Electronic signature for my Polish citizenship?

You can't change everything in a day ;)


It seems to be something that is enforced entirely arbitarily and without much logic. If you crossed at Swiecko, probably they couldn't be bothered with the effort of actually detaining you and giving you hell for it.

What was your mum travelling on then?

Not sure. Either Polish passport or might have been a British one by then. It was so long ago.

Fair enough; if you want to believe the experiences of a bloke on an internet forum over the clear statements of Polish law, statements by the governments of other countries warning their citizens that "Poland requires Polish citizens (including American citizens who are or can be claimed as Polish citizens) to enter and depart Poland using a Polish passport.", statements by Polish government ministers such as Radek Sikorski (here: czat.wp.pl/id_czata,388,zapis.html?T%5Bpage%5D=1&ticaid=115a12) and academic writings, that's your choice. But you might want to speak to Dr. Elzbieta Rogacka, born in the UKand a dual British-Canadian citizen, and President of the Canadian Polish Congress: she was stopped by Polish border guards for showing the wrong passport. In fact, in 1999-2000, the Border Guard detained 80 people for showing the wrong passport ("Straz Graniczna RP przyznala sie do okolo 80 takich zatrzyman w 1999 i 2000 roku." users.rcn.com/salski/No28Folder/Paszportowa_pulapka.htm)

You are talking about the early 2000,1,2 when poland was still transitioning from being a commie state at the end of 1989.

Try and find anyone who has had any hassle in the last ten years.

The last thing Poland wants to do is to upset its own diaspora, many of who'm may wish to resettle , and have the means and capital to invest in Polands future.

On my return I was welcomed as a long lost son, by everyone border gaurd's the local police and councilors,

No hassle no problem, Yes I am some bloke on the Internet who had polish parents, visited poland many times and decided I liked it here, got my polish passport and moved to lower Silesia, so far my wife and i have been very happy.

No, the rules in question came into force in 1998. You can't blame the transition from communism which took place nearly a decade before the current rules came into force.


"The governments of the United States and Canada have issued travel warnings for Poland, still in effect in February 2007, to those "who are or can be claimed as Polish citizens"[11] that they are required to "enter and exit Poland on a Polish passport" and will not be "allowed to leave Poland until a new Polish passport has been obtained"."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law
OK, it's Wikipedia but I'm sure I can dig out the source material if you really insist that you personal experiences trump the clear statements of Polish law (which has not changed), statements by the governments of other countries, statements by Polish government ministers and academic writings.

People are not forced to get a polish passport, keep digging on the internet if you wish, you won't find any case of this happening in the last ten years.

All this is scaremongering, which may put people off visiting, which is not a good thing.

There are no problems for legal law abiding visitors in Poland full stop.

OK, you know better than Polish law. You know better than Article 3 of the 2009 Act on Polish Citizenship, which says:


isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU20120000161

Perhaps you'd like to claim that 2009 was still part of the transition period?

And, OK, you know better than the governments of other countries which still say things such as " It is illegal to enter the EU as an EU citizen with the U.S. passport." (austria.usembassy.gov/passports.html)


Agreed. However, a person who is Polish (whether they consider themself to be Polish or not) and uses documents other than Polish with Polish is very simply breaking Polish law and so is not a law-abiding visitor to Poland.

I was not arguing against article 3 once a foreigner with polish ancestors like me confirms their right to polish citizenship and it has been confirmed by the polish embassy the yep the law applies, someone who has not been through that process will not have article 3 thrown at them as they set foot in poland.

thousands of uk citizens of polish ancestry travel every year to poland , no one gets any bother,

That's undoubtedly true, but in the case of people who are citizens of Poland and another place it appears that using, e.g. a British passport in Poland could, at least in theory, cause problems at the border. It only takes one sniffy border guard to turn a holiday into a nightmare.

They most probably won't; however, they can, as is confirmed by Polish law, warnings issued by the governments of other countries, statements by Polish government ministers and academic texts.


No one that you know anyway. But clearly people legally can 'get bother' and actually do too, occasionally.