Moving to Poland - How do I get the Polish Identity Card

Hi, I am UK born of Polish parentage. My parents settled in the UK after the war. I am looking to move to Poland on a semi permanent basis. Whilst looking over houses with an estate agent, I was asked for my ID card. The estate agent could not understand why I didn't have such a thing. I offered my driving license and told her that this was ID in the UK. She was not happy with this andi eventually had to return with my passport. How can I apply for Polish Identity Card? Also, will I need this in order to open a bank account? Thank you for advice and replies.

When I reached 18 I went to major of the city where I was registered/zameldowany - "Urząd miasta" and applied for ID. I think that you can do the same. Having your Polish passport with you should help.

^Pretty much what they said. If you have a Polish passport then you need to go to Urzad Miasta and they can sort out your ID card. If you have a Polish Passport then you will already have a PESEL so it shouldn't be a hassle. If you don't have a Polish Passport then it might be a bit harder.

I am a British passport holder. Does this stop me obtaining a Polish ID card?

It depends on whether you are a Polish citizen or not. The law is quite complicated in this respect, and if you don't have a Polish last name, I'd probably advise not bothering until you're actually settled in Poland and can deal with it properly.

Just use your passport. If you're worried about carrying it or it has visas you need for elsewhere, it isn't hard to get a second UK one.


Depends what you mean by ID card. If you mean a Dowód Osobisty, that's for the locals. As a citizen of an EU country other than PL you can get a different type which functions as ID. Plenty of threads on here about that.

When I opened my account 5 years ago, I used my passport but I also needed a polish address to open the bank account.
I used my girlfriends address.
Then changed the address to a UK address after the paperwork arrived at the address.

It took me 4 weeks to get a PESEL number as an EU citizen. I bought my flat this summer before I got my PESEL number.

Sometimes it's good to have more than one passport (that equals citizenship). On this forum was writing Syrian guy who could escape civil war to Poland only because his grandmother was Polish and his mother has Polish passport. But to admit it's quite extreme situation and you will not need it most likely. But then don't say in offices that you're Polish, because they will require Polish id.

Firstly, Thank you for your responses everybody, very helpful and much appreciated. I do have a Polish last name, but unfortunately my parents (both deceased now) had to give up their Polish passports when they took up British citizenship after the war. I would love to obtain Polish citizenship as my heart is in Slask (as are many of my family from my father's side) and I have always felt more Polish than British. I speak fluent (albeit simple) Polish and have very little trouble with the language and culture, on the contrary, I love both. I do have plans to move to Poland shortly, open a bank account and invest in a property and/or possibly a business. I understand that the Polish economy is starting to feel the effect of the global recession now, but I am positive in aspect and confident that I will find opportunities out there. I guess the way forward is to register myself with the city, use my cousins address as my place of residence, get some form of ID card and, for the time-being, open a bank account with my UK passport. I'm thinking of using Santander as I have banked with them in the UK anyway and the transfer of funds should prove less problematic. A couple of other questions.... I love sport and was wondering whether my subscription with SKY, a SKY box and a dish will work in Poland? Also, are there any expat groups in Poland, i.e., people similar to myself - Brits who live and/or work in Poland and like to network a bit and get together socially? Many thanks again everybody!

You don't need another ID. Use your British passport.

Delph - law is actually quite simple - anyone born to a Polish parent(s) is considered Polish citizen.
What he needs to do is the following:
- get his unabridged birth certificate (passport is not enough)
- register his birth certificate in USC (Polish authorities for registering births, marriages etc) - the procedure is called "Umniejscowienie Aktu Urodzenia" (additional documents may be required - like parents birth certificates, better to check)

- get Polish birth certificate and apply for Polish ID.
I recently enquired about the procedure as my son born in South Africa does not have Polish passport yet, and that's what I was told at the embassy.


If your parents gave up their passport you might not have right to become Polish based on descendence.
But you can still live in Poland and apply for Polish citizenship after a while.

Your box and subscription will work just fine in Poland. But you will need to get a bigger dish (I think mine is one metre) and make sure that the subscription is paid from a UK bank account or credit card and is registered at a UK address.


Depends where in Poland you are. Here in Warsaw there are certainly a couple of such groups.

I always thought that UK broadcasts are on the edge or beyond of transmissions in Poland. I have a dish with a dual receiver, allowing receiving Cyfra+ and my Flemish TV (each using a different satellite, but basically the same operator). Always, since I moved to Poland, wanted to receive BBC, but somehow it always escaped me. Always got told I need dish of NSA size.

I know that Poles and Greeks watch Polish and Greek satellite TV in UK. It depends which satellite it is and weather they use country protection. There is some system to beam signal only to area of the country.

But in my situation - Cyfra+ in Poland (I think these French thieves are now named N+) and in Belgium we have TV Vlaanderen (also from the same French thieves). They both originate from the same parent company, Cyfra+. But they use a different satellite.And in Flanders Cyfra+ has BBC in their package and in Poland not, because the satellite does not allow it

If you know satellite name, then you can check signal strength here: lyngsat-maps.com/maps/hb6.html

Not at all, it depends if they're coming from Astra 2b (i.e. Sky) or Astra 2d (i.e. BBC and ITV).


2.7 metre dish is what you need to pick up BBC. But these days you're better off with a fast internet connection and a VPN giving you a UK IP address and then just streaming BBC channels.