Looking to immigrate to Europe. How is life in Poland?

Holland would be an easier country to carve out an existance than Poland
and as for the language it would be an absolute doddle

Nice people the Dutch by and large

Poland would be a good choice to move in , because it is far cheaper to establish a business here and the living conditions are great . You will need far less capital to establish yourself here than in western Europe . Poland is on its way of constant and steady progress, roads and railways are under major construction , housing market is fairly affordable and economical stability is our trade mark . Fiscal system is strict so it is highly unprobable that you can meet here similar conditions like many european countries have faced recently .

The living conditions are great? Many fellow Poles would disagree with you. Prices are high and salaries are lowish.

Capital? It depends on the business but some of the set-up capital required might prohibit some.

Constant progress? One economist says one thing and the next one says another. There's too many shades of grey for you to say that.

Roads and railways, LOL. Tusk has put many major projects off until 2014 as he said he couldn't find the required capital. Another inaccuracy, polmed.

Housing market fairly affordable? Are you kidding me? It is way beyond the means of quite a few families here. It's NOT cheap here at all.

Economic stability? Is that why the PLN is struggling now? Is that why Poland would have a heck of a problem if 900,000 Poles came home?

PiS could have used you in their election campaign, polonthemeds. Full of half truths and leaflet style PR.

without wishing to sound unkind, your comments are similar to those of Comical Ali, Saddam's minister of information
'the infidel tanks are destroying themselves on our defensive walls' as a Bradley fighting vehicle trundles past

there is one thing to be proud about your country, it is another to spout cliches taken from the back of a political party pamphlet

and you are not doing our South African colleague any favours by giving her false information about the utopia nestling on the banks of the Wisla

a more helpful approach would be....

Poland is great, but.......

Anandi B


One more thing , you are right about Poland , my only advice is don`t listen to Poland`s haters who critisize here everything , only because thet are frustrated losers .

Reasonable, gay, practical, efficient, generous, cant think of anything else, and they are all the same. Ohh yes they are.

No that is not what he means, and you should be ashed for implying that is the case. You should know that blacks get preferential treatment in universities in SA at the expense of whites and government jobs. Furthermore black South Africans have a penchant for murdering white farmers, so it is also quite dangerous.


You are full of BS, what he said is by and large correct.

what do you know?
do you live in Poland?

No, he doesn't.

that figures
another utter t!t listening to fireside tales from their senile grandparents

Not entirely, as far as I know he has actually been to Poland (which is far more than most 'Polonia' idiots have managed).

However, I can safely say that my dismissal of her fables can stand up to scrutiny. A rounded perspective doesn't really occupy much of a place here. And no, this is not a hating thing as I really have many positive things to say. I just won't allow 'promotional brochures' types distort the fuller picture.

Poland is a lovely country in so many ways but let's not lose perspective.

KA, you are embarrassing yourself again. She is from SA and names can be selected for all manner of reasons anyway.

What can I say if you just see more negativities and constantly compare Poland to countries which were not under a communist regime , you know guys what you can always do and you know the door is opened .

I also believe that it's unfair to compare Poland with countries that have never been under communism. Negatives? Far from it. That's just reality! We all know the positives of Polish life. There are many many but perspectives should be balanced.

Actually,sounds more like Comical Moania to me.....looks like her too oddly enough.


yadda yadda yadda, its been over 20 years now,or are you competing with your long lost countrymen in the eastern med for longest frikkin pity party in history? Oh, and maybe look into the ANC before you comment again,make your reds look decidedly pale pink..............

Seanus take the top of the class for your comments, I tend to agree, but remember that its horses for courses, some people are doing very well thank your very much but they are of the minority, interesting enough that bloke that got 10% of the vote, I would love to know his claim of fame, part owner of polmos and ex communist thug I suppose!! How did he get his hands on polmos probally purchased at a fire sale from the ones in the know in government. One thing is absolutely clear Poland is NO place for young people thinking of a career path (may be OK if living in Warsaw). People returinng to retire in Poland with a nest egg, its still very attractive. One thing people who have not lived in Poland have not experienced is the red tape around everything you do, especially in business. A person on 3000zl a month will never be able to afford to build, whats changed hmmm nothing I suppose they couldn't afford to build under the communist system...

Its the truth.

Which particular point in his statement do you disagree with? I don't see your question as in any way relevant to his statement.

So lets go back to this statement and judge.

Poland would be a good choice to move in , because it is far cheaper to establish a business here[correct that is true] and the living conditions are great . You will need far less capital to establish yourself here than in western Europe[again that is true] . Poland is on its way of constant and steady progress, roads and railways are under major construction , housing market is fairly affordable and economical stability is our trade mark[again that whole statement is true] . Fiscal system is strict so it is highly unprobable that you can meet here similar conditions like many european countries have faced recently[that is quite true as well, Poland is in a far better shape than many other EU countries]

So like i said stop posting BS, and try to argue like an adult.


Very mature, well done.

Actually only my grandmother is alive, and she lives in a recently renovated 2 storey house, and in that great Polish tradition continually goes on about how tough life supposedly is. So it's not from her that I get my information from.

I know plenty of people with decent careers outside of Warsaw.

I even know people in small towns who have decent careers. It's there if you want it.

yeah the lucky few, the rest do labouring type work and have higher education....

I would like to add to Polmed's comments for the benefit of our South African friend


again, getting a bank loan is very difficult so if you need money for your new business forget it. it is a double edged sword

I have always maintained that Poland is great, but.....

and there are reasons why it is not so great
but the good poiints outweigh the bad points

now someone will probably come on here now and tell me that he knows a man in the pub who can set up a Sp zoo for the price of a beer

but when I have set up Sp zoo we always used an accountant and we paid very good money to do it
were we ripped off, possibly? but better that than get in trouble later

you are entitled to your opinion
but it means nothing to me as it is all second hand

whenever someone posts on here wanting advice on living in Poland I always help
Comical Ali was trying to say 'mindlessly come to Poland, it is just great and take your family with you'

I rather favoured a more reasoned approach

and as for your granny still being alive, I am delighted for you
send her my regards

Hague, I know differently, you have to trust me on this. Delph is right, some have it good of course but the majority don't. Just sit down for a moment, take the average salary as 3300PLN gross and tally up the costs. Count 1 child or 2 if you want to. Count all the costs of a car. Shopping, bills and many many other costs. I can tell you that you are being insincere to Poles on salaries between 1500-2000PLN. My wife, for example. She is as good as out of money 1 week after her paycheck. Without me, she'd be up sh*t creek without a paddle. Plenty of Poles take out a lot of credit as, well, money doesn't grow on trees. The FACT is that Poland has become much more expensive over the last few years and salaries have only incrementally risen but wholly disproportionately. Painting a rosy picture against this backdrop is just not fair and almost tantamount to lying.

Which part of Poland do you live in anyway? Here in Upper Silesia, many don't enjoy too much comfort.

you showed great restraint Sir
I salute you

I did not even wish to reply to the young pup on account that I did not wish to burst his bubble
regarding the utopia on the banks of the Wisla however my lack of a reply was perhaps leading to
our South African colleague not getting the full picture

you are a far kinder person than I

once again, my hat is off

bearing in mind that the lady is in import export, she may want to hire staff

Pandora's box is well and truly opened then

in a country where people will say that they have a cold and that the doctor has given
them two weeks off. when you naiively ask them when they are coming back to the office
they say in two weeks time

I can only congratulate the Polish medical profession in their expert diagnosis and ability
to predict the precise moment when the patient is fit enough to return to work

plus for the sum of 100 PLN, some doctors will contrive symptoms to enable the sufferer
to take months off work

Thank you for backing me up , you are right and I agree with your comments . Some people are pessimists , some are optimists I belong to the latter category . People who are not Polish will always be unfair in their opinions because they are accustomed to such a behaviour as they are fed by their domestic media which are far from being favourite for Poland . I don`t even want to dwell longer on that subject . As an example I can just cite a part of an yesterdays article from der spiegel about Poland`s elections . It was said ( well known daily )that probably not all stadiums would not be built by Euro 2012 . I have checked the progress of construction of those stadiums and I have found out that : all stadiums are opened for operation except national stadium in Warsaw which will be opened on 30 of November this year . The 2012 Euro games start in 8 months .

stadionnarodowy.org.pl/index.php?pid=1493

BTW I am a woman .

you are absolutely right, it is a good achievement.
if they had not been able to have got that organised they would have been stripped of the right to host
the games and it would have sent the message to the world
that it would not be wise to invest in Poland as the government is unable to make things happen

fortunately they delivered.

Really , no sh*t !

Der Spiegel misleads its readers . Not only this daily , but most of newspapers from Germany, Italy , GB, Sweden do it .

Those who were pessimists are angry today that we do on time what we are supposed to do and we will in the future . I just regret that the countries you guys come form didn`t have a 50 years long communist rule so we could compare your way of progress with ours .

I do not believe that any foreigners living in Poland wanted the government to slip on a massive banana skin over the building of the stadia and be the laughing stock of Europe.

50 years of communism is not exactly helpful in the development of economic growth I grant you

Polmed, I am one of the most optimistic, yet realistic, people around. You sound like a well-off, conservative type that turns a blind eye to certain harsh realities.

The progress regarding stadiums is somewhat better, yes. However, the Mod 'Wrocław' also wrote a post sometime back regarding the lack of progress in Wrocław.

Hythorn, thanks Sir :) There is no sense getting worked up here. I'm safe in the knowledge of what I know to be an accurate assessment of the position. Yes, I like to see the glass as half-full but I don't want to distort the picture unnecessarily.

Polmed, Hague likely lives in a richer part of the country, somewhere in the affluent west. That's how he might only see half of the picture.

Haha , I live in an affluent part of Poland , lol so I get a half of picture too , according to you and don`t watch and read anything . I was born here I live here and I have more knowledge about Poland than you with your expat comrades taken together .


What next will you say about me ?

I don`t care what type you are so don`t spread any false picture of me here on PF . For your information my views can be called : reasonable , unbiased, patriotic , democratic , open minded .

very amusing(: my post was addressed specifically in mind of the fact that our SA friend, does not live in Poland, and he does not earn a Polish wage-obviously.

He works for an export/import company which is located in Poland, so he want be starting out as a teacher for example.


I take it that you unaware of the fact that you can set up a business through the internet in Poland now?