Law / Pesel in doubt, can anyone tell me if this delay is normal ? [4]


Normal when applying for a PESEL through an embassy, I'm afraid.

It's worth noting that if you want to come to Poland, a temporary passport is enough - you'll have to get a Polish ID card once you come here, which is good enough for intra-EU travel.

News / Poland's supreme administrative court rules against RHD cars [57]


Hardly enforced though. I'm sure people would be thinking twice if they knew that a 5000zl fine combined with an instant ban from the road was in force.


I think at least part of the problem is associated with the attitude that "rules are made by the authority and we don't like authority" - there sadly exists very little respect for the rule of law in Poland, unless the law is standing in front of you.

News / Poland's supreme administrative court rules against RHD cars [57]


It's tough enough, but what I'd do is simply equip a few unmarked police cars with video cameras. Up the penalties (based on income and the value of the car, maybe?) for idiotic driving and introduce on the spot bans for clearly dangerous moves and voila - driving standards would massively improve overnight.

The problem in Poland isn't so much the driving test, as the fact that the punishments are just too weak to deal with the majority of bad driving. If people knew that tailgating was instantly punishable with a 5000zl fine, they'd think twice.

Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]


Actually, in your case, you can't live where you like, seeing as you're subject to immigration control within the EU. I'd quite like for you to tell the Straz Graniczna that you can live where you like...could be fun ;)


The way that you're going to try and **** off the police further rather than simply accpeting it is the hallmark sign of the crying whiner.

Life / Picking up BBC television in Poland [41]

Does 4OD work as well?

If so, who are you using? Could do with a reliable proxy server...

USA, Canada / Moving from Canada to Poland? I'm fluent Polish and could teach English. [24]


The bill to replace it with a so-called "registracja" is bogged down in the Sejm and may have been abandoned, I'm not sure - but the system will be in place for the forseeable future. It looks like the plans are to make it worthless by not including the address on the new ID cards - which might allow them to drop it by stealth.


Good question - how is your reading/writing in Polish? If you're fluent with that too - then you really won't have any issues whatsoever here and could very well find a nice job in finance. I'd actually recommend coming here and teaching for a year to get your feet wet - it's a great way to make contacts and you can decide from there :)

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Fascinating, thank you.

I think it's safe to say that Poland is completely ignoring this law in practice - the "French" approach to the European Union if you will. Of course - has anyone actually asked them to comply with the law? Then again, given the state of the Polish justice system, it would seem unlikely that any judgement could be enforced anyway.

And of course, this law gives no rights to non-EU citizens unless they're already married to an EU citizen or are dependent on an EU citizen.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


Isn't this a common misconception? EU citizens are entitled to communicate with EU institutions in official EU languages - but I'm not aware that the same right is accorded to national institutions.

News / The Internet totally uncontrolled in Poland? [19]


You don't even have to be good - just find the sites. Once you've found the sites, it's trivial to find payment data and thus be led straight to the paedophiles. This is how the vast majority are caught - because they're stupid enough to use something traceable to purchase content.

USA, Canada / Moving from Canada to Poland? I'm fluent Polish and could teach English. [24]


Aha, in this case, it's easy for you. When you come here, get yourself registered at an address as soon as possible and then apply for the Polish ID card. It's mandatory for Polish citizens living in Poland - and it usefully doubles up as valid identification to travel throughout the EU with. Citizenship doesn't expire, and as you already claimed it, then it makes life much easier for you.

But - what do you work as at the moment?

USA, Canada / Moving from Canada to Poland? I'm fluent Polish and could teach English. [24]

First things first, do you have Polish citizenship?

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


Is this like how you intend to "bring the pain" to people in Poland?


To tell a story about those chimps, a friend recently obtained a US visa from them. She went for the interview, and they couldn't speak Polish - so why on earth should Poland provide English speakers?

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


Exceptionally well played I would say ;)

You can't even get access to many governmental materials in German, which by the amount of Poland-born native speakers is Poland's second language.

(incidentally, can you get information from the United States Government in Polish? I imagine there are far more Polish native speakers in America than English native speakers in Poland...)

Law / Car Insurance costs in Poland. [24]


We're both right then ;)

I think even fire and theft is often excluded by cheaper insurers. Certainly, if you want anything more than 3rd party only, it makes sense to move onto Polish plates.

Law / Car Insurance costs in Poland. [24]

That's interesting, because I was under the impression that it wasn't a case of being "allowed" - it was simply a fact that an EU policy is automatically valid elsewhere in the EU.

Look here - ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/en/citizens/living/car/insurance/index_en.html

Of course - if you want more than the basic bog standard third-party only, then of course the insurer will charge you to extend it to certain countries.

Law / Bring your business to Poland! [56]


Me? Customer care and marketing, mainly. I run a business helping foreigners alongside dabbling in teaching to keep me sane.


Well, my foreigners agency is doing quite well for a first year company - I have some difficult decisions to make concerning it (what to focus on, how to expand) - which is why I can tell you strongly that Poland doesn't encourage small business at all. I may have to diversify - with the two year limitation on cheap social insurance payments, you really, really cannot sit still as a small business.


My suggestion, personally, would be to approach medium sized busineses in the UK, USA and Poland who could benefit from outsourcing to Poland, or indeed launching their product here. There are also some IT companies who are doing well in Eastern Europe, but who just don't seem to know how to go West at all, despite their products being very good.

Life / Horribly cold in Krakow at the moment , how do you cope with such temperatures ? [124]


Take the overnight sleeper train to Przemysl and bus from there ;) Most effective, comfiest, nicest way to travel. I did it in summer, and...so much better :)

Law / Car Insurance costs in Poland. [24]

Nowadays, one EU insurance policy is automatically valid in other EU countries. But outside the EU is another question - I know some refuse cover in places such as Croatia, which you'd expect to be included.

Law / Public Liability Insuarance and Product Liability Insuarance [7]


That means extra, unneccessary $$$ then.


It depends very much on the business - you'll need to go and actually ask them.


It's one of the largest (if not the largest) insurance company in Poland.

Law / Car Insurance costs in Poland. [24]

As long as the car is on British plates, you have to keep it on UK insurance and meet all the requirements such as road tax, MOT, etc. Yes, it's valid - EU insurance is automatically valid in other EU countries, though the level of cover may differ.

Once you change it to Polish plates, then the system works on the basis of the car, not the driver being insured.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


It was perfectly warm as early as March last year, and didn't get cold until October. I'm cool with it, after all, the climate is no different in Poland than in Germany. And hey, it's far colder in Norway, Sweden and Finland, three countries almost universally regarded as having a very high quality of life. Tempature really doesn't come into it.


So...why are you here?

I mean, the general public thinks America sucks too, but people still move there.


I assure you that they do. I know someone who is fluent in reading/writing Polish and just has terrible problems with the grammar in spoken Polish. He doesn't have problems at all. Sure, there are easier languages, but there are harder languages too. After all, it's not Poland's fault that the English language isn't standardised.

And any decent language teacher should be correcting everything you say in any language! What kind of teacher doesn't correct their students mistakes?


Why should they have English speakers? What about Chinese speakers? Or Japanese speakers? Or what about Czech speakers? German would also be useful, bearing in mind that many EU citizens learnt German and not English at school.

Yes, if you want to deal with bureaucracy in a country, you do it in their own language. Do you honestly think that in France, they'll speak English to you? You must be joking :D

Anyway, if you want to apply for residency in a country, you should be able to communicate. If you can't, then hire an intepreter :)

(thanks for backing up the stereotype that Americans think that everyone should adapt to them rather than them adapting to others)

Law / Public Liability Insuarance and Product Liability Insuarance [7]

Yes, both exists. Just visit your local friendly insurer for more details :) So far, I've found that PZU is the most "clued up" when it comes to this sort of thing.

Law / Bring your business to Poland! [56]


So why post as if you're an expert? I don't post about big business in Poland because I frankly know nothing about it other than what I read, apart from them having the same issues as small businesses, such as social taxation.


That's beause the vast majority of businesses of interest to forum readers will be small and medium sized companies. It's very unlikely most people on here will have the authority to move a large concern into Poland!


Quite a lot are trying not to be like Poland - what with the ridiculously restrictive laws surrounding workers on permanent work contracts, with the taxation system that demands VAT be paid very quickly, the lack of decent credit terms (Poland standard : 14 days maximum - UK standard : 30 days minimum) and instability of the currency doesn't lend itself to a stable business environment. There's also the unstable political environment - Poland as a whole has been absolutely unstable since 1989, and while the PO/PSL coalition is pro-big business (provided farmers are allright!), PiS and the SLD can hardly be said to be huge fans of big business.

Poland is attracting big business for one sole reason - it lies in central Europe and is ridiculously cheap if you're producing in Zloty and selling in Euro.

As for education - Poland is suffering quite badly under the free tertiary education, allowing many to stay students for as long as they want, along with allowing people to sit a 2nd or even 3rd degree free of charge. I know quite a few people who have done two degrees at the same time - does this make them well qualified? Nope - if anything, it makes them overqualified and underexperienced.

Law / Setting up small business in Poland? [191]


I advise on this stuff professionally, but in your case, all I can say is that Poland isn't a great place to do this unless you've got a serious amount of cash behind you. To get the relevant visa on the basis of self employment, they'll be looking for quite a lot of money.

Law / Bring your business to Poland! [56]


Not really, where small businessses are concerned. There's some capital funding, but not much - and certainly nowhere near enough to meet demand. Banking is also very difficult for small businesses - Polsh banks just aren't lending to anyone that might be a risk, which is great for stability but bad for the startup.


In some respects. In other respects, it's a massive disadvantage - the instability of the Zloty vs the Euro isn't a good thing in general. You won't find anyone in business who actually thinks that it's good to have the Zloty see-sawing constantly.


Tax for businesses is everything - for the small entrepeneur, the ZUS payments are a huge hurdle to climb.

I'm not saying Poland is a bad place for investment, but convex has it bang on the money - it's not really a great place either. Give it time, the PO government should enact more and more reforms - but right now, it's hard to say that it's a worthwhile place for the small business to start.

Just look at the shocking amount of social insurance paid by both employer and employee!

I'm not convinced you actually know anything about Polish business, because if you did, you'd know that in order to pay someone 2000zl a month netto, the cost to the business is 3256.09zl. That's an astronomical burden - and it explains why quite a few Polish workers don't have health insurance or a pension as a result.

I'm struggling to see what advantages there are for the small business owner who wants to be a just and fair employer.

Actually, I want to rebut a few things -


For small business, yes, rent is cheap. I'll give that.


Haha. See above. I can give an even better example - to pay an employee 4000zl a month netto, you have to pay 6500zl in total. How is that cheap?!


Depends on what you want them to do. English teachers are cheap. Computer science graduates aren't.


Wrong. They're low, but the social taxes is the reason why.


Not at all. Energy costs are quite high compared to the cost of living.


Not particularly cheap.


Again, not at all. Poland gets most of her gas from Russia - prices really aren't much lower than Western countries.


Where's the source for that statistic? Bearing in mind plenty of young people fled after 2004, and let's not forget that the current generation of workers is paying pensions for today's pensioners - there's nothing in the pot for tomorrow. This can only mean even higher social contributions in time to come.


Again, you're showing your inexperience/knowledge of Poland. Many "degrees" are from private institutions which will award a degree to a monkey, and the ones from the public universities are often lacking in real content. There are some exceptions, but plenty of courses are producing graduates with no real skills, especially in the weaker public universities. Just look at the content of a three year degree at Poznan University of Economics in Business Management - most of it is useless.


I don't see these incentives, where are they?

Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]


Well, they could start with him not carrying valid identification. Then I'm sure they could find some arcane legislation to use to impound the car (just think : how much communist legislation exists that has never been repealed?) - and then find ways to put up bureaucratic hurdles to prevent him from getting the car back for a good while.

Beats me why someone without Polish citizenship and subject to immigration control would even attempt to make an enemy out of the police! I'm sure it's not rocket science for traffic police to know that they should pull his (self-admittedly unique) car at every opportunity.

I just hope he doesn't come crying on here when they make a fool out of him ;)

News / The Internet totally uncontrolled in Poland? [19]

No no, not out of the UK, but out of the dependencies, territories and other made up legal statuses ;)

The biggest joke is gambling sites registered on Alderney - I mean, does anyone believe that Alderney seriously has more than one bloke dealing with gambling issues?

UK, Ireland / Coming to England - should my friend get passport/driving licence here or in PL? [10]


No, national ID card is enough. Little point in obtaining a passport unless you actually have to.

Law / HELP IN IMMIGRATION SOUGHT " PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN POLSKA" [20]


I think the problem has been that historically, no-one was stopping them from making up things on the spot. Listen to the stories from people dealing with bureaucracy in communist times - the bureaucrat was powerful and could insist on anything if he/she felt like it. Nowadays, of course they aren't powerful - but I get the feeling that the mentality lingers on in some places.

As you say, being firm is the best approach - let them know that you know the law, that the law is in front of them and that if they don't accept the application, they'll be hearing from a solicitor in due course. The instinctive Polish reaction ("****, must cover my ass, what if he's right?") kicks in and they'll accept it ;)

The problem is also further caused by the lack of clear guidelines - for instance, Poznan demands that you give over a bank statement showing sufficient funds to support yourself. If you ask them what they think is sufficient, they don't actually know themselves - it's entirely up to the person on the day. There are no guidelines (that I've found or seen) to actually say what is enough money for an EU citizen to not need a work contract.

UK, Ireland / Poles living in the UK returning home or not? [63]

Sure, there's a lack of people willing to do the worst, menial, minimum wage jobs here.