I'm Moving from UK To Poland to learn Polish and live there

Cześć,
I have finally decided to move to Poland. I fell in love with Poland when I visited Wroclaw about 10 years ago. I had a friend I worked with in the UK who took me to her home and I stayed with her family for two weeks. I came home and signed up for a Polish course which I completed. My friend then moved back to Poland with her Husband and raised a family. I hadn't spoken to her in about 6 or 7 years because life just took over. I then started learning Polish again and after a few months I signed up on facebook and tried to find her, which I did. She is doing fantastic.

I would like to move maybe within two years. I have a few things I need to take care off in the UK first. I am single with no real responsibilities in the UK so I finally made the decision and I am so looking forward to the future. I fell in love with Poland the moment I stepped foot off the airplane all those years ago and at this point in my life I want to have experiences that are priceless. Needless to say I will have my Best Friend back in my life.

I am going to spend the minimum of the next two years learning as much Polish at home knowing that soon I will be speaking with Natives. I will be 33 by the time I leave, I have no job waiting for me or anything but I would be happy working in cafe in Poland because like I said before its about the experience of being there.

Sorry for rambling but just wanted to share the good news.

Dziękuję bardzo, Simon

it is good that you have a few years to think it through because without a job that is a big step. It is unlikely that a cafe or other entry level job would hire you - they can get perfect Polish speakers for about 3 quid an hour or Ukrainians if they pay under the table. So maybe look at something like English teaching or shared service centre work.

Also bear in mind that in 2 years time it might not be so straightforward to come here and work if you are a U.K. citizen with no ties. Read the newspapers but freedom of movement in the EU will be somewhere near the front page.

Other thing I would ask is are you sure this lady wants you back in her life, even as friends ? I know its a blunt question but think through if you are doing it only because of her. Mind you if you are single, and look after yourself there will be plenty more fish in Wroclaw :)

A word of warning, welfare is non-existent in Poland compared to the UK and it will be very difficult for you to get by, let alone enjoy what Wroclaw has to offer on a low paid job, if you manage to get one. Those that cannot speak Polish too well aren't really in demand unless they are willing to work for peanuts and often without the equivalent of NI. This means you will be competing with Ukranians who seem to be in every hotel setup and bar in Wroclaw these days.Either you need to be able to run your own business from Poland which brings in a good income or bring at least one million zloty in cash at minimum to invest in an income here. If you cannot earn 10 thousand zloty a month it will be difficult to enjoy a lot of what Wroclaw has to offer. Even then you will not be saving anything each month. I know people get by on 2 thousand or less, but thats by necessity not choice and are forced into often very unwanted compromises. You say its about the experience of being here but holidaying and living your life here are two different things, especially if you don't have the funds to fund the lifestyle you want. Think very carefully, if you have the money then yes, Id say fly over stay in a short term let for a month or so and have a look around, things have changed quite a bit in ten years (got a lot more expensive!). If it still suits and you see some good opportunities to provide you an income, then go ahead. Poland is great if you have plenty of lettuce otherwise I would stay where you are.

And of course keep in mind what cmc has said, you will need to be here 5 years before being able to apply for permnanent residency and in the meantime it will need visas. The ground is moving all the time as far at that is concerned but as long as you are contributing (earning or running a business so paying taxes, you will be able to stay but there will be plenty of paperwork and maybe letters to the president).

You don't frighten Simon1. There are many good possibilities of earnings in Poland for Brits. Example, your own business (preferably something in relation UK-Poland trade or services) or as native speaker in language schools and more others. But a good first step be contact with British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

Hi Simon,

Its a great news that you would like to move to Poland. Its not neccecery that you will be in low paid jobs, my partner is polish and she worked as an logistic, she linded a job on Gdansk for PLN1000 a month wich is circa £1000. I work as a Recruitment Consultant, recruting only on UK market and my base salary is PLN7000.It seems like not a lot, however in Poland cost of housing are significantly lower and you can have a lovely flat for around PLN2500 all for yourself. Compared to english standard - shared acommodation etc you will feel like a king. I agree that lack of polish could be a problem, however your english is a hudge advantage. I would reccomemt finding a big polish organisation, working on onternational matkets where you will not need to be fluent in polsih.

Let me know how it all went for you and I keep my fingers crossed.

I'm interested in getting a 'lovely flat' in Gdansk.

Who do I contact?

You have to describe in minute detail what you mean by 'lovely flat'. Look on-line to get an idea of how much they are selling for. Well-maintained, clean, new flats are very expensive.

It's actually about £200 a month, and not very much at all in Poland.

There are a lot of English-speakers in Poland, some of them locals with a high level of English, some long-term foreign residents who speak Polish.

I was quoting someone else in #5. I'd be interested to know what they were describing....

That's a good decision. My only hope is that you would fight off the temptation to try to make Poland to resemble the UK just a little bit.

Wish you luck, Simon! Learning the language, that is, the culture's half the battle. Hopefully, yours won't be an uphill fight either:-)