Real Estate / How to buy an apartment in Poland - can I pay in full cash? [20]

you should be OK but just make sure both the notary and seller know in advance you are not taking bank finance and that you have proof of funds with you when you go to the notary.

I once had a very bad experience with that - negotiated for a building, at the last minute decided to pay cash and not take finance (it was taking too long to arrange). When I got to the notaries we got in a bizarre Mexican standoff - I would not transfer the money until the akt notarialny was signed and they would not sign it until I transferred the money - obviously an individual's promise is worth less than a banks and the notary instead of being independent decided to funish them with lots of tales from the 90s of people who had lost their houses that way. It took about 9 hours to resolve - including showing them my bank statement, putting my bank manager on conference call etc.

If you don't speak Polish then I would take a lawyers advice - will only cost a few hundred zloty.

Work / Polish Salary and Tax [43]

I am guessing its an IT job and yes those salaries are high at the moment but I'm sure if Poles were able to fill the jobs then they would get offers at the going rate (assuming they speak English).

I think there are plenty of Polish IT specialists getting that money now - you can't compare the wages of farm hands, cleaners or parcel packers.

I do admit the whole shared service center thing is a bit weird - they get grants from the EU and Polish govt and Polish municipalities to start that and then they end up employing Indians there.

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

The only sensible idea here so far is renting flats - yes it does come with some pitfalls but far less risk than any of the other ideas. essentially you have only one risk to manage - finding decent tenants. However you wont get that return from a place that cost PLN 150k - rather think of borrowing some from the bank and getting a modern place you can rent to a young family, in my experience they are the best tenants as the mum will always try and avoid upheaval and they don't have to time to drink or party.

With a transport company or a café there are far more moving parts and things that can go wrong. As for gambling for a living well good luck with that.

ps. if you are within striking distance of Krakow then your wife could learn book-keeping, some kind of IT skills or a slightly off beat language like Dutch or Swedish and there would be plenty of choice of jobs in a shared service centre.

Work / Polish Salary and Tax [43]

There is already such a law if you need to employ someone from outside the EU.

Work / Polish Salary and Tax [43]

OK - now I understand, you are someone who possesses eccentric views.

There are still some jobs where you have to be Polish - being chairman of a bank is one, but not sure if any others still left ?

I know plenty of Poles making good careers in London, Paris, Frankfurt as accountants, bankers, IT specialists, in medicine and the arts.

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Yes you could live comfortably on 10k net per month assuming no private school.

Language / [SEX] Polish sentences/expressions [41]

while we are on the subject can I ask a delicate question - a Polish platonic friend has now said to me in a few different text messages "kocham cie"

I was surprised at that - I helped her get a job and lent her some money for a funeral so maybe she is just acknowledging that I was helpful but it seems strong. I am hoping this does not have any deep meaning as I definately am not interested and was just doing a normal favor - does it just mean something like "love ya" like a teenager would say ?

Work / Easiest way for native English speaker to get a job in Poland? [35]

I presume you don't speak Polish ?

There are very many threads on that here so I suggest you read those and also put on a tin hat and prepare for some abuse. Your best bet is to get a TEFL qualification and do that.

Language / [SEX] Polish sentences/expressions [41]

Thanks - no she is 28 and an intelligent person. I have only sent back neutral responses. Ok so I will defuse this !

Real Estate / Pitfalls of buying a Polish Flat built in 1950's [20]

I bought a 30s brick building house here and it has been an excellent purchase - warm in winter, cool in summer, not much has gone wrong with it in 14 years, we redid the roof and windows but left the structure more or less intact.

I would however be wary of anything from Commie times - material shortages and bent inspectors must have been an issue in the 50s

Work / Career Options for ExPats in Poland? English native speaker from Los Angeles. [10]

Tell you what Dom - I graduated 23 years ago but lets get my economics class and your nuclear engineering class together one day, now there is their 40s and test them over a few metrics - health, wealth, attractiveness of spouse, job satisfaction, happiness, amount of countries visited, and of course your famous savings figure. i doubt the econ grads would come off second best.

You are prrobably a nice guy in real life but you should change the record - there is more than one way to skin a cat and it sounds like this guy is polite and well adjusted and is working hard in interesting jobs but just taking a few years to find his direction - nothing wrong with that.

Law / Is it illegal in Poland / Schengen zone to transport refugees inside? [22]

In the case of the Hungarian / Austrian border I know that people wanting to help were advised not to take them across the border or even drive them around in Hungary as it was legally very dodgy. Of course the Hungarian police are probably sick of the whole situation and would probably do nothing but in general I think there is enough complexity about this situation that I would avoid adding to that - send them some blankets and some canned peas instead.

Work / Study ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in Poland [6]

If you mean by registered that you are a qualified accountant then I am appalled - your grammar is awful and your manners too.

If you mean that you want to study Acca then doing it in poland would be a poor choice

Life / Expats` opinion on alien immigration to Poland - for or against? [87]

Put me in the against column. Too many risks, high costs and no undisputed benefits. Generally im a liberal but I see no need to adopt such a divisive policy.

Life / Expats` opinion on alien immigration to Poland - for or against? [87]

"Foreigners paid on average €3,300 ($4,127) more in taxes and social security contributions in 2012 than they took out in benefits, generating a €22 billion surplus for the public coffers that year"

In most mature countries then you can drive a bus through these kind of figures. In Germany for example about half of that surplus comes from about 100.000 people paying very high tax on very high earnings - foreign bankers in Frankfurt, the Japanese of Dusseldorf and the IT workers of Munich and Berlin. Plus I am guessing a few euro from Robert Lewandowski.

In addition to what they take out in benefits you must throw in extra costs to the state (translation, higher schooling costs, extra police and surveillance, costs of processing the asylum claim, govt legal fees, subsidized tv and radio programmes in their language) - you very soon start to make a big dent in that 22bn surplus.

In the UK its the same but these poorly designed studies don't show the skewedness. It is not an argument to send everyone home but the "economic case" is by no means clear cut and without a doubt in depresses the wages and the bargaining power of the weakest members of native society. That's why I am against - there might be economic benefits to immigration but I would like them to be clear and indisputable before taking on the social risks.

In the US it is a different situation - for a start they tend to get more educated immigrants, secondly pension and retirement provision relies much more on participation and 3rd it is bigger with cheaper land and more place to spread out. The town where I spent some of my teens and college has been totally changed by immigration - Mexican, Indian, some African, quite a few Yugoslavs and ex Soviets - but it has not affected living standards.

Law / Lawyer fees for incorporation in Poland [6]

For the 3rd question then about PLN 2000 to do a proper job. more if its a complex lease.

The first - I would pay about 3000 or 4000 but Im sure there are people that will do it cheaper. Pay peanuts get monkeys

Life / Expats` opinion on alien immigration to Poland - for or against? [87]

Ironside, like most armchair socialists its always the bankers fault. My post was not about that, more an answer to Pawian's post that immigrants in Germany generate more cash than they take out in benefits - a claim which I consider to be very debatable.

And you are quite incorrect about the tax burden falling on the average Joe - in most Western countries the top 10% of earners pay around 40% of the tax. In Germany then the top 1% of earners pay almost 25% of the total income tax receipts.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]

Dom I would have thought that for someone who wanted to teach then doing a degree and then doing a PGCE and throwing a TEFL on top would actually be some quite responsible and thought through life choices.

And guess what, I don't want my kids to just do math and chemistry at school - those things are important but I do also want them to be taught some culture and to have some fun.

Not sure if you are aware but whenever I have a math problem I generally put it into a computer rather than try and dredge up what I was taught in the mid 80s from my memory.

Real Estate / How to sell commercial buildings in Warsaw? [4]

Unless you are experienced be really careful - there are many zoning issues and ownership complications with older buildings in Warsaw and plenty of foreign investors have spent years with their cash tied up while they wait to resolve that. you can get title insurance in Poland but its expensive.

unless you speak Polish then I would start with one of the western real estate consultancies - will be expensive but they will help you avoid some of the pitfalls above.

News / Polish President vetoes PO's dingbat gender law [173]

In 18 years of visiting and living in Poland I have met one transgender person. She was nice enough I guess.

Absolutely a plague on both their houses - what we should be arguing about are taxes, infrastructure, quality of the labor market, defense and Russia, improving education, improving pensions. PO don't seem to be able to engage on those subjects on their own terms - Kopacz is a very poor communicator and does not seem to be making a connection to ordinary Poles who should be their natural supporters.

UK, Ireland / London Strip Clubs? What's it like for women working there? [74]

I was in a club in the UK at the weekend at a bachelor party and was very surprised that most of the girls were British - there was one Bulgarian, a few Latino but no Polish there.

Real Estate / Giving up a house in Poland [3]

Yes it is possible for him to give a power of attorney to a local Pole that he trusts but the notary dealing with that will probably take a lot of steps to ensure it is a kosher POA (including British notarization, official translation etc and I'm not sure about Britain but in some countries would also need to be apostilled - a kind of stamp saying that the notary is a notary).

All of that would add up to a few hundred quid of cost so if your partner has some spare time it might be as well to use Ryanair and have a short holiday in Poland and take care of it "na cztery oczy"

Love / Are Polish men shy and take things slow? [118]

Generally I would say they are quite forward.

However if you ask them that is also quite accepted in Polish society.

Work / Thirteenth Salary in Poland [13]

Assume 12 if you are not working for the govt. There might be some bonus scheme related to performance (I would say 80% of private business has that) but flat 13 salary is rather more common in Italy, France etc than in Poland.

by the way if that is a bank they normally have bonus schemes that are far more valuable than a 13th month, but it depends if you are generating revenue or not

Work / Thirteenth Salary in Poland [13]

Some wonderful views here - giving extra cash to your employees should be illegal apparantly.

It is of course a mechanism to keep people at crucial times e.g. pay your accounting staff their 13th month just after financial year end. Pay your retail staff their 13th month in January.

Doug, the govt sets a minimum wage in every one of the 28 countries of the EU. In many cases these are going up quite quickly, much more than inflation. Its up to honest employers to follow that legislation.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1040]

Its a short version of "I have no idea"

but its the kind of thing someone might put in an sms - so Wulkan suspects you are checking your girlfriend's phone.

Love / Portuguese Boy with a Polish Girl - she is more conservative than others. How to approach her? [24]

Well if she is shy and doesnt like halloween then why not invite her to do something low key - coffee and a walk in the park ? I dont think its anything to do with her nationality !

Work / What is the salary of a cleaner in queen boutique hotel in Krakow or in any other restaurant or hotel? [17]

which part of these answers is useless ?

Language / Message from Polish speaking friend (in English) translation help [13]

I would say that she means "and that's up to her" i.e. its her daughter's right to see who she wants even if her mother thinks they are different people.

good luck ! I'm glad you get on with your mother in law - not easy with Polish family :)