seem to be "whatever, couldn't care less" about it. If they don't meet the 50% turnout, then it will be a win for Palikot and the Left - which might translate into a boost at the polls.

But PiS need to be very careful now. Duda is already making mistakes - he's admitted already that he has no intention of keeping his promises, and Szydło is showing that she can't match Kopacz's workrate in the election. PO are showing a core vote of around 25-30% that will vote for them regardless, which means that it's a bitter fight for the 10% of centrists that will decide this election.

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]


But you don't live here, so what would you know about currency, immigration, homosexuality and so on?

Go on, tell us why the Euro is a bad idea. You have a single currency over there, so why not here?

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]


The polls at the minute are all over the place - look at this one.


,New-polls-confirm-opposition%E2%80%99s-lead

Kukiz does seem to be falling away, and the inevitable loss of the JOW referendum will probably finish him off.

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]

Oh no. The constitution would rather protect the right of the Church to take as much money as possible from the State.

Work / Salary Categories in Poland [11]


Normal work is 40 hours a week.

Yes, production line workers will expect more near Wrocław because it's very difficult to find good workers there. The cost of living is comparatively high in Wrocław - so to give an idea, Amazon are offering 13zl/h AND taking people in by free bus from towns/villages up to 60km away. I'd expect to have to pay in the region of 15zl/hour just to find good, reliable people. Although - if the job is physically undemanding, then you could offer less as it means that older people can work there.

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]


Patriots? Remind me, when was the last time Ruch Narodowy actually organised a single thing such as litter picking or helping old people?

UK, Ireland / Salary in London for experienced IT developer [3]

You're being lowballed, very very badly. You should be looking at closer to 50k a year just because of the cost of living in London, which is astronomical - and your experience is certainly worth that much.

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]


From what I recall, the experience in Wales and Scotland showed that it's a very bad idea, although much cheaper to administrate.


Yes, it is true that voter fatigue sets in. It's why internet voting (as popularised in Estonia - something like 30% of the population vote online) should be introduced, as it makes life significantly easier.


Are they subject to re-election, or is it a matter of staying in the job until retirement once elected?

It seems to me that a judge that has to be re-elected would be influenced by the political environment around him, leading to hardline sentencing in some places and rehabilitation-based sentencing in others.


Yes, likewise.

Work / First English teaching job in Poland (Katowice) [75]


Or you go to the mountains, try and snowboard and end up on your face for two days straight. ;)

I love Karkonosze in winter though.

News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

The guy lives in Brazil and works in Saudi, come on, what does he know about Poland? :D

Perhaps he could entertain us by telling us how Duda can achieve those things.

Incidentally, Duda the other day admitted that he had no intention of keeping his promises.

News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]


Bwahahaha, humble? He's a law school graduate - if you actually knew anything about Poland Levi, you'd know what kind of people go to law school.


The "people" don't attend legal studies in Poland, especially not in the early 90's when corruption and nepotism were rife.


What utter nonsense. Duda, a child of the nomeklatura, never had to suffer a day in his life. He's never even worked in a normal job!


You're Brazilian and live in Saudi, what do you know?


University professors. A spot not likely to be held by opponents of the regime.


It's not about Michnik, it's about Duda being a product of the privileged classes.

News / New constitution In Poland? [57]


Generally speaking, PiS want to have a Presidential system like the French system. It's because they struggle to put together a parliamentary majority, so their only hope of wielding power is through the Presidency which is easier for them to win in a one-off election.

Work / Salary Categories in Poland [11]

If you mean Wrocław city or within 30km, probably not. Amazon has had terrible problems finding people at 13zl/hour there - there's just not much unemployment in the Wrocław area, and the good workers from the area have already left.

If you consider Wałbrzych, then yes, it should be possible. But in general, the Dolnoslaskie province is quite wealthy.

If your business model can sustain it, I would suggest looking at Radom or Kielce - both are fairly big places with horrific unemployment problems. A 13zl/hour rate there would be quite appealing, I suspect.

Law / Your experience as a foreigner running a small business in Poland [43]


It's as simple as that. You should also get a company stamp made (can be done in 15 minutes easily from a multitude of shops), but basically, you want to do something like this.

- Find a good accountant (this will take time - feel free to ask about what a good price is and so on. If you have access to a Polish speaker, do NOT take an English speaking accountant, as they're 99% useless.)

- Go register the company (takes about 10 minutes)
- Open a bank account (piece of cake)
- Go back to the accountant and he/she should sort out ZUS for you.

You have to pay a fraction over 400zl a month in compulsory social insurance contributions in the first two years, then almost 1100zl in compulsory contributions from then on.

Apart from that, you're mostly free to get on with it. Tax is paid either monthly or quarterly.

Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]


It seems to me as if LOT and Ryanair between them have more or less decided that Ryanair can mop up the domestic routes while LOT will concentrate on the WAW hub and high yielding flights to places such as Yerevan and Belgrade.

I'm still sorry that I didn't take the chance to fly on a completely ridiculous POZ-WRO connection operated by OLT Express (run by Amber Gold) on a Boeing 737 - tickets were 49zl, but I didn't bother at the time :(

Work / Salary Categories in Poland [11]


At the minute, around 10-13zl/hour depending on location. However, you might struggle to find good workers at 13zl/hour in the bigger/wealthier cities.

News / Afera taśmowa (recordings scandal) in Poland - media coverage [17]

What's the odds that he turns up in Russia in a few hours time?

Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]


Probably not, actually. Schoenfeld and Tegel combined at the minute have the same amount of passengers as Berlin-Brandenburg can handle, so the airport is already too small. The latest news is that it won't open until 2017 (but 2018 is more realistic), but most people are highly doubtful as to whether it will actually ever open. The corruption on the building site has been unbelievable - the latest story is that they were signing off invoices regardless of whether they were legitimate or not, with numbers of around 66 million Euro to one company alone!

But certainly, this news is very good news for LOT. IST is becoming a bigger and bigger hub, so this means that LOT can offer some very interesting destinations as a result. It's also a sign that LOT and Lufthansa's relationship is breaking up.

News / Afera taśmowa (recordings scandal) in Poland - media coverage [17]


Brave man, running away rather than facing the music.

Law / Your experience as a foreigner running a small business in Poland [43]

Sure, it's a piece of cake these days. What do you want to know?