Visa to Poland (stay more than 90 days in Poland)

Hello!
My mother is a US citizen, but wants to stay in Poland for 6 months to take care of her ailing mother. She does not plan to work.

Where can I get information about getting the visa process started? Can someone please direct me to a website where US citizens can apply for a visa to stay in Poland for more than 90 days?

Thank you!
Ania

US citizens do not need a visa to enter Poland:

But it will be a damn sight easier to stay in Poland if she acquires a visa for 6 months rather than attempting to gain residency from within Poland. I'm not even sure that she can get a residency card based on her situation - but a visa should be granted.

My mother already went through this: she stayed beyond the 90 allowable days just with her US passport, and they told her that the next time she did this, there would be consequences. If you want to stay in Poland beyond 90 days, you need a visa they said. Now I just need to know how and where to get this process going.

Hang on. Are you sure that your mother isn't already a Polish citizen? If so, you might find that a visa will be rejected - they won't issue a visa to a Polish citizen, or someone who can be claimed as such. It depends on exact circumstances - but was she born in Poland, and if so, when?

delphiandomine-
She doesn't want to become a resident, just to stay in Poland as long as she needs to beyond the 90 allowable days with a US passport. So where do I look/go to get the visa application process going?

I knew a couple of Americans who live there (and illegally work) without visas. They have to go outside the Schengen zone every so often to get a stamp in their passports (and therefore a new period of entitlement), but last time we spoke they said the law may change.

The law has changed :)

They still deport Americans in Prague (usually bartenders and teachers). The rules have been changed to where you can only stay 90 days out of a 180 day period. Border runs are a thing of the past.

Anyway, sure fire way to get residency, just start a company and employ yourself. Works just about everywhere.

No, she is officially not a Polish citizen. She was born in Poland and sought asylum in the 1980's. She renounced her Polish citizenship when she accepted US citizenship. So, she is just a US citizen. Based on that, if you wanted to stay in Poland for 6 months just to live there (not to work), how would you go about it?

Aha, this complicates things somewhat.

Basically, unless she has confirmation of the renouncing from Poland, the country will not regard her as having actually done so. All the information is here - polish consulate ny/en/m.22.Polish_Citizenship.html

If she merely renounced it to the American authorities - then she's still a Polish citizen and cannot be given a visa. I would say that it's almost certain that they will refuse to give her a visa - but equally so, she cannot be punished for overstaying the 90 days stamp, because she's already a Polish citizen.

In this case, it's really simple - she should go to Poland and obtain a "dowod osobisty" within 90 days. It's rather simple for a Polish citizen to acquire. The good news - if she gets it, then you'll be able to get Polish citizenship too - which will allow you to live/work in the EU freely!


It's madness to try and do that now - I can confirm that on the Polish/Ukrainian border, they are checking documents very, very closely. Even me, with a British passport, had it checked quite carefully because of the presence of quite a few Schengen stamps (I try to collect them where I can :/). As far as I know, legally, the presence of a stamp doesn't actually confirm residency (unlike in Ukraine for instance) - it's merely an aid for the passport holder to know when they entered/left the zone.

My interest in this subject has just expired. Tell her to call the consulate.

Back then you had to renounce foreign citizenship for asylum, or?

Don't you have to renounce it (or at least, declare to the Americans that you have) to gain US citizenship anyway?

No, not at all.

I don't think so. You would have dual citizenship, American and Polish.

richw.org/dualcit/faq.html#noway


Nuff said. However, it's likely that it was never recognised by Poland, unless she was actually stripped of citizenship by the PRL - and even then, it would seem unlikely that it would be recognised by the present Polish state unless it fell under one of the various acts - which it wouldn't, as she left in the 80's.

delphiandomine:

So then, if she surrendered her Polish passport and submitted an application for the renouncement of Polish citizenship to the President of Poland and received the President’s declaration of renunciation, she is officially just a US citizen, no other strings attached. So if that's the case, what should she do to stay in Poland beyond 90 days being just a US citizen?

If you don't know, why do you post that you don't know?

Yes, to get US citizenship, you have to turn in your Polish passport and to renounce Polish citizenship, I remember when my parents went through that...

Might want to give a ring to the consulate, tell them your situation, and ask them how you can come home :)

Nonsense.

Wow - I'd be interested to know why she did that - was it a condition of getting to leave Poland? But check carefully - she may not have actually done this, but rather simply declared to the US that she did so. There is a difference - Poland won't recognise a renouncation made to the US.

Anyway, the easiest way is simply to apply through the Polish embassy. She will need to apply for a long term Polish visa - category D, and I advise her to gather as much documentation as possible - such as proof of income (for a 6 month stay, I'd recommend that she shows at least 12000zl, or $4000), return flight tickets, doctors notes, etc - basically, make the case as watertight as possible so that they don't refuse her.

I don't have time right now to check thoroughly, sorry - but I wonder if she simply can't apply for a Polish ID card regardless? As far as I understand it, she should be able to simply reclaim it without too much fuss in Poland.

My point was that it was still possible for dual citizenship in USA as long as she didn't renounce her Polish citizenship to Polish officials.


That I don't know what the oath says, but I KNOW that you can have dual citizenship in the USA.

It sounds like she walked off a bus or a boat while on a trip to the west and asked for asylum. In this case she has to deal with the consulate. She should still have a her old, expired passport, right? It's hard to give advice without details.

...because

"it would seem unlikely that it would be recognised by the present Polish state unless it fell under one of the various acts - which it wouldn't, as she left in the 80's."

delphiandomine: good point. I wonder if the Polish government even recognized her giving up her Polish passport and declaring or renouncing (is there a difference?) to the US government her Polish citizenship. Looks like I will have to have a deeper talk with her soon about this...why is this so complicated, all she wants to do is spend time with her mother...:(

Seems like it should be easy to do, she's retired after all....

How is she going to take care of a sick mother if she can't even place a simple call to the consulate?

Do you know for sure what your parents did for work in Poland?

Eurola:

She was required to give up her Polish passport when she became a legal US citizen 15 years ago. That was a requirement to become a US citizen. And when seeking asylum, it was a complicated process (2 years to get into a country that would accept you as a legal immigrant). But yes, you had to leave everything behind and go to the nearest country that took in asylum seekers, at that time it was Austria. Then the US took my parents in as legal immigrants.

Wonder how I and hundreds of thousands of other Poles got around that? I guess we were special cases. Someone I know did give up his Polish citizenship, but entirely of his free will, and not because the US gov required it. They did not.

delphiandomine

"Wow - I'd be interested to know why she did that - was it a condition of getting to leave Poland? But check carefully - she may not have actually done this, but rather simply declared to the US that she did so. There is a difference - Poland won't recognise a renouncation made to the US."

Good point: I will be speaking with her about these details, we'll see

"Anyway, the easiest way is simply to apply through the Polish embassy. She will need to apply for a long term Polish visa - category D, and I advise her to gather as much documentation as possible - such as proof of income (for a 6 month stay, I'd recommend that she shows at least 12000zl, or $4000), return flight tickets, doctors notes, etc - basically, make the case as watertight as possible so that they don't refuse her."

Good advice: I will look into that and keep all those points in mind.

"I don't have time right now to check thoroughly, sorry - but I wonder if she simply can't apply for a Polish ID card regardless? As far as I understand it, she should be able to simply reclaim it without too much fuss in Poland."

Thanks for your input!