Moving from Canada to Poland? I'm fluent Polish and could teach English.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site and I'm curious if anyone has made the move from Canada to Poland. I have family in Poland but I was born in Canada. I do have a degree and I've been thinking of moving to Poland to teach English. I've been there countless times and feel that my heart is there. Also, to make it easier, I am fluent in Polish, I just do not know where to begin to reach my goal. If anyone has any advice please feel free to offer it.

Thanks a bunch!

First things first, do you have Polish citizenship?

I may sound stupid but quite a few years ago when I was in my teens, I had to get my citizenship so at that point I had dual citizenship but here's my question... Does it expire? I'm sure I'd have to renew it some how but I'm just not sure how it all works. I suppose I'd really have to look into that.

Thanks for the reply!

It shouldn't expire but why would you want to come here? I can't see any good reason to leave Canada to come here?

Really??? I find so many beautiful things about Poland. I suppose even for a few years would be great but I'v always had a love for Poland. I do like Canada, I just want to experience Poland more than just two-month visits at a time.

Do you live there dnz?

would be great to have you here Angie! Pack your bags and come over! If you've always had a love for PL, then PL has always had a love for you as well. In case you don't like it here, you can always go back to Canada. But you'll never know until you try.

Unfortunately yes, I've been here for nearly 3 years, The first year was great but after that i've just simply got fed up with the attitude and incompetence of many people here, Namely drivers, builders and people working in govt organisations and shops and just the general lack of manners displayed by people here the terrible food and the appalling roads just rub salt into the wounds.

Its great for a short term change of scenery 6 months to a year but as a long term proposition I think i'd rather live in afganistan whilst hitting my head repeatedly with a house brick.

Wages are pretty poor too and rental prices are getting more and more expensive.

Nika that is so true. Thats one thing in life you have to admit, you'll never know unless you try. I know it's probably tough to find a job similar to what I have here, but I feel it's the experience that matters. You only live once.

And as Janis Joplin said: "Get it while you can"... ;)
Just make sure that you won't move to Poland just to please your mom and find a Polish husband.

dnz, I agree with you that it would be more difficult to live there, but isn't there something that keeps you there??? Aside from the damaged roads and rude people (which you find everywhere in the world) there must be something? Every time I've been there I've just absolutely loved it.

and yes, good jobs there are hard to find but I'm still convinced it has potential.

Definitely hun! You're young, you've got your whole life ahead of you - you should try different things and choose what's best for you. You come here, if you like it you stay, and if you don't you go back. :)

Aha, in this case, it's easy for you. When you come here, get yourself registered at an address as soon as possible and then apply for the Polish ID card. It's mandatory for Polish citizens living in Poland - and it usefully doubles up as valid identification to travel throughout the EU with. Citizenship doesn't expire, and as you already claimed it, then it makes life much easier for you.

But - what do you work as at the moment?

True delphiandomine! Currently I work as an Investor with a bank. So i doubt it would be easy to continue that in Poland. It's ironic because I have a degree in Psychology but I work in finance. So where that would land me in Poland, I have no idea? lol

and Nika it's nice to listen to your positive attitude thanks!

You shouldn't have a problem getting a good job in finance here actually, Financial companies seem to be everywhere.

dnz, are there various ma and pa banks in Poland like the US? Or is it like Canada where there are only 5 major banks? What kind of finance is there, there?

hey, you're my Polish girl from Canada :)
You know in Poland we do it all the time - we come and go. If you move to PL it's not unreversible.


Here you can find a list with some investemet banks in PL:

biznespolska.pl/firmy/krs.php?search%5Bbranchid%5D=BINWEST

You can also register for social networking portals like LinkedIn or Goldenline (this one is Polish I think) and maybe someone will head-hunt you?

Never expires. As long as at least one of your grandparents has polish citizenship you do as well.


I heard you don't need an address anymore...?



If you dislike living in poland so much, why don't you move??

Polishcanuck..... love the name!

That will likely change as authorities in Polish cities declare war on misbehaving Brits.

I'm from Montreal and been living in Poland for a few years now. it's good but it gets on my nerves sometimes, truck drivers, town hall officials, lack of common sense at times. But in general it's a good place to be... life in Poland is still relax compare to Canada and the US.

Like a lot of people say try it and if you don't like it just go back to Canada.
hope you come over... not a lot of Canadians here lol

The bill to replace it with a so-called "registracja" is bogged down in the Sejm and may have been abandoned, I'm not sure - but the system will be in place for the forseeable future. It looks like the plans are to make it worthless by not including the address on the new ID cards - which might allow them to drop it by stealth.


Good question - how is your reading/writing in Polish? If you're fluent with that too - then you really won't have any issues whatsoever here and could very well find a nice job in finance. I'd actually recommend coming here and teaching for a year to get your feet wet - it's a great way to make contacts and you can decide from there :)

Thew biggest problem is probably that things have gotten much more expensive, but the salaries haven't increased enough.

But you seemed very motivated so try it! If you discover (after the honey-moon period) that the grass is greener in Canada, you can always move back.

If you don't try you might regret it later...

P.S. A few days ago we had -28 C, then you wonder why you live here of all places. D.S.

This conversation is 5 years old and many things could have change in the country but still I can relate my story that may help other readers.

I am Polsh Canadian (two passports holder) wanting to move to Poland with my Indo-Canadian wife and son. I have been in Canada over 15 years and beside its being a great country for life comfort I find myself isolated and disconnected a bit, I still think Canada is for Canadians born here. Anyone else is an outsider and will feel that due course of time, unless you move here with your whole family. Some people do not need old good fiend and family. Not me so much. I simply want to live where people can understand me and know who am I, judge me for what I am and was, and not for my face and look. I live in BC and perhaps it is also a problem, people do not open very easily. I have long history in Poland and many friend and loving family.

As an english speaking person you can get well paid by teaching privately. Forget about a job unless you are in finance or construction, engineer or manager. Or you have your own business. My of my friends have businesses and they are doing very good. They are helping me by giving ideas, contacts or just help. Food is very tasty and you can get everything. You can get raw milk here, not in Canada. Canada is over regulated. You need to come to Poland with money and make money otherwise you will be like the rest of Poles, complaining. I find Poles in Poland are more approachable and easy to connect than in Canada.

This year I met person in Katowice who came to teach in Poland 18 years ago and she instantly fell in love with polish youth, language, food, country, people in general etc. She married professional and they live in Katowice now with two kids. She is British and speaks fluent polish.

Brother of my friend in London married polish girl and he is an english teacher in the school and he loves there, his in-laws spoil him. There are many Europeans but few Americans but I have never heard of Canadians living in Poland. Unless they are retired Canadian Poles. Just filling in, take it or leave it.

I am a graphic designer and my wife has no profession but has many useful skills one of which is command of english. She was offers 30pln/hour in private school. At present I am trying to develop some business there through my old time friend. Lets' see what happens. I see the changes re the immigration or refugees from Syria, and many protests on the street, I hear of poles giving hard time to dark skin citizens. My wife is not white.

@wojciechm

Hi!

I thought I'd add a bit of my perspective with respect to your comment "I still think Canada is for Canadians born here.", seeing that I have spent 4 years in Toronto (just left end of August 2015). Understandably Ontario is not B.C and vica versa however I may agree with you on the above-mentioned comment. I found it very difficult to obtain a well-paid job in Toronto (and instead started up my own Technology Recruitment company which has huge potential - as you may know 54 000 IT jobs were unfilled in Canada alone for the past year, and therefore we primarily source Eastern European Software Devs who are interested in immigrating + working in Canada).

Anyhow interestingly my accountant (a former South African) who has lived in Toronto since the early 90's mentioned that Toronto is not what it used to be - depressing economy, sliding wages, his clients are battling to keep afloat their lives etc etc.

Anyway what I find interesting from reading some of the threads in this forum - is how so many people here assume Canada is better than Poland. Better in what? I can tell you that there are thousands of struggling Canadians earning less than modest wages, who are battling. In addition home ownership in Ontario is only at 70%. I have studied the salaries in the 4 years that I spent in Toronto (and the cost of living), and whilst the latter has increased astronomically, salaries have remained stagnant. Canadians are battling and in-fact the cost of living is just not worth the the value that you get. The houses are poorly built from the design / architectural and material aspect(compare to South Africa where I grew up), restaurants are mediocre (except Montreal which has a great food scene and is closer to European levels), and the past two winters have been really harsh - at least in Toronto.

I understand that for the average folk on this forum, earning 60k in Canada seems a lot (compare to the low wages in Poland), but once taken into account the expenses it leaves you with little disposable income (at least in Toronto and I can imagine Vancouver too).

Yes Canada is a great and safe country to raise a family. One can have a modest life there, if one earns a very decent wage. Otherwise one can easily struggle too. Anyways I just prefer the scene in Montreal, which I think is more culturally ahead to Toronto.

Lastly and from what I observed, a lot of nepotism occurs in Toronto as well (its about who you know and not what you know in many instances). The job market is largely hidden as recruiters dont do their job properly - therefore one has to network and network in order to "get in".

I would say I didn't hate Toronto completely - it was ok but it does feel lonely there at times, if one does not have a family there.