Law / Major Issue with Poland's Residence Card! I have Polish wife, but no job, passport, I'm seeking for asylum. [9]

You have a temporary foreigner identification card (not residency) but we need to know more info. What is your nationality? What is your passport nation (if not the same or more than one)? How long have you been in Poland and have you applied for residency in the past and been denied? Is your wife Polish or some other nationality (e.g., American with Polish background)? Were you married in Poland and was it civil and/or religious (Catholic or some other religious wedding with "concord" with the state ... meaning legal). Answer these, and then there can be some real solutions.

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

Poland is a great place to live most of the time and in most places (a few spots are still dreadfully stuck in the past, but you can avoid them easily enough). Overall, if you have great job potential (doctor, lawyer, executive or high-level manager with a foreign firm) you will probably love it. Those people seem to not have a care in the world here, mainly because they think it's cheap. However, anything that would be considered to offer an average to poor salary in the USA means you'll struggle a lot here even to find work, and especially to get enough to support a family. Second, the politics in Poland right now are as coarse or worse than in America and it's not likely to improve, in part because Poland's institutions and media are far weaker (younger, untested, easily bypassed). The economy has been improving for a long time now and will do so for a little bit longer, mainly because of EU funds and foreign investment, but the future is one of it slipping rapidly, in part because of those politics (overspending, mismanagement) and the rapid shift towards multi-nationals and large firms. So far, there's still a good mix, but the direction is clear (more chain stores and fewer small businesses, meaning a major middle-class squeeze). And housing prices, wow, are they are flying up. Finally, the weather. You don't have a real choice. I guess you can have a bit of salty air or mountain air, but it's cold for 3-4 months a year and darker than most US latitudes. If you don't like that, you should reconsider. Some people really hate it. I don't want to discourage you, especially if you have family here, but Americans should consider it only if they come over with money or good prospects, or for a limited time. There are lots of expats here, so you'll have plenty of company. As others have said, come with your eyes open and make an informed decision.

Law / If you were a non-European citizen, and you wanted to start a one person company in Poland? [15]

@maqsoodfarrukh If you want to establish an import/export business in Poland, contact a local Polish lawyer specializing in Polish and EU trade law. Simply setting up a corporation won't be too expensive but you will have capital requirements (varies from a few thousand euro to tens of thousands or more) and you will need to pay someone like an accountant to set it up for you or come over and work with a translator to get it set up (visits to offices and paperwork). The most expensive part of your business will be for tariffs and legal compliance. As well, you'll need to establish actual business relationships with buyers or set up your own store in the country as the importer, which can be costly if you're trading in a major city like Warsaw or Krakow. This post should probably be its own discussion in another thread anyway, but in short, contact a lawyer here and then move forward if you can, and be prepared to show proof of sufficient capital.

UK, Ireland / Polish Spouse VISA in the UK [9]

Not sure what you mean by "under my Passport". Only you are covered by your passport and her by hers. As an Australian, she should have a certain right to be in the UK in any case.

Do you mean though you want her to be able to hold a Polish passport? If so, it's not automatic with marriage. She has to apply for citizenship and usually that means you have to live in Poland for a certain period of time and go through the application process (2-5 years at least, see foreigners in poland/get-polish-citizenship/). It might be easier for her to start that process if you have the civil marriage actually in Poland. It's a simple ceremony but you have a bunch of paperwork to file first. You can have the fancy church wedding with your friends and family in the UK (or somewhere else) whenever you want, but an official marriage certificate from the Polish administration may make your life a bit easier when it comes time to get a passport.

Law / If you were a non-European citizen, and you wanted to start a one person company in Poland? [15]

@maqsoodfarrukh Certainly 10k euro would be enough to get started and for basic operation, though to open a properly functioning business with employees and payment lag would take about twice that depending on the incorporation type, the business location and the type/amount of material you want to bring in. I have some friends who are EU citizens (Polish/UK) who have started a import clothing business and it's taken them 3-4 years and tens of thousands of euros to get established, so I wouldn't expect less than 10k euro, especially as a non-citizen who will have more to deal with than they do. Also, you will find it difficult to get bank loans until you are more established, so you will probably need extra cash on hand.

Scope: not sure if you mean the formal category but there's a list of them here:
prod.ceidg.gov.pl/CEIDG.CMS.ENGINE/?D;439165b7-9e89-4efb-8538-43878ad8ea94
In Poland, the simplest business formation is the one-person kind ("entrepreneur"/micro-business/self-employed). It's very basic, very cheap to start (a couple hundred euro at most) but it lets you operate legally. I'm not certain it's open to you though and the rules for this level of business are changing a lot right now under the current 1-year-old government. But, you can start with this to set up your business and then upgrade it soon after or as planned. You carry full liability though, so you wouldn't want to use it once you begin trading and working with formal partners. As a non-EU citizen interested in import/export, however, you may be required to start with a more formal limited liability company. It has various capital requirements, but can be reasonable (1-5k euro) and the usual LLC protections. More here:

foreigners in poland/start-business-poland

Even though you are an accountant by training, it seems you do not have Poland/EU specificity, so that's why you need one here. You can negotiate the service level but you need them because Polish law is tricky and is now changing rapidly. It's not reasonable to expect that you will know enough to do it by yourself and not get in trouble, while starting a business at the same time.

If you want to start a services firm in Poland, see the links above. It might be a bit more difficult for you though than a goods-based business unless you can show how you differ from locals (e.g., working with clients focused on Asia).

Good luck.

Law / Major Issue with Poland's Residence Card! I have Polish wife, but no job, passport, I'm seeking for asylum. [9]

@dhrynio He said he's an asylum seeker, so not German. Not sure where from but probably Africa/Mid-East. He's probably stuck in the system in Germany and looking for an alternate path. If he's now married to an EU national (Polish woman), he'll have to go through the whole process to get residency in Poland, but without his original nation's passport he's not likely to even get started in Poland. So, he needs that first but since he claimed asylum in Germany and not in Poland, he will have to wait there til he gets a decision, which is now even more complicated by his marriage. While I believe in love, in this case the authorities definitely will be very suspicious of a sham marriage and that will take both time and some interviews over months or years to prove it is real (been there, done that). I don't see how Poland will even deal with him until Germany has processed his case. Hope he's young and patient.

UK, Ireland / Polish Spouse VISA in the UK [9]

@Marsupial true but they say "living the UK" so I assume that one of them has a valid work visa, which should allow a spouse to live there. A few years ago an Australian friend of mine told me it was no big thing for him to live in UK but he wanted to live in Poland, and he was finding that to be difficult, so that's my reference.

Also, just saw that the OP is female, so apologies to JULB09 for not catching that earlier.

Law / If you were a non-European citizen, and you wanted to start a one person company in Poland? [15]

@maqsoodfarrukh It really depends on where you live. Warsaw is one of if not the most expensive cities in Poland, mainly because incomes are better, but it's also the main hub for textile import/export (if you haven't already seen the scene near Janki, south of the city on the 7 and near the airport, you should check it out). Another major airport area is Katowice and it can be really mixed in terms of living costs because there are lots of people and lots of little towns and cities merged together, so more variety in housing and transport costs.

In general, expect to pay at least 1k-2k euro a month in living expenses for a family of 3 for a basic but comfortable life.

UK, Ireland / Polish Spouse VISA in the UK [9]

@JULB09 In short, to get Polish recognition of your partner requires marriage and then some sort of residency in Poland. Perhaps there's some loophole but I haven't heard of it. It makes sense too since residency is a key part of any process. Time is short but if you begin the formal process soon you likely can get a waiver that you carry with you when you cross borders. Its a document that says your paperwork is in progress and the limit is suspended until a decision is final. It may have specific requirements such as length of stay in Poland and/or EU but at least you'll know where you stand. It's possible there's a UK-specific rule allowing both of you to stay in the UK on a certain type of visa as long as one of you is an EU national, until Brexit anyway.

Life / What is the worst bank in Poland that I should avoid at all costs? [21]

Perhaps better is what bank can we recommend. I can give you many reasons why I like ING bank, despite a few minor issues, and recommend it for most people, but I don't bank at bad banks so I can't tell you what to steer clear of. The only real advice I can give you is avoid the SKOKs because too many are failing recently and you don't know which one will be yours (it's not a normal bank). I know WBK is stronger now than it used to be, but it does charge a lot of fees if you're not careful. Also, if you don't speak Polish, stick only to well-known brands with dual-language websites and try to find a branch where you can speak English with at least one person in case of a problem (or if someone there knows another language you use). Another key aspect is wide, free ATM usage, which ING, WBK and other major banks offer if you watch for the right symbols on the machines. Good luck.

Life / What is the worst bank in Poland that I should avoid at all costs? [21]

@Jardinero Yup, but not exactly like US credit unions either. They seem to be some sort of franchised credit union network and badly capitalized. Plus, they have had a political connection to the current ruling regime.

Law / Freelancer taxes in Poland [8]

Register as an "entrepreneur" (jednoosobowy or 1-person) firm if you have no significant risks (e.g., business loans backed by a house or property, in which case get a more advanced company). One person firms are more like self-employed in other countries than a formal company but you get the benefit of being registered. Be aware your ZUS payments will jump to about 1500-2000k PLN once your two-year grace expires. You can actually choose between 18% and 19% tax rates (at the moment) depending on how much you expect to make in a year and when you expect to surpass the threshold. Check with your accountant, which you should have if you want hope of staying in compliance. Good luck.

Love / English Pre-marital courses in Krakow [3]

Do you want to do them? If you don't, especially if you're not Catholic, just find a friendly priest and ask them to exempt you. Speaking only English should do it. Definitely won't get much useful advice from them anyway.