Warsaw - Exchanging Large Sum GBP > PLN in Poland

Thank you for the confirmation, Jon.

It's one of those EU anomalies.

Basically if customs officers approach you (I fly in and out roughly fortnightly and nobody has ever approached me) and ask, you declare it, however they don't ask you as a matter of routine.

To be safe, I'd carry something - perhaps a screenshot of your online bank account showing the withdrawal - to be on the safe side, however that's being belt and braces careful.

Yup, I know the sort you mean.

Well, I've done enough research and investigation on this whole process, so hopefully I shall have everything in hand.

This might be useful:


iatatravelcentre.com/PL-Poland-customs-currency-airport-tax-regulations-details.htm

This site is the Polish equivalent of the foreign office and gives a hotline number for queries. Personally I would just bring it through, never having been stopped despite having entered Poland over 100 times.

msz.gov.pl/en/travel_to_poland/customs_info

DriftJ, this is something for you to deliberate on.

Looks like he's doing that already, and the information is very straightforward.

And both accurate and up-to-date.

That is true & since customs bods seldom approach there is no problem. For land borders within the European Union it's the same, there's nobody to ask at Slubice and as with the airport you only declare intra-EU cash if they ask 'do you have anything to declare' and this doesn't now happen as a matter of course

DriftJ, the question is whether you are asking about the law or about common practice. The common practice is that they usually don't approach you and ask if you have something to declare. But the law sets the limit of 10,000 euros above which you have to declare money in cash or cheques if you arrive from a non-EU country or from a EU country which is outside the Schengen zone (sorry, there was a mistake on that in my first post here).

w Polsce obowiązek zgłoszenia "środków pieniężnych" dotyczy także podróżnych (rezydentów i nierezydentów) przekraczających granicę między Polską a innymi państwami członkowskimi UE (granice wewnętrzne), z wyjątkiem podróżnych przekraczających granice wewnętrzne z innymi państwami członkowskimi UE, które jednocześnie należą do obszaru Schengen.


This is not true. The Polish language skill of jon357 are rather poor, so he has misinformed you on the subject. The rule is that you have to show them the declared money if asked and not to declare the money if asked. This is a vital difference! For the customs borders, the only one that counts here is the Schengen zone border and not the EU border. The UK is outside the Schengen zone, so arriving from Britain you will have to choose between 'nothing to declare' and 'something to declare' and it's up to you which one you choose.

In short, you have to declare the money above the 10,000 euros limit arriving from the UK, but you need not to show it to them unless you are asked to.

Don't be daft, Mo, stop trying to play with words and above all stop misinforming the OP on the way things work when entering Poland from within the EU. Some of us do this all the time. Literally, many times and often with large cash sums.

BTW, my Polish language skills are fine, not that the official IATA website is in Polish anyway. Try not to be mischievous for an hour or so, if you're capable of that, Mo.

The link to IATA explains it all


Precisely as I said at first

Infact they have cash sniffing dogs and I was stopped by one on Warsaw and had to declare currency over 12k euro last year

Funnily enough, in all those years of travelling in and out of Poland, many many times and at different airports, I've never seen a 'cash sniffing dog'!

In any case, providing I have evidence of:

1. Where this money came from, i.e. an official receipt from the bank from which I withdrew it
2. The reason / purpose for travelling with such an amount; i.e. the vehicle advertisement, evidence of the prepaid deposit and possibly the e-mail trail
3. Anything else you would recommend?

I can't see any issue with carrying this through and declaring it, should I end up doing?

Please do correct me if you believe this to be wrong...

You're fine. Basically if someone stops you and says "Do you have anything to declare" then yes, it would be normal to declare it. Otherwise no, just walk through as normal.

Grand, thanks for that :)

This is because you didn't carry sufficient amounts of cash for the dogs to appear. But highly successful people such as porky pok who carry 12k with them are indeed extremely likely to be confronted by a sniffing dog at an airport.

As if by magic, Mo?

Seriously, the OP has asked an important question and it's better if you and Porky Pok/MooseLimb/Pigsy keep your naughtiness in Random Chat, rather than the main forum.

Nope, doesn't work like that. You actually have to choose the blue lane when arriving from the EU, and your luggage has a special green stripe to show that you're eligible to use the lane. It depends on the airport as to how it's implemented - for instance, Stockholm Skavsta in Sweden requires you to also pass through the blue lane due to the layout of the terminal when arriving from any Schengen destination.

It's true that many airports mix the blue and green channels, but people arriving from EU destinations aren't required to make any declarations. Where it gets complicated is that someone arriving from New York will clear passport control in the first Schengen area airport they land at, but they are required to make the declaration at their final destination, hence why many airports with large amounts of transit traffic still require people to pass through the Customs area even if they're eligible to use the blue channel.

For what it's worth, the blue channel effectively is a bypass channel of the Customs controls and not a declaration in its own right.

As for "cash sniffing dogs", that's definitely up there with attack dogs stationed at a certain square in Warsaw.

Thanks for the clarification on that...

Morning all,

Just to follow this up that all went swimmingly well... Deal completed at the weekend, including the money exchange and I'm now back in the UK with the vehicle.

Many thanks to you all for your help and advice, it's very much appreciated. I have learned a great deal and look forward to returning to Poland very soon.

Best regards,
J.