Real Estate / Home loan in Poland based on my US credit score? [15]


Beats me. Unless I'm totally misunderstanding your Medicaid system, you need to be on a seriously low income by US standards to qualify for it, which means that there's no way he's going to afford a nice life here.

Real Estate / Home loan in Poland based on my US credit score? [15]


Nope. It's legally a separate bank and they're simply not allowed to take foreign income into consideration if you weren't in Poland at the time if you intend to buy residential properties.

You'll need two years of verified accounts as a self-employed person in Poland if you want to get a mortgage here.

Work / Creative jobs in Poland? [10]


Yes, but you can get an American copywriter for not very much money. I hired one to do some incredibly dull work, and it cost us less than $75USD per full day of work, and he had to pay taxes on that amount.

Polish businesses are price sensitive, and in our case, where the copywriter was producing some materials for an educational project, there was simply no need to pay any more. The guy was happy to get a week's worth of work, and we were happy to get someone who perhaps wasn't the best writer, but his work was grammatically correct.

Law / Unwanted pregnancy in Poland - threats, rights [55]


Really? I didn't know that - it's a useful word of warning for a guy I know who is planning to do a runner.

Law / Unwanted pregnancy in Poland - threats, rights [55]


There's cross-border enforcement in Poland, so a legal ruling in Poland can be enforced all over the EU, although the local courts ultimately decides if it's enforceable or not.

Unpaid alimony is now a pretty serious criminal offence here too.

News / Will Poland tighten border control with Germany? [60]


No thank you. We exported a vast amount of criminal scum in 2004 from Poland, and we don't want them back.

News / Will Poland tighten border control with Germany? [60]


Tip of the iceberg, too.

Language / Interslavic artificial language [35]


A lot depends on the specific accent. I notice for instance that Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian as spoken in Bosnia is much clearer than in Croatia or Serbia. I can speak some Croatian, but I'm not so able to understand outside of Dalmatia (where I learnt it) and Bosnia as a whole. Bosnian can be tricky with the Turkish/Arabic loanwords though.

Law / Can I take my son to Poland? My ex partner has sole guardianship. [12]


Terri, alas, it doesn't work like this in Poland. I know of at least four different cases off the top of my head where the courts have played endless stupid games when dealing with a situation where a child should be immediately returned according to the Hague convention, including one situation where they simply kept demanding more and more reports until the father gave in. Another situation had the police claim that the child couldn't be found, despite the father presenting the courts with a detailed dossier of evidence showing exactly where the child was, where the child attended school, where the child attended private lessons, etc etc.

There's a good write-up here of a typical case: internationalfamilylawfirm.com/2018/01/polands-further-violation-of-obligation.html

As much as it pains me to say this, the odds of anything happening to the mother if she does kidnap the child are zero. Even if the child is taken by the police and returned to Ireland, the mother won't face any legal consequences here.

Law / Caught by speed camera - driving on Polish License and lives in Warsaw !?!?! [2]

Just fill it in, she'll get a letter with the fine to be paid. She won't get any points (the only mutual agreement is with the Republic of Ireland) on her licence.

Travel / Traffic jams Warsaw Monday morning? [6]


Could be, I've only ever used the Wisłostrada in the evening when it didn't seem so bad leaving the city.

Make sure to avoid the sewage factory near Pałac Kultury though, I heard that it stinks at this time of the year.

Travel / Traffic jams Warsaw Monday morning? [6]


There'll be traffic, but if I were you, I'd come in along the Wisłostrada and then along aleja Solidarności at that time. Last time I tried the alternative via Marymont, it was a disaster with traffic, though it seemed more logical on the map.

You can also use the ratruns through Żolibórz, making sure to shout some abuse at a certain PF friend in the process ;) But I'm not sure if Mickiewicza will be jammed at that time?

Life / Child maintenance / expenses living in Poland [11]


Most English-language kindergartens are a joke.

A friend was looking for one, so I helped him with the initial discussions. Only one of them could demonstrate to my satisfaction that they knew what they were doing. It was particularly interesting to pull up unqualified native speakers from their website and ask the director to their face as to why such a person was working in a teaching role despite not being qualified to do so.

Life / Child maintenance / expenses living in Poland [11]


The rule is that the kids are entitled to have the same quality of life as they had before the divorce.

Unfortunately, you made the first mistake by not settling the issue in the UK. Now you're at the mercy of female-dominated family courts, who aren't obliged to take anything other than their own opinion into account.

How much do you earn?

Law / Court punishment Poland - work for punishment instead of jail [36]


Americans are a bit more enthusiastic in general, which might explain it. I know one American guy who is hopeless with Polish, but he embraces everything. Four hour queue in a government office? Nevermind, he'll just find someone to chat to for those four hours.

What I find shocking are those Brits in rural areas who haven't integrated at all. I've seen one Facebook discussion only a few days ago, and some guy was proud of having been here for 15 years in a small town without speaking the language. Can you imagine? He can't even read the language, let alone communicate in it.

Law / Court punishment Poland - work for punishment instead of jail [36]


You're legally obliged to deregister, so if he didn't do it, more fool him.

Love / Polish men's pride! [23]


I know who this guy is. He moved to Poland a few months ago and wrote random rants online about how Polish women are golddiggers, cold, horrible people and so on. He got caught out and sacked by his (female) boss for it, after several women phoned her about it.

UK, Ireland / Let's discuss Polish and British, only constructive (though we will digress) [60]


Same goes for a lot of Europeans, really. I know an incredibly bright British guy who was practically dragged over to the US, as the company had seen his MSc thesis and wanted his know-how on the topic. A year later, he was called by a professor at MIT who told him bluntly that they wanted him there, and so he ended up on a PhD with a six-digit scholarship on top.

I've always admired the way that the Americans will pay for talent and won't hesitate to do so. It's such a different mentality to Europe, where only the Swiss really seem to understand that you need to pay a high price for quality work.

Life / Poland's National Anthem "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" (download mp3) [49]

Combined with the way that he offered Poles something that no-one else was offering at the time, it certainly is the wrong way to look at history.

As for Dąbrowski and Czarnecki, you'd have to be a complete idiot to finish high school and not know who they are. Dąbrowski is a national hero, and Czarniecki is perhaps the finest military figure that the country has ever had.

News / Poland directly threatened by ISIS. Do Islamists planning terrorist attacks in Poland? [390]


Jealous, more like. They obviously saw better prospects with an educated Muslim than some Bulgarian nobody.

Work / TAXATION for a foreigner in Poland [11]


Not quite. If your "centre of vital interests" are in PL, then you're liable regardless.

Work / TAXATION for a foreigner in Poland [11]

It's nearly impossible to avoid being taxed in Poland if you live in Poland for that exact reason.

Furthermore, the OP should make sure to declare the foreign income earnt this year to Poland as well at the end of the tax year.

News / Decent left wing analysis of the left in Poland [10]


It is quite a serious issue. PiS didn't restrict 500+, nor did they restrict the income tax deductions. It could have been limited to EU citizens only, but PiS left it open to all.

facebook.com/groups/TamilCommunityOfPoland/permalink/759376697812566/ - this is just one example. It's a disgrace, and I can't understand why we're subsidising foreigners in such a way.

News / Decent left wing analysis of the left in Poland [10]

What are you talking about? They haven't done anything.

Give me your PESEL and address, and I'll give you a junk contract for 1zł just to show that it can be done.

As for eliminating income tax, that's actually led to a large number of Indian "students" not paying income tax. Joy.

News / Decent left wing analysis of the left in Poland [10]

Remind us, why haven't PiS removed junk contracts like they promised?

Work / Teaching English in Krakow -- how to find students? [52]

Widespread and nothing unusual. The fact that she did FCE/CAE can actually help a lot with exam preparation classes in private schools - personally speaking, the best teacher I know has passed almost every mainstream English exam in existence.

UK, Ireland / Which country is more corrupt - Poland or the UK? [35]


Don't you think it's time to start moving on, though? I'm tired of hearing it as an excuse, especially when it's accompanied by various historical myths.

Work / Teaching English in Krakow -- how to find students? [52]


It's even worse than it was 10 years ago. The amount of absolute idiots trying to "teach English" these days is remarkable.

Part of my job involves interviewing new teachers at our school for their English competence, and what we put on every single job advert is that qualifications are mandatory. At least 50% of applications come from people who aren't qualified, if not more.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


Does that really protect you? In most European countries, directors are still responsible for the actions of the company even if the company no longer exists.

News / Should 16-year-olds in Poland vote? [58]


On the contrary Pawian - in the Scottish independence referendum, there was a lot of activity from those aged 16-17. Internet voting also didn't lead to any strange surprises in Estonia, apart from liberal voters voting online and conservative ones preferring the ballot box.