Posts by jalleluja123

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

USA, Canada / Has anyone with a US or CDN passport recently been subjected to the "Passport Trap" in Poland? [29]

Poland, at least for Polish dual citizens living in the US has made it easier to renounce Polish citizenship. . It is simple as long as you are single and already have your valid Polish passport.

What you want to do is get your personal digital certificate called Profil Zaufany on ePUAP (only in Polish language). Over there you can request from home online your civil status act, birth act etc. From embassy website you download and fill renunciation application. You make a notarized proof of possesing different citizenship such as a naturalization certificate, obtain passport size photo and take it all to the consul and pay a fee. After a year or so the President of Poland issues permission to lose Polish citizenship and you send to the Polish embassy your Polish passport. In PESEL registry system they will update your record and mark you as foreigner. Although you may want to have copy of a letter with confirmation of loss of Polish citizenship just in case.

They no longer ask for certificate of no criminal record or hand written biography.
I never went that route though. Only went as far as to check my live PESEL data and update my residency registration to indicate that I no longer live in Poland and instead live abroad so military obligations would no longer apply to me.

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

Law / Is it ever worth it to renounce Polish citizenship? [2]

The United States allows dual citizenship after US naturalization though in practice it does not encourage it due to problems it can cause.

There are jobs which require Security Clearance that do not allow to exercise foreign citizenship (such as holding foreign passport) though Poland requires Polish citizens (including dual citizens) to enter/leave on Polish passport.

Also when you are in Poland, you may not get US consular assistance in case of legal problems. However, in practice it is often no problem if you do not break a law and do not have tax or military obligations.

What are other reasons someone would not want to keep dual citizenship status? There seems to be more reasons to keep it. For example, Polish passport enables visa-free travel to Brazil or the right to live, study and work in the EU.

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

USA, Canada / Polish people and food stores in San Francisco [5]

Merged:

Poles in San Francisco

Are there many Poles in San Francisco Bay Area?

Last time I searched the internet I found a few small groups but more was happening in Los Angeles.

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

USA, Canada / To leave the USA for a better life in Poland or not? [11]

Be aware that there is a lot of air pollution in cities during winter, in towns like Krakow. People still use coal to heat homes because natural gas or electricity is too expensive. And often the kind of coal used, is cheap, poor quality imported from Ukraine. My relatives in Chicago just came back from Poland and complained about the air.

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

USA, Canada / How difficult is it to get a visa in Poland for an US citizen? [11]

No need to worry about visas for US citizens. It would not be in interest of European Union to actually implement it. But you may see sooner or later implementation of ESTA like system known as ETIAS in Schengen Zone. The expected fee will be €5.

jalleluja123

6 May 2017

USA, Canada / Would you live in California, USA? [240]

I live in the Bay Area. It is very pretty here and tech job market hot but the cost of living especially housing or rent is outrageous. I came here only because of job but before coming here I looked for job elsewhere such as Chicago, Austin or Denver where cost of living is more reasonable.

jalleluja123

12 Oct 2017

USA, Canada / How well Polish immigrants and Polish Americans (including those who speak Polish) get along? [2]

I am Polish immigrant. I came to America at a bit late teenage years so I speak Polish very fluently and English is my second language.

In my experience, Polish Americans in Chicago have been a lot more distant toward me in college than Polish immigrants who I met in high school in Massachusetts. It was almost not unlike dealing with non-Polish Americans.

I participated in my college Polish's club. In high school I had some Polish people in my age, in college they were all at least 2 years younger than me, so when I was senior they were sophomores. Despite Chicago being called second largest "Polish city outside Warsaw", the Polish club was small, was cliquey and it felt like I did not fit well with them. Some spoke Polish and some did not. I also knew some few Polish Americans outside club but did not associate with them. They had either a hostile or indifferent attitude before my friendship with their non-Polish friends fell out because they were conservative and did not like me for being gay, despite the fact that my relationship with them was normal.

In the Polish college club, they had some Polonia event that they did not inform me about. Not cool. After graduating, I did not stay in touch with them.

What about those Polish friends I made in high school? After separating from them when I moved from MA, they could not be bothered to keep in touch. We had some conversation going in the beginning but it was fading out. One guy and girl who were a couple, when decided to make a visit to Chicago, did not tell me and did not know about it until I saw their new posted photos on Facebook.

Before moving to States, I had a few friends in Poland with who I used to hang out after school.

Personality and age comes into play too, but I do not think it is not a coincidence it was easier to make friends with Poles than Americanized Poles.