Law / How do you get your Polish passport if you live in Poland? [17]


Hi Pip,

Thanks for the response: it seems pretty difficult to do this from New Zealand.

The process would seem to be:

1.Acquiring Polish birth and marriage (if applicable) certificates by registering NZ vital records into Polish Records Office.

This would presumably involve first registering our marriage, and then registering his birth. According to the polemb website, this would take 6 months for one document, longer if multiple documents. They have no control of it, simply send it off to the Wojewodztwo Mazowiecki office in Ostroleka or something

2.Applying for the Confirmation of Possession of Polish Citizenship and PESEL (National Identification Number)

Heres the process - wellington.polemb.net/index.php?document=116

3.Applying for Polish passport

Probably more expensive here than in Poland, going by what it cost my wife to get hers in Poland

I'm convinced it would somehow be easier in person, but you're probably right, personal confrontation with such magnificent bureaucracy could be bad for my health.

Edit


I'll make sure that we fly into Poland from inside the Schengen zone then. I'm sure the Swiss or the Germans are not particularly interested in enforcing this requirement! Also, his name is probably not going to be that Polish, but he will be in the arms of his very Polish-sounding, looking, and named mother who will no doubt be doing the talking if we go through immigration processing there. Maybe I will need to carry him instead if we arrive from London

Law / How do you get your Polish passport if you live in Poland? [17]

I'm keen to know about this too, for our baby (about to be born).

We will be going to Poland in 3 or 6 months, and will be staying for 4 weeks. He will be travelling on a passport issued here in New Zealand. As I understand, the required documentation to get it issued via the embassy in NZ was unbelievable, and pretty expensive too: everything in triplicate, scores of apostilled original documents, certified translations. I'm wondering if it would be easier if we did it while in Poland?

Moreover, is it legally required that we register our baby's birth or get him a birth certificate or passport? I read something about polonia getting in trouble trying to leave for Australia, Canada and US on their home passports? Or was that something to do with a military service requirement that no-longer exists?

Life / Favourite Polish movies? [107]

Some of my favourites:

Kanał (1956) - Andrzej Wajda's classic film about the Warsaw Uprising. Wajda's second film.

Nóż w wodzie / Knife in the Water (1961) - The first feature film from Roman Polanski. Its a subtle critique of the corruption and power of communist officials of the PRL.

Dekalog / The Decalogue (1988/89) - Krzysztof Kieślowski's famous ten-film series. Ten very compelling dramas, each is nice and short and can be used to get used to the sound of the Polish language without getting overloaded.

Those three directors have together produced some of the most acclaimed films from Poland from the 1950s to the present, although Kieślowski was younger and died early. Another one to look at is Jerzy Skolimowski, although he produced a lot of his films in English while in exile.

A more recent film is Żółty szalik / Yellow Scarf (2000) - A humorous film by Janusz Morgenstern about an alcoholic businessmen.

I'm by no means knowledgeable on Polish film, but I've been getting a good education the past few years :)

Love / Expecting a baby with Polish partner - "multi-cultural pregnancy/parenting"? [45]


The children differentiate if each parent exclusively uses their mother tongue while addressing the child. Children can strongly identify their parents voices and when they are being talked to much before they can speak themselves (assymetric language acquisition). Haven't had the opportunity to put it into practice yet... :)

Love / Expecting a baby with Polish partner - "multi-cultural pregnancy/parenting"? [45]


I absolutely agree: we are expecting our first baby within weeks and we are planning on each of us speaking our mother tongue. HOWEVER I was initially wondering about introducing German along with Polish and English, because my mother speaks German fluently, and the research that I found suggested that while 2 languages is good for a baby from birth (both parent's mother tongues), you need to wait a while for the introduction of a third language. I can't recall where it was that I read that, but it was certainly some sort of cognitive development/ linguistic research and not an internet forum ;-) Have a bit of a read on google scholar, you'll find some good articles.

Three languages from each of the three major language groups of europe has got to be great for your kid!

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Such people increase demand for properties, increasing prices (or dampening price correction), and increasing liquidity of property assets for those holding them, thus allowing those people in Poland who presently own overpriced flats to stop drowning in debt and rent a property for an affordable proportion of their income? OR to free up capital to use for a business to grow the economy.

I wouldn't at all recommend being a property investor unless one really knows ones stuff, and has some particular expertise or practical value they can add to their property portfolio, but a market needs buyers and sellers and I think that foreign buyers being unregulated often is beneficial for the residents of that property market.

That's completely generic analysis - I am not at all knowledgeable about the Polish property market, but something to consider.

Language / Which language is easier for Poles? [43]


I really think this is the key. My Polish is still rather basic but I enjoy watching Czech and Russian (and even Serbian) films to pick up the similarities. It makes me think about the language system and rules, and then you realise that a lot of the differences are systematic and a lot of Czech and Russian is highly intelligible. My wife often doesn't need to subtitles, and thats mostly just familiarity rather than systematic learning.

Work / Teaching jobs for Americans in Wroclaw? [54]

Jcarrett, you've received a lot of flak here, and you seem like a nice guy with good intentions. Perhaps it was the way that you said you were completely unprepared etc that made people think you were unbearably naive.

I don't have much advice as I've never lived in Poland: I almost did, but then I convinced my Fiance (now wife) to come back to my home country (New Zealand) instead, so that I could finish my masters. As it turned out, we both ended up getting decent jobs (still to finish my masters!) and we are now probably going to stay here much longer we thought.

Some observations on your plan: no doubt your potential parents-in-law are great people, and will try to do a lot for you, but take what they can offer in addition to your own initiative and nous. If you're getting up early in the morning, out and about drumming up business for your English teaching, making networks and improving on your Polish, then their goodwill for you will no doubt go much further than if you mooch around waiting for your dubious university courses to start. My parents-in-law are great people too, and they have been fantastically supportive of me, and our relationship, but if you give difficulties an opportunity to manifest themselves they surely will.

No doubt you have sound reasons to put what you are doing in the USA on hold for the while: just make sure that you don't burn your bridges back there, because it might be something you want to come back to, (both of you!). I'm assuming you have already made your decision about this, though I also agree with those who backed you to complete the qualification at home before striking out on the Polish adventure.

Do everything you can NOW to have money for a rainy day: it's not undermining or doubting your relationship, and its my experience that the fact that my wife and I (individually and separately) have never felt financially stuck in some place at any time during our time together living and travelling in 3 different continents, has actually made us much more comfortable and unconditional in our commitment to eachother. Commitments to unconditional love, despite poverty, cultural clash, etc made during the bloom of romance don't stand for much when the reality of those bites: get emotionally prepared for the tests, don't think they are a symptom of everything collapsing.

Travel / Direct flights to Asia from Poland [10]

I can absolutely appreciate your point about supply and demand, but surely any airline has the same problem with airport services, and that would partly come down to how well run the airport was. Google tells me that Warsaw Airport Services [ was-handling.pl/en/services ] , for example, can provide all the necessary services to airlines flying in the Chopin airport.

Good point about the factories though: I guess Poland is much more a recipient of Foreign Direct Investment these days than an investor. Still, I don't quite get it and I wonder if there are other factors holding it back or preventing, say, Air China, Singapore Airlines, or Hainan Airlines from giving it a go. Poland is the 8th largest economy in in EFTA, and right now it is presently much greater expansion opportunities for Asian companies than several of the traditional major European economies.

Travel / Direct flights to Asia from Poland [10]


I guess Prague or Kiev would be relevant comparisons. Both seem to have more connection to Asia than Warsaw. I know Warsaw doesn't have the tourist cache of Prague, but it should have as much economic importance and, especially, more political importance. I just found this article about LOT and Lotniska Chopina wanting to create a hub. I hope this isn't just speculation, but my Polish googling skills are not highly developed enough to pick good keyword search terms....

Travel / Direct flights to Asia from Poland [10]


What are the particular links with Vietnam that generated this popularity? Have you flown this route?


I was particularly thinking that the financial sector factor should cause some demand. I imagine that bankers are much less tolerant of an 18-20 hour connection to get 7500kms than I am.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Sorry, incomplete sentence: I meant to ask whether high quality (and not necessarily the most luxurious, or best located) properties tend to not be affected by falling prices as much as the market average? It's the same thing where I'm living at the moment: the house market is very sluggish, but so little good real estate is offered for sale that any that is goes for a very good price.


Of course, the same rules apply to any overpriced asset. I guess what I was wondering is if I would get something meeting my criteria for the price I am willing to pay, not as an investment as such but more to put some roots down. The biggest question I have is what sort of land taxes/city taxes/oplaty administracyjne/opłat budowlanych I would have to pay on an ongoing basis even as freehold owner?

//Edit

Thanks for the link, but it doesn't work

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


I am potentially thinking of buying into the market just to have a place in Warsaw. If an apartment is good enough then it doesn't really matter if it is a few percent overpriced, because surely good quality places must retain a premium.

Having said that, I don't really want to rent to students. I'm also a bit worried about tax implications.

Sorry if it seemed like my post was off topic before - I haven't been able to find a decent website to check out a decent sample of whats currently of offer in the market. I've looked at "tabelaofert.com" but that just looks like a developers website dressed up as a real estate site, and the story that they tell on that website doesn't reflect what posters here seem to be saying about the market!

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

We're thinking of moving to Warsaw in between 18 months and 2 years time.

I'll potentially have 750K PLN to spend on an apartment. I'm thinking of a place with 2 decent bedrooms, a separate hall, a decent kitchen-living room, and at least 1.5 bathrooms. What I am wondering is:

Whether that sort of money can get me something at the above specs, near a metro station, in a small-medium development (preferably 30 or less units, but maybe 50-60)?

What monthly or yearly costs there will be- ground rents / land value taxes / municipal rates / building association levies?

Whether I can get a reasonable house (preferably detached) anywhere decent to live in one of Warsaw's suburbs for similar money?

Whether 1 month around easter next year would be enough time to scope out and finalise a sale?

Whether I should just rent and save myself a whole lot of money and not tie myself down to a depreciating asset?

News / Car theft in Warsaw (the most popular cars among car thieves in Poland) [54]


Quick! Call crimestoppers!

If you took the time to google the search string "Importing car from europe to the uk" you would find this website,
direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/ImportingAndExportingAVehicle/DG_4022583
- the vehicle needs to be certified in the home country before being exported/imported within the EC.

News / Car theft in Warsaw (the most popular cars among car thieves in Poland) [54]

Yeah, thats right Daisy, they stole the car in Warsaw and imported it to the UK.

Genealogy / (Christel Gerda Ilisch) - Searching my grandmother [9]

A perennial fount of knowledge, Polonius. PS I wasn't trying to discourage OP, just adding my 2 cents.

Genealogy / (Christel Gerda Ilisch) - Searching my grandmother [9]

Ilisch is a German surname, as is the rest of her name. She was probably part of the German majority of the Free City of Danzig, which was not a part of Poland, but rather a quasi city state under the rule of the League of Nations with nominal Polish control.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig#The_inter-war_years.2C_and_World_War_II

Having said that, I'm not sure if Poland holds the records to "Danzig" (it's possible that they do), whether they were transferred to Germany, or whether (likely) they were destroyed.

Life / 2 months to go - I will be a Polish citizen and try to find a better place to raise my kid. [67]


I've spent three months in Poland. No, I'm not going to go there right now, because I know what to expect, and I know that I wouldn't have the best time and it wouldn't be the best for us at this stage in our life. This guy, however, has got too big for his boots and is saying "see you later suckers" because he somehow thinks that putting in 4 years of drudge to scam his way into citizenship puts him in the position to crow about himself.


It will open doors for him to work in crappy jobs in the UK or wherever, but that in itself is not an opportunity. Poles who do that do so to take money back to Poland, if they want to go further they get educated etc.

Life / 2 months to go - I will be a Polish citizen and try to find a better place to raise my kid. [67]

Who the hell is this guy?

But first, could everyone shut up with the Jew comments: this guy is a fool, but I don't think it is a tasteful way to criticise him.

Zion, your attitude disgusts me:

I'm from a much richer country than Poland. We have a proud history of democracy, prosperity, and tolerance. That doesn't mean I'd go online and mouth off about Poland. I'm looking forward to living there soon, because I respect and love my wife's family, and because Poland has an awesome strategic position in Europe, fascinating history...

As for your comments about the language, poor you. Nothing sounds as nice as a beautiful woman talking sophisticated Polish. I think you will be unpleasantly surprised if you try to get citizenship without bothering to learn Polish.

If you hate Poland so much, but were the sort of person that didn't have the attributes to apply for a work permit somewhere else in Europe before now, having Polish citizenship is hardly going to open doors for you.

Work / Enterprise Content Management / Electronic Records Management - how good in PL? [10]


Sounds like somewhere down the track someone's going to make a truckload implementing Information Management solutions for those sorts of organisations.


Absolutely, I'm not imagining that I'd be working in the Public sector in Poland. The NZ public sector is very different, generally much more corporatised and less bureaucratic in the traditional sense, so its possible to get experience which I understand to be easily transferrable to the private sector. Also I agree, I think the security requirements would be prohibitive. The only capacity I could imagine interacting with the Polish public sector is in a consultancy sort of role, but thats a fair way down the track for me. From the very basic Information Management I've encountered in my times in Poland I certainly think its going to be a growth area.


Again, I think you are absolutely correct. I'm thinking that if I'm working in the sector in Poland it will be more system design/implementation side of things rather than working directly with the content.

UK, Ireland / EEA family permit from Poland to UK - time and process [60]

Hi,

It doesn't sound like you should have any problems. I can't remember the exact details of the process, but I looked it up when I was thinking of going to the UK with my Polish sweetheart. You should call and/or go to see the UK embassy in Warsaw

ukinpoland.fco.gov.uk/en

Basically, as a wife of a Polish citizen, your right to go to the UK is guaranteed as one of the Four Freedoms of the European Union. There is a process to go through, but just follow it carefully and you shouldn't have any problems. The UK embassy should be helpful with that.

Good luck

Work / Enterprise Content Management / Electronic Records Management - how good in PL? [10]


Financially you are absolutely right: I just got shortlisted for a new job at the national archives of NZ with a starting salary (equivalent) of 10,000 zl/ month. In Australia it is an extra 50% more again on top of that. However we would really like to be able to make it work for us in Poland, spending time with family and friends, so I can really learn to use the language properly, etc


I've been working in the heritage archive sector mainly with historical documents and collections of papers, photographs etc, but I've been doing a Masters course which focuses more on corporate information / records / knowledge management. Fingers crossed I'm going to be starting in an advisory role, managing projects to bring government records into compliance with legislation. This sort of role has an increasing emphasis on electronic records and information management systems.

Recoil, you mentioned financial institutions' records management: is it a profession dominated by people with native-level ability in Polish or are expats filling a gap? I'm certainly expecting to get quite specific experience in that sortof 'fiduciary duty' branch of records management before I contemplate moving to Poland.

Love / Any English guys give me advice please. Are Polish women very different to English women? [46]

I'm a NZer. I can say that a wonderful Polish girl isn't going to make your life easier, but she will make your life more rewarding. Pluses and minuses :)

I think less inclined to materialism, but then how useful are generalisations.

Real Estate / Cost of rent for a four room apartment outskirt of Wroclaw [17]

Yes you're right, although unemployment is much worse in Ireland than in Polish cities at the moment as far as I understand. What I was trying to get across the original poster is that wanting to have a bedroom for themselves and each of their kids is not something which makes sense in Poland. People are much more flexible like that, so its reflected in prices.

Real Estate / Cost of rent for a four room apartment outskirt of Wroclaw [17]

Hi,

Gumtree.pl should give you a good sense of price excluding utilities, although based on my wife's family who live in Poland, you are unrealistic on your pricing. You'd be better to embrace the polish way of using all the rooms as bedrooms, or get a 3 room place and have 3 kids in one bedroom and you and your spouse in another bedroom with one room as a living room.

here are the 4 room apartments in Wroclaw on Gumtree now:

From a quick look it seems that you'd possibly get one, hell knows where, for 2000pln per month before any bills. However I'm not an expert, just sharing what I know from someone who's been scoping out moving to Poland.