Work / Diary of a Teacher in Poland [181]


It's standard educated colloquial English, precisely as is appropriate for an internet post. And essentially the same as the way you speak everyday in similar situations. But not in the least formal. Formal English diverges significantly from standard educated colloquial English in every part of the English-speaking world. So much so that, as you said, if used in the wrong setting, it would sound stilted or pompous.

"Albeit" and "hitherto" are words that are seldom seen outside of formal English. "Seldom" is a common and unremarkable element of standard educated colloquial English. It's very far from archaic or dated.

Food / Herb used in Polish rosol (chicken soup)? [88]


Pietruszka is universally available. The only difference is that in Poland, the root form is used, whereas in many other places, only the the leaf form is used. The taste is the same. And yes, you can make 100% genuine Polish rosół with leaf parsley. Lots of Poles do.

Polish rosół is practically indistinguishable from common everyday American chicken soup. Or Australian, or Hungarian. Not even an expert would not be able to pick out Polish rosół from a selection of chicken broths from around the world. It's run-of-the-mill standard chicken broth with no distinguishing features.

Food / Herb used in Polish rosol (chicken soup)? [88]


To be honest, it's exactly the same. It's the same standard chicken broth that you will find all over Europe and wherever Europeans have settled, and there isn't anything specifically Polish about it.

Work / Diary of a Teacher in Poland [181]

@jon357

Your posts are certainly not in formal English. Standard, yes. But not formal by a long shot. Your last post is very far from formal.

Genealogy / Kameczura surname - any Polish people related? [30]


Kameczura is very specific for the city of Kraków. Only 78 people in Poland have that name, and you can assume that this is a surname that is unique to a single family, all sharing a rather common ancestor who probably lived and adopted the name in the early-to-mid 1800s. Names like this are worth gold in genealogy because you can tell exactly where they originated and can assume that everyone with that name is related to you.

Work / Diary of a Teacher in Poland [181]


Yes. Check your own posts. There's nothing remarkable about it at all, formal or informal.

Work / Diary of a Teacher in Poland [181]


"Seldom" is a totally normal, natural, unmarked, current, everyday English word that isn't restricted to any register of formality. You use it in everyday informal writing yourself, and have used it on this forum.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


It's been a long time since we realized that natural fires are a necessary element of the growth cycle of health forests. A lot of the problems during the great fires in Yellowstone in 1988 were directly caused by overzealous firefighting efforts in the preceding decades.

Man-made fires are, of course, a different story.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]


Do you really think an Afghan citizen who is in the Interpol database stands a chance of being admitted into the country, or even getting a visa in the first place? Delays at the airport notwithstanding, you were an EU citizen returning home and were able to give credible reasons for why you appeared in the database. This guy is not an EU citizen, but a citizen of a war torn country that has a long history of exporting terrorism and narcotics traffickers, and the best reason he can give is that it was, quote, "maybe some name mistake". Who's going to believe that? And he has to convince at least three people: the consul, the airport security officer, and the Border Force officer.

There was a reason that Norway denied him entry, and no one is going to believe that it was because of some "name mistake".

By the way, I have a soft spot for Afghanis. My flatmate in Germany was an Afghani and one of the most inspiring people I've ever known. Poland could use more people like him.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]


Consuls from Schengen countries are required by law to automatically check the VIS database before issuing any visa. If he has two strikes against him from two different countries, one for being a security threat, and the other for entering into a sham marriage, it is exceedingly unlikely that a third request would ever be granted, especially considering his country of origin.

You do brush up against another point, though. Even if he is granted a visa, the straż graniczy can always refuse to admit him if they consider him a security risk or if they suspect shenanigans of any sort. Especially if he appears in the Interpol database or any of the anti-terrorist databases, which are automatically checked when they scan his passport. The straż graniczy is also to required to check the VIS database for each arrival (that's what the fingerprint scan is for). They are not bound to admit him just because he has a valid visa. He can also be prevented from boarding his flight to Poland in the first place, as well, if he is in the Interpol database. Passports are checked at the check-in counter and may be scanned at the security checkpoint. An Afghani passport is probably going to be scanned.

He has a really tough row to hoe.

Three red flags that he isn't telling the whole story. The first is that he says he worked five years trouble-free in Norway, but was denied another visa for being a security threat. The next is that he mentions that he is a local journalist and small business owner, ostensibly as proof that he intends to return to Afghanistan, yet he clearly states that he intends to go to Norway when he leaves Poland. The third is that he does not intend to live in Poland with his wife, again because he will be going to Norway. That just doesn't add up.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]

@Mehdi Ahmadi

How long have you known your wife? How long have you lived together in the same house as husband and wife? The consul is going to start with the very firm belief that this is a sham marriage, and you will have to show him lots of evidence that it is genuine. What evidence are you going to be able to present?

If you are not able to prove to the consul's satisfaction that you marriage is genuine, your visa application will be denied and entered into the VIS database.

So if your marriage is not 100% genuine, don't apply for a visa to Poland on that basis. The consul isn't stupid and will know for sure. They have lots of experience with sham marriages and can recognize one from a mile away. With two Schengen denials, one for being a security threat and another for entering into a sham marriage, you will have no chance of ever setting foot in Europe for the rest of your life.

The minute you think that you are smarter than the consul and can outwit him will be the moment that your last hope of ever seeing Europe again dies forever, so be careful.

Study / Poland student visa interview [27]

@djinlegit

They can ask anything they want. There is no way to predict which questions, and every interview is different.

As for tips, that's easy. Answer all questions honestly and fully to the best of your ability. Don't be coy. They will know if you are lying, faking, or hiding something. They have been doing dozens of interviews a day for years, and are quite experienced at detecting dishonesty and evasiveness.

Also, make sure all of your documents are genuine. I know that it is a very common practice to use forged and falsified documents in India, but that is a huge no-no in Europe. Again, the consuls have years of experience in spotting counterfeit, forged, falsified or altered documents.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]

Poland can deny your application if they conclude that you are a security threat, even if you are genuinely married to an EU citizen. And they probably will on the basis of the refusal of your application for a visa to Norway.

They can also conclude that your marriage is not a genuine marriage, even if it was properly registered at the Polish embassy in Delhi. Remember that the burden is on you to prove that your marriage is genuine, and based on what you wrote in your original post, that is going to be very difficult to do.

Getting married to an EU citizen does not make you an EU citizen. Wherever did you get that idea?

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]

@G (undercover)

I agree. The burden would be on him to prove that he is not, whether he is listed in some database or not. But it appears that he is listed. In any case, the fact that he was denied a visa to Norway for being a security risk is certainly in the VIS database, and that information will be seen by the consul of any Schengen country to which he applies.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]

@Mehdi Ahmadi

Ok. I think I understand that you are now back in Afghanistan.

First of all, if you are listed in any international law enforcement database as a security risk, there is nothing you can do. You are effectively banned from traveling to any European country, including Poland and Norway, for life. Once your name is in those databases, it stays there forever. Whenever you apply for a visa to any country, they will check and see if you are listed, and deny your visa if you are.

Second, the default position of any first-world country that you apply to is that your marriage is a sham marriage. The burden is on you to prove that it is a genuine marriage. If you are saying that you met your wife only four times in the past five years, then that is going to be difficult to do. Having the marriage registered at the Polish embassy is not sufficient proof.

Third, the default position of any first-world country that you apply to is that you will violate the terms of your visa and not leave when your visa expires. The burden is on you to prove that this is not the case. That is going to be very hard to do because you have no credible reason to return to Afghanistan. Your statement that you will leave for Norway is also not credible, as it is not certain that Norway would accept you. It is practically impossible that they will if they have previously turned down your previous application for being a security threat.

The fact that you are a local journalist and have a small phone and computer business falls far short of demonstrating that you have strong ties to your own country. The burden is on you that you have strong ties to your country.

When you appeal a decision, you are basically saying that the decision was not in accordance with the law. It's not a "second chance". The burden is on you to prove that the decision contradicts the law.

Last of all, when you apply for a visa to any Schengen country, they can check whether you had previously applied for a visa to that country and to any other country. All visa-related decisions are required to be entered into the VIS database, and they stay there forever. If you are denied a visa to Norway, and then later apply for one to Poland, the Polish consul will see that your visa to Norway has been denied, and why it was denied. They will see that your visa application was turned down for being a security risk, and it is highly unlikely that they will grant you a visa. In fact, the chances are zero.

When you apply for a visa, the consul has to have good reasons to grant you that visa, and the burden is solely on you to supply those reasons. They do not have to have good reasons to deny you a visa, and you are not "innocent until proven guilty". You are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. If you cannot understand that concept and stick to it, then applying for a visa or making further appeals is a huge waste of time and money.

In short, things do not look good for you at all. Applying for a visa to Poland, or any other Schengen country, would be like flushing money down the toilet.

Law / Which Poland's visa I can apply - national visa D or Schengen visa? [27]

Are you currently in Norway? if so, what is your status there? Do you have permanent residency?

If you are not in Norway, where are you? And what is your status there?

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

@delphiandomine

There is no way that anyone would believe that a person working 60 to 72 hours a week is a bona fide student. If caught, they would have been deported for violating the terms of their visas. This wasn't during the summer, but for up to five months starting in February.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


You bet. I can't believe you would defend such a horrific abuse of a woman for purely selfish reasons. Have you no sense of common decency? It's rape, of the mother and of the child conceived.

If he were a legal immigrant, then love would be involved. But any "love" in this case would be forever tainted with pure and hateful selfishness. Using a woman and child as tools to break into where you have no possible right to be?

If you can't see the wrong in that, then you are beyond hope.

Travel / Deeper swimming pools (diving) in Poland? [5]

@sirena

Have you tried contacting PTTK? They should know, or be able to direct you to someone who does.

Biuro Zarządu Głównego PTTK
00-075 Warszawa, ul. Senatorska 11
tel. (centrala) +48 22 826 22 51 - 56;
fax +48 22 826 25 05;
e-mail: poczta(at)pttk.pl

Life / What has Poland accomplished in the science and technology field? [22]

Right. The name is Polish, but the man is not, amd he had no real ties with Poland. His grandfather or great grandfather might have been Polish, or a polonified Ruthenian, but at some point, the thread was broken, for whatever reason. Just like with Dostoyevsky or Tschaikovsky.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


It's a monstrous thing to do to a woman, a child, the populace of the UK and every foreigner who goes through the proper legal immigration channels if your main and only goal is to secure residency in the UK, everyone else be damned. Only scum would do such a thing.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


Which is why they will eventually abandon their studies, and either return home, broke and broken, having squandered their families meager life savings, or abscond to the West in search of a way to recoup their loss, and probably stay for years on end working illegally, probably getting a British citizen pregnant in the meantime.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


Exactly scam artists. They provided false information to the consul, and/or violated the terms of their visas, either of which is criminal fraud. That why they want to put as much distance between them and Poland as possible.

Working 60 to 72 hours a week means that they are definitely not attending any classes. And no, no one at the university cares whether they attend or not. The university still has the fees and is not losing out. They are operating a borderline scam, too. All they care about is cash with no strings attached, free to spend how they wish without any interference from MEN. The state doesn't care, either. These "students" aren't going to stick around in Poland anyway. They'll abscond to the west soon enough and then be someone else's problem. No point in wasting any time over them.


It doesn't have to. It'll get them as far as Calais, where they will discard their passports and hop a truck on the way to the UK. If they get caught, then they just try the next day. Or the next. If they don't possess documents, then it's hard for either the French or the UK authorities to deport them. India won't accept them without their travel documents, and won't be in any hurry to issue replacements. The UK Border Force usually won't detain them, but let them go free on their own recognizance so they can just disappear into the woodwork. And if they do get caught again, they can't be detained or deported without travel documents so they are released again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. If they are not stopped before entering the UK, it's pretty darn difficult to get them out. Not like the US, where detention is the norm and the process is streamlined.


Not 60 to 72 hours a week, it's not. The limit is 20 hours a week.


No they don't. And I gave you the CBOS figures which prove that that is not the case. It's only a very rare few, and it's going to be fewer and fewer every year because of competition from the Ukrainians. Certainly a percentage far too low to justify moving to Poland to study with the hope of getting a job. Like I always say, make your plans on the very safe assumption that you will never be able to earn a single penny during your stay in Poland. That is far more probable than finding a job. So is ending up a victim of an employment scam.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

But the "students" were scam artists themselves, and not real students. They couldn't be if they were working 60 to 72 hours a week. All seventy of them have surely absconded to the UK by now. They never had any intention of studying in Poland.

Also, as you yourself said, Uber Eats doesn't employ their delivery personnel. They contract them as "partners". So even if they did complain to the labor board, they would be wasting their time, and would be deported for violating the terms of their visa.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

@jon357

But don't pay them. So it's a scam, not a job. They don't "employ" students. They rob them,

Travel / WARSAW OLD-TOWN RESTAURANTS? [25]

@Alltimegreat1

Most Old Town restaurants are definitely not kid-friendly.

I once went with friends and their two toddlers to Zapiecek at ul. Swietojanska 13, and it was cozy enough. If you are looking for heavy traditional Polish food, this is the place. With kids, it would be better to show up off hours. I think they have sidewalk seating as well. Prices were not bad at all.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

@Harry

Yes. Those poor students posted their sad story on this very forum. They worked a total of 11 days, and then were not paid anything at all because their "contract" said they had to work 12 days to get paid. It's much more likely that an Indian student will fall victim to a scam like this than find a real job.

Here's the thread:

https://polishforums.com/work/poland-fraudulent-job-situation-81012/#msg1589211

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


No, it isn't. The rise in non-European students is not all that impressive, according to CBOS. There are 8000 students in total from Asia and Africa. That is only about half a percent of the total student body of the country. Africans are less than a tenth of a percent. Even if were to double, you'd barely notice it, if at all.

"The increase in the number of foreign students in Poland is mainly due to the unprecedented influx of students from Ukraine" - commented representatives of PERSPEKTYWY Educational Foundation."

Ukrainians now make up more than half of the foreign students in Poland, and that percentage is growing very fast. And they are going to snap up any student jobs faster than any Nigerians or Indians will notice that they exist. And the million-odd non-student Ukrainians will make sure that not even a crumb remains. So job opportunities for Asian and African students are drying up fast, and certainly not increasing, as you claim. What Pole is going to hire an Asian or African when they could hire a Ukrainian or Belarusan instead? The only possible reason is that they can pay them even less, which means that those students will not be able to earn enough to significantly contribute to the costs of their studies and stay. and will have to drop out or abscond due to insufficient funds.

scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,409202,central-statistical-office-the-number-of-students-fell-by-64-thousand-in-one-year.html

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


That, I believe. The number of Indians in Poland went from 4000 to 6000 in the last four years. Not bad, but not spectacular.


Now that I don't believe. The change in the number of non-Ukrainian foreigners is too subtle to be noticed on a day by day basis, There is essentially no noticeable difference between 4000 and 6000 Indians in a country of 38 million.


As long as they speak Ukrainian, or they are IT engineers. Nigerian students need not apply.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]


No prob. I'm just trying to figure out where all this talk about a boom is coming from. All I find is "slow and steady".


That is one big change. Driven almost entirely by Ukrainians, though, I can't find anything supporting a huge increase in immigrants from other countries, Some uptick in transient workers from India and the like, but nothing in would qualify as earthshaking.

I doubt that I would notice any difference in the number of foreigners since I left three years ago. Except for the Ukrainians, of course.