Polish citizen with American husband in Poland ~ work ops?

Delphia- not true I got that straight from the horses mouth at the law department of Warsaw. And no I'm not escaping my loans or did you forget the part where I said they are taken care of? I'm not sure why everyone here assumes I'm a complete idiot. Did you miss the part where I said I took the lsat and got a score high enough to cover a full law school scholarship here in the states? Do you get off making assumption Dominic? Exactly what are your qualifications to act like you're entitled to something? Honestly you act like you're the polish president- somewhere I saw you're a medical doctor? Exactly what gives you the right to think that what you say is the end all be all? You really need to be knocked down a peg. I have all the advice I need in this forum. Thanks

I appreciate the advice I really do but the attitude is ridiculous you don't know my whole picture or mine or my husbands life so it is crazy for you to take one thing I say and make these insane assumptions. Our parents could be dead for all you know so just stop. Thanks

Print this thread out, seal it in a envelope, open it after twenty years have passed, and read what you have written. Then you would know why. The people who have responded to your posts here are all older professionals who have lived and worked for many years in Poland. We are now where you will be in twenty or thirty years. We can see 20/20 what you won't be able to see until you get a lot of life experience. That is why I told you to seek advice from competent adults.

that's exactly why I came to this thread in the first place

Poland is a great place to raise a family. It will be difficult for a non-Polish speaker to find work unless they have a very unique skill.


Forget about supporting a family of 3 with an English teaching job. Not going to happen. Average English teacher makes $600-$1k a month, the top 5-10% or so will make $2k a month if they have a masters, teach at an elite school, have a ton of experience, tutor on the side, etc.

The best paying careers in Poland ATM are in IT, especially for expats. Fintech is becoming more popular. A lot of MNC's are located in Poland so you can probably land some decent job in communications in PL but even a $30k-$40k a year job is considered to be at the very top. Usually such jobs are by people who speak English, Polish, and oftentimes a 3rd language, have 10-20+ years experience, a masters/phd, etc.

You can consider putting student loan payments on hold while you're in Poland. I know quite a few people who took out loans and then left the US to start a life abroad. One guy took a $1mil down loan against a convenient store he owned and is living it up in India now.

I am also a dual US/PL citizen and am gradually making the move to Poland. I absolutely love Poland and desire to spend the rest of my life there. Hope everything works out for you. The cost of living is much lower with gasoline, cars, and luxury imports being more costly. However, real estate, good, rent, bills, etc. tend to be far cheaper than a large US city.

While the possibility exists, do you think you're going to be able to perform in Polish at the same level as a student who sat the advanced matura in Polish and History? That should give you the idea of the challenge you have - if you think you can do it, you'd be better off just doing the Matura in Polish/History/Mathematics and apply on the same basis as Polish students.

Another thing to bear in mind - you'll be applying with a knowledge of American law. Polish law is Napoleonic in nature, so you have to not only contend with the language differences, but also the legal difference. It's a monumental task.


Problem is the language - he would need to be fluent in a second language to get in the door to begin with. English is so devalued these days that it's treated almost as a basic requirement for most jobs, and they only usually expect B2/C1 maximum in English.

Of course, he could easily get a very junior position, but he's not going to support a family on an entry level corpo salary.

Yup that's true. A bachelor's degree and a decent knowledge of English is pretty much expected for even low paying jobs like even bank teller or retail store manager.

According to an article I read recently, apparently over 30% of Poles speak English (the level of proficiency is another subject though)

Poles are very, very educated. In the cities almost all the youth knows English. However, jobs are very low paying - from entry level to even senior positions. However, there are opportunities so it's worth looking. I don't know what the job prospects specific to your field would be in Poland, but I do know that there are some well paid corporate jobs. There are a few companies that are willing to pay 10k, 15k, even as high as 20k a month for the right person. Whatever you're making in the states divide that by around 1/3 and you'll get an idea of what you'd make in PL.


Welcome to Polishforums.com

Incredibly so. It's one of the things that I love most about Poland - the educated classes in Poland really care about education, and they never stop learning.


IT companies in particular are paying huge salaries for sales people. The money going around right now is crazy - one company in Poznań was offering 10,000zł for a successful referral!

Yeah unfortunately in poland a high education doesnt necessarily mean a high salary or even in some cases an average one. Uni professors in germany make more in a week than my aunt does in a month

Its kind of the same in the us. The higher income sales jobs were usually in medical devices, pharma, employee benefits, etc. Now b2b tech sales, especially in iot gps track and trace and also corporate head hunting are like the new hot sales jobs. The nice thing is ive worked with people who had history or communications or whatever majors but they were extroverted and enjoyed working face to face with people or they had good phone skills amd hence were very successful. Its a low barrier to entry type of job and its very sink or swim but for a young person fresh out of college its a great job or any extroverted person who has sales skills.

where do i find these b2b jobs?

They actually don't exist no where!! There will be no more jobs, nothing.. you have to change plant

"Optimism and Poland are a dangerous combination. Abundant caution, risk-assessment, cold hard realism and several workable back-up plans are more likely to result in success."

If you do come to live in Poland copy these words down, take them with you everyday and look at them often. The best info/advice on here.

Ok like I said this is just a thought and I'm a polish citizen I was born there and feel like I belong there so not sure why that is being discounted. Pretty sure half the people on here weren't even born in Poland.

Less than half... you can count the amount of actual Poles/Polish citizens here on one hand.. PF is a mix of westerners with some Polish blood, some UK expats living in Poland, and maybe like 4 or 5 actual Poles - most living abroad and only 1 or 2 living in Poland.

Largely because your place of birth has virtually no impact at all on your prospects in Warsaw.

That's not true. Poles take priority over others in most jobs. Yes, there are exceptions like with IT but nonetheless Poles prefer to hire their own mainly because speaking fluent Polish is a requirement for most jobs.

You're making that statement based on how many weeks of working in Poland? I've been working here for more than two decades.
It doesn't matter much at all whether she's a Polish citizen who grew up in the USA and speaks fluent Polish or an American citizen who grew up in the USA and speaks fluent Polish, her plan of getting into and going to UW to study law while her husband works to support her and their kid is virtually a non-starter.


The part you're getting right is the unwillingness some Poles have to hire people who are from a different culture, which very much includes Polish-Americans.

Speaking fluent Polish is not necessary, especially in international companies with people coming from different countries.

But as a Pole born, living and working in Poland, life is not easy for most people here.
I guess the op will experience culture shock. Not only because of her high expectations but also because of the fact she's been living abroad for a while.

All the best, though. I hope things will turn out fine for you.

1400 some weeks of being a Polish citizen, spending a significant amount of time in Poland, having my whole fam in Poland, running a business in Poland, owning property in PL, etc etc.....


That is true. Her husband doesn't know Polish so he'd have a hard time finding work unless he's an IT pro. Also, if they teach English for a living they won't make enough money to pay the student loans, raise a kid, and manage a 3 person household. There are other opportunities oczko and her husband can pursue though which would make life in Poland realistic.


Absolutely. That's why educated skilled PolAms with dual citizenship can take advantage of the management niche where US corps want to hire a person familiar with American corporatism but still has a knowledge of Polish customs, society, language, etc. They'll have to of course have the appropriate experience, education, and contacts to get into such a position. Once you can get into a job like that and are making 20k plus zloty a month you're on easy street.


If you look at various job ads most require knowledge of 2, sometimes even 3 languages - sometimes it's Polish and French, sometimes English and Spanish, just depends on the job. Nonetheless, most jobs whether a waiter, retail store manager, security guard, account executive, firefighter, etc will require fluent Polish. Yes, there are exceptions like IT and perhaps jobs like customer service that deal primarily with clients outside of Poland.

@taxpayer you do realize i'm not a polish-american right? i have 0 american blood. i am an american citizen bc i was forced to do it through a legality when i was 18 & wouldn't hesitate to renounce that citizenship

@Dirk diggler
Well, working as a waiter or security guard won't let them make a lot of money. In these jobs, you do have to speak Polish.

But there are some international companies that hire both Poles and foreigners. Knowing Polish isn't a must. They just hire translators and Polish/English in-company teachers and employees usually speak English.

I remember meeting a Chilean working for an Indian company close to where I live. He didn't speak Polish. And that was several years ago when you didn't meet that many foreigners here

not really sure about the whole high expectations deal ~ this was an idea i was fiddling with for one day before i came on here. my father is an engineer my mother worked sales in poland and all of my family is over there; i am pretty well versed on what the reality is over there but just wasnt sure in regards to my husband .. anyways we dont plan on moving there for at least 5 years and i am thankful for the advice that i was given on here which has led me to explore other avenues :)

All the best, anyway ;)

I never said it is. I said that in general, out of all the jobs in Poland, yes most require knowledge of Polish. Although yes, certain higher wage, white collar type of positions in like IT, or perhaps pink collar CS jobs, fluency in PL isn't a must. '


Yes a lot of Portuguese and Italians work in finance in Wroclaw. They don't know fluent Polish - but again it depends on the job...

Nonetheless, knowing Polish vs not knowing Polish certainly opens more doors in the overall job market.

Having a middle-class lifestyle in Warsaw from only one half of a couple working is a high expectation.


I'd strongly suggest that in that time he becomes as good as he can manage at speaking and writing Polish. Are you bringing the kid up to be bi-lingual? If not, start now.


I'm glad we were able to help. Good luck with your other avenues.

Yes, my son speaks 90% polish i have been @ home with him for 2 years so it's great. thanks :)