Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights

It was not a right, it was a privilege which could be taken away and was taken away.


Even if it had been a right and so somehow it couldn't have been taken away due to a law which hadn't even been written at the time (helpful hint: it wasn't and E.U. human rights law was years away at the time of the Yalta border change), a person who wishes to claim that their ancestor was able to pass on Polish citizenship to another one of their ancestors would still need to be able to prove that that ancestor had Polish citizenship to pass on to another one of their ancestors. The burden of proof is on the applicant, not the state! If what you want were to come to pass, every person in Africa and Asia would be able to walk into the nearest Polish consulate and say "You cannot prove that my grandfather was not a Polish citizen. I say that my grandfather was a Polish citizen and you must therefore grant me Polish citizenship." If you can't prove you have a claim to Polish citizenship, you won't be granted Polish citizenship, it's as simple as that. Just as a person who can't prove they do not owe taxes to Poland will not be granted citizenship or a residency permit.


That would offer visa-free access to the EU and simplified work permit procedures in some member states, or at least it does to those who don't have black marks against their name for over-staying in the Schengen zone.

They did this frequently during the PRL - I mentioned the circumstances under which this happened earlier.


As we've been telling him all along, though it just doesn't sink in.


In these days of computerisation at borders, where the PRN system means that all immigration officials in countries using the scheme (far more than just Schengen) can see all your flight details and all border crossings you've made for the past two years (along with online hotel bookings and a few other things), frequent travellers have to be very careful to tie up loose ends. Going in and out of Poland (or in the OP's case, trying to) the border officials can even see certain information about tax and zus.

Yes, I've seen someone get questioned at length about his business activities on the Ukrainian border. They were highly interested as to why an American had a registered business in PL without having a residence permit/visa.