pzi123
16 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Canada born - Mother born in Poland; trying to apply for Polish passport [7]
It is all in the level of expectations. What can we expect from a country that had no government in place for the last ~60 years. Even before that the Poland existed for a short period of time between wars and then back to feudalism. That last period of communist occupation was the most damaging to Polish society. Under communism Poles learned to disregard their peers and look for their own interest - corruption was rampant - I know I was there. That attitude will not change very quickly unless we will let Polish government know that there is a better way. Polish consuls - learn from Canada! - I get my passport renewed by getting acrobat form on-line, my doctor signs it here in Colorado and I mail to Ontario. I get my new Canadian passport in 3 weeks.
I tried to contact Polish Consulate in L.A. (this is my Polish services district for 15 western states) - they do not answer the phone and do not respond to email. I think they feel very important opening their little window every morning serving a queue of desperate Poles trying to get back to Poland :-). Because of this nonsense biometric Polish passports I would have to fly to L.A. at least twice - once to file the application in person and second time to pick it up. This is totally unacceptable!
- Piotr
It is all in the level of expectations. What can we expect from a country that had no government in place for the last ~60 years. Even before that the Poland existed for a short period of time between wars and then back to feudalism. That last period of communist occupation was the most damaging to Polish society. Under communism Poles learned to disregard their peers and look for their own interest - corruption was rampant - I know I was there. That attitude will not change very quickly unless we will let Polish government know that there is a better way. Polish consuls - learn from Canada! - I get my passport renewed by getting acrobat form on-line, my doctor signs it here in Colorado and I mail to Ontario. I get my new Canadian passport in 3 weeks.
I tried to contact Polish Consulate in L.A. (this is my Polish services district for 15 western states) - they do not answer the phone and do not respond to email. I think they feel very important opening their little window every morning serving a queue of desperate Poles trying to get back to Poland :-). Because of this nonsense biometric Polish passports I would have to fly to L.A. at least twice - once to file the application in person and second time to pick it up. This is totally unacceptable!
- Piotr