USA, Canada / Gift idea for something uniquely American that is difficult to find in Poland? [67]

Grape jelly or jam.
Cap'n Crunch cereal.
If you send him an American football, don't forget to also buy and send him a pack of the needles you need to refill them with air :-)

Food / Is there a good substitute of Philadelphia Cheese in Poland? [14]

Ser Smietankowy (or something spelled like that).

Runs about 14zl/kg in Real, in 125g packages.

Life / Realistic grocery budget for a family of three in Warsaw? [20]

300 zloty per week is realistic, and would include all normal weekly grocery shopping... food, cleaners, toiletries, sundries, etc.

Milk is 2.50 /liter
chicken 17zl/kilo
ground beef 13zl/kilo
frozen veggies 5zl / 400-450 gram bag
fresh veggie prices are all over the place and vary seasonally much more than in the US.
pasta 4zl/400 grams
rice 3zl/kilo
sugar 5zl/kilo
flour 2zl/kilo
sliced cheeses from deli 15-24zl/kilo
lunchmeats 10-25zl/kilo

If you buy a lot of snacks and sodas like Coke, count on 400/week. Brand name snacks are expensive over here.

Life / An example of what is wrong with Poland (fatal traffic accident and a tram) [55]

How about this... if they weren't going to move the tram, why on earth wouldn't they close off the 4 adjacent feeder intersections and make a detour? Take a look at the picture and you'll see cars trying to drive around the obstruction, which in itself creates another dangerous situation. I can understand not moving the tram (well, I can see it from a Nervous Nellie point of view anyhow), but I can't understand not stopping traffic.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


You've got 3 months which you can stay on your passport, and within the first 45 days you'll have to apply for a residence permit or a one year visa. Have your wife give the Polish consulate nearest you a call to see what you'll need to do to be able to stay in Poland for more than 90 days.

USA, Canada / What should I bring back from the U.S. to Poland? [46]

I've never seen Ziplocs in Warsaw stores, and I've looked for them.

Bring back a bottle of cheap aspirin if you take it, they're 8zl for 10 tabs here, 6zl for 200 tabs in the states. Grape jelly if you miss it, I can't find that here either. Cheddar cheese is something I always bring back, the Irish cheddar available here just isn't the same (and is priced around the equivalent of $9/lb). I've also never been able to find Rice Krispies here in Wawa. You can find most things at Kuchnia Swiata, but they don't have much selection, so if you're into BBQ sauce bring some of that back too. And ditto on the clothing... especially jeans. Levis are a lot cheaper in the states.


Oh come on. It's flour, baking powder, and some oil.

Life / How many Americans live in Poland? [13]

At least a dozen in Warsaw that are here more or less permanently.

Travel / Bars and clubs in Warsaw and best district to stay [18]

5 Podwale street in the Old Town area is a nice, cheap, laid back place.

USA, Canada / Being a Pole, Do I need a USA visa when changing flights in NY? [12]

It's a specific visa you need, and it's called a 'transit visa' or a C1 visa. Not too difficult to get, but be aware of the time it takes to get it issued.

Work / Polish Residency Cards. Is there a Permanent ID card for Foreigners? [37]


Whoa, that's news to me. The Post Office, Długa street and most other places I've needed to show ID accepted it, no problem. Actually... I haven't needed my passport as ID ever since I got my first Karta... even got my two-year Karta using the first as ID.

Travel / Will I have a problem upon exiting Poland? (American visited Poland through Germany) [20]


Actually, the border guard understood it quite well.
First of all, it's 90 days out of 6 months, not 90 out of 180 days.
Secondly, you're also technically allowed an additional 5 days leeway because of transits. Otherwise you might not be able to change planes if you happened to have a connecting flight via Schengen. The guard most likely allowed him back in on the basis of those 5 leeway transit days, perhaps assuming he had a flight out of Poland.

Work / Residence Permit for an Australian in Poland. Applying for another one.. [41]


Just wanted to chime in on that count. I'm an American married to a Pole, and from what I was told at the immigration office after a lot of asking around is that I don't need a work permit since I have a Karta based on marriage. I *just* went through the process to get my second iteration of the Karta (the two-year one) as my first one (valid for only one year) expires next month. All is approved and well and no problems (I pick up the new card Friday), however I'm not sure if my school got a work permit for me or not... I don't _think_ they did but I'll ask and repost with the info.

Just *make sure* your card is based on marriage. There's nothing on the card itself that indicates whether it was based on marriage or employment, so you'll have to examine the approval/judgement notice that was given to you just before you got it for details. Otherwise hit the dreaded information room D and ask the nice people there.

Work / Residence Permit for an Australian in Poland. Applying for another one.. [41]


Ahh, but the specific question was did your employers deduct the taxes and pay them for you? If they paid you brutto and *you* sent 19% to the tax office, then it might be a big problem. But if they paid you netto and they sent the taxes in, then you might get off with a fine and a stern warning, instead of deportation.

And note, if you are deported, you cannot transit through Schengen. No stopovers in Schipol or DeGaulle for you. Remember that, or you'll get stuck in limbo as happened to someone I knew awhile back. Went to fly to India and got denied entry to a connecting flight (although I think if both flights have origins/destinations outside of Schengen you might be okay, hers didn't... 2 stopovers).

Work / Residence Permit for an Australian in Poland. Applying for another one.. [41]

One of the problems with the Karta is that there are actually two of them. Kinda. One for marriage, one for work-based residence. With the work one, you can work anywhere without the need to modify a visa or anything, but your employer is still required to obtain a work permit. However, it's your employer's responsibility to get it, not yours. In fact, you yourself cannot get one, _only_ your employer can, and no input is needed from you aside from a few documents they'd need to copy. And sadly, if your employer screwed up, it can jeopardize your stay here and I'm not sure if there's anything you can do about it. Most schools want you to set up your own company so that they don't have to deal with the work permit issue, nor the taxation issue, so they just kind of ignore the problem. The big question is... did you pay taxes? Did the schools you worked for deduct taxes from your paychecks? If they did, it's your saving grace... it means they should have known about the work permit, so the Foreigner's office has someone else to blame. But... if there were no taxes deducted (which I suspect is the case) then the contracts might specify that you were working as a contractor, responsible for your own taxes, thus removing them from responsibility and placing you square in the gunsights for deportation.

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

Ok, here's something:

From the text:
"The long and short of it is that your EU driving license is good for the first 6 months of your stay in Poland. After that you need a Polish one -"

And the apparently relevant bit of Polish law:
"2. państwo:
a. będące stroną Konwencji o ruchu drogowym, sporządzonej w Wiedniu dnia 8 listopada 1968 r. (Dz. U. z 1988 r. Nr 5, poz. 40 i 44), (wykaz państwa w załączeniu)

b. państwo trzecie, którego wzór prawa jazdy jest zgodny z wzorem określonym w Konwencji, o której mowa w lit. a

w okresie 6 miesięcy od daty rozpoczęcia stałego lub czasowego pobytu, nie dłużej jednak niż przez okres ważności prawa jazdy."

Now... I'm unsure if there's a difference in interpretation between the two kinds of Polish residency... temporary and permament, or if that even matters.

If anyone more familiar with Polish than I am would care to research the law, it's apparently from 29 lipca 2005 r ( Dz. U. Nr 18, poz. 1497 ).

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

Well, here's the text of the original international driving treaty, known as the "Geneva Convention on Road Traffic" from 1949:

web.archive.org/web/20071124104726
6towns.com/driving/UNconv.html

Article 1, section 2 states: No Contracting State shall be required to extend the benefit of the provisions of this Convention to any motor vehicle or trailer, or to any driver having remained within its territory for a continuous period exceeding one year.

Now, depending on whether the country in question issues or recognizes the Geneva convention of 1949 or the Vienna convention of 1968, the validity may be for one (Geneva) or three (Vienna) years. The Vienna agreement supercedes the Geneva agreement.

The US wasn't a signatory to the 1968 Vienna agreement, and Poland was, but Poland recognizes the Geneva convention, so your US-issued IDP is valid in Poland. IDPs are only valid for one year, however they can be renewed (technically they aren't renewed, you simply get a new one).

Ok, so the treaty which Poland recognizes but isn't signatory to any more says it's OPTIONAL as to whether or not a country must recognize IDPs if someone has lived in their territory for a year or more. Oh, and there was also a European agreement from 1971 which supplements the 1968 agreement.

Now, when it comes to driving, there are some EU directives, such as Directive 91/439/EEC , which apply to Poland, and there are some Polish laws regarding licenses which may also apply.

Personally, I've never seen any *definite* information on whether or not an IDP is recognized in Poland if you've been living here for a year or more. Considering you were stopped and allowed to go with an IDP and Karta Pobytu, I'd say that's strong anecdotal evidence that you *can* do so.

And P.S. : Dammit Harry, post sooner! (grin)