Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

No, we should not ban trucks. Trucks have many other uses and without them we would not get food to our cities. In any case the guy hijcked the truck using a gun.

Guns have two uses - the legal, but cruel and insecure hobby of killing animals, and the killing of people.

Earlier in the thread you suggest you could get a gun in Poland within a week. Thanks to gun control laws that would be much harder than you think - once you started asking around you would draw attention, real criminals are suspicious of outsiders and how would you test if it worked or had live ammo ?

This is a democracy still and if any party agrees that freedom to carry weapons is a great idea then they can put that in their next manifesto.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Exactly - in the US its a dumb idea but part of their culture.

In Europe its never been part of the culture except in a few places like Finland. We feel safer here without guns period. I am sure there are gun nut websites where you can discuss the pros and cons of open carry

Feedback / Would you favour a free and open PF where people could post under their real names? [55]

For the political or business discussions then maybe. But there are also people here posting about legal troubles, marital worries, financial questions etc where probably anonymity is kore constructive.

Law / Are foreigners allowed to open a company in Poland ? [15]

Good grief

sorry Ashi - I did not mean to condemn you to a life of dumpster diving.

Law / Are foreigners allowed to open a company in Poland ? [15]

honestly Dom why bother giving such unfriendly and unhelpful advice ? What library anywhere, even in Poland, would have such info, on a Sunday afternoon ?

To answer a few of your questions

Rent of a shop starts about 30 zloty per sqm per month for modern space but a realistic price is around 45 per sqm and much more in Warsaw

Running costs for a shop that size would be about 2000 zloty a month

The cost of an employee is about 25 zloty per hour including all taxes, bonuses, building them a toilet, locker etc.

Rent of a warehouse would be 10-20 zloty per sqm per month, but if you look hard enough you could probably get some really ugly place for cheaper as you only need some small place. running cost and taxes would be about 3 zloty per sqm.

UK, Ireland / Inheritance Law in Poland and debts - how does it affect a British child? [27]

As said before then I don't see how the Polish courts can have jurisdiction over your daughter if she has never been a Polish citizen or resident. There are 5 ways to establish jurisdiction over foreign citizens but none of them apply here.

However if you still want to be safe, you could do as Radio suggests above and contact the family court and get the relevant letters that you reject the inheritance.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

bika - the money is worthless, about 10 cents, Where did you get that ? Did someone tell you it was worth something ?

Law / Where can I check in Poland my company formation status and tax number NIP and REGON? [95]

That building is a big office block in north / central Warsaw - most of the tenants are lawyers (and rather top lawyers). Certainly never seen any car dealership there (I visit it quite often) so worth to give them a call first.

Travel / Why most taxis in Warsaw cheat foreigners to get more money? [38]

I am really sorry about that Sbarik - there are still cheats and its horrible to have a bad experience in your first minutes in Poland. Next time you come, the reliable taxi companies have desks at the airport.

Work / Cash jobs in Poland? any? [6]

do you have the legal right to residency in Poland ?

If you are an EU citizen then of course you can work

If not then that is more complicated.

yes there are plenty of cash jobs - fruit picking, laboring, restaurant work etc but the wages would be very low

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

About 3 cents - you could not even buy a box of matches with that

News / Cardinal Józef Glemp has died aged 83. Cardinal Macharski too. [10]

RIP Cardinal - too many people now forget the church's huge role in bringing down the corrupt and oppressive communist system

Life / Where to buy cosmetic items such as razor and pumice in Poland? [39]

ok now I understand ! If you want that then in Poland you could try the brushmakers shop on Emilii Plater, or a bit further down next to Legends there is a high end barber who might have one. Another high end barber shop is across road from WSE, next to Muji.

But internet might be your best bet

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

Its worth about 11 dollars

Life / Where to buy cosmetic items such as razor and pumice in Poland? [39]

Yes, I have bought safety razor blades in a big Rossmann in Poland before - in Warsaw, in Poznan, in Lodz.

Superpharm would also probably have some but can't guarantee that.

Actually gave up on safety razors a few months ago because kept getting hassle at airport when I just wanted to take hand luggage. Its a shame because I prefer the feel and quite liked my morning shave with that.

Life / Where to buy cosmetic items such as razor and pumice in Poland? [39]

Yes Rossmann sell old style razor blades - wilkinson and a few other brands

News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]

I think the only way this can work is by being banked heavily by the state owned institutions like PZU and PKO. problem is that neither are the limitless pot of money that Kaczynski thinks.

PZU esepcially has since profits half over the last 12 months - I am about to dump the stock, have held it for many years, - PO appointed management was also incompetent but at least had some understanding of insurance and most importantly paid nice dividends - now I see that new management, fresh from their PGR wish to cut the dividends and make them buy Pekao - I'm offski.

i dont think the land can ne very desirable - there is certainly not much good free land within 10k of any many city center and if there was I'm sure PO would have already sold it for shopping malls. Could be old industrial sites but they have serious contamination issues.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Morawiecki might be plotting on his own behlaf but telling half of the important people in public life they are either thieves or incompetent is a strange way to go about it.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Yes but PiS did win convincingly among 20-30 year olds too, some of whom are probably horrified by what they see but a lot still pretty happy, especially with their extra 500 zloty in their pocket (paid for on the never-never but someone else can sort that out later...)

The current "audit" is incredible - especially the generally sensible Morawiecki saying the economy is unstable and on its knees, a few months after saying it was OK - that leaves the zloty again sliding towards 4 to the USD.

Life / Warsaw is a difficult city to adjust to (coming from Canada and having lived in South Africa) Prague? [46]

I totally disagree - for all of those cuisines I can think of at least one great place in Warsaw and a few in the other big towns. In that respect Poland is ahead of Czech and Hungary but obviously a long way behind places like the US or UK or Germany that have big expat populations of Indians, Greeks etc

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

We are waiting patiently for PiS to show us what they can do with the economy and so far it ain't great - zloty down, stock market down, ratings down, deficit up, tax receipts down, record levels of cash being withdrawn from poland. Maybe a good idea for Morawiecki to fix that rather than engaging in this unsubstantiated nonsense.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

I think those of us who own shares in these state owned companies can see their performance since October, and those of us that hold bonds can see the ratings getting worse. The markets are not so easy to fool as a load of pensioners from Podlasie. Morawiecki will have his work cut out to reverse this falling confidence - especially since PiS has packed the boards of these companies with people who have zero business experience.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

PiS budget already has a made huge holes in the public finances and this will just add to it. They are miles away from market economics thinking - the closest lodestone they have is Gierek who also handed out pork to the provinces and bankrupted the country.

God only knows why an intelligent man like Morawiecki has hitched his wagon to PiS

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

The land reform Adrian is talking about is having some interesting repercussions - I have a modest loan using our modest farmland as collateral. A few days ago I got a letter from Pekao (not a phone call which would have been polite) telling me I need to find new collateral as the farmland has gone down in value and is no longer liquid.

So after some thought I decided to repay the loan but talking with neighbors it seems many have had similar letters / discussions and not everyone is able to find cash or other collateral at short notice. In some cases loans have been spent on Mercs but often on home improvements or on agricultural machines and facilities which are required to meet EU standards.

So again PiS decides to implement a law without thinking through the effect on its core voters. Of course the banks are only too happy to use this as a chance to embarrass the govt and give them a black eye. End result - less spending power for rural Poles.

Life / Warsaw is a difficult city to adjust to (coming from Canada and having lived in South Africa) Prague? [46]

Interesting debate - I spend lots of time in both (in fact I'm now in Prague airport trying to rebook a flight to Warsaw.

Infrastructure I would say is about the same - Prague has 3 metro lines but they are only good for going too and from the suburbs - if you want to travel around the center its almost always quicker to walk since the junctions are in illogical places. Both cities have made huge progress in reducing traffic problems in the last few years - I would say Prague slightly better especially given the hills and river to deal with. Prague airport is definitely better than Warsaw.

On wealth then I would have thought the median income in Prague is higher than Warsaw. Probably Warsaw could have a higher mean income since bigger market means more upside for the best paid people. It is very difficult to recruit in Prague which means almost everyone has a job whereas I think Warsaw still has quite a big "elite bezrobotny".

Restaurants - Warsaw by a mile
Pubs - Prague by a mile
Museums and culture - Warsaw is getting better but Prague still easily on top
Shopping - Warsaw has far more choice
Architecture and beauty - no contest !
Fun - probably Warsaw
Doing business - Warsaw has much more going on and is definitely on the up while Prague is standing still

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

In my case "not"

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Back in the real world we see today a very worrying growth in the deficit and govt expenses at a record high as they hand out their electoral pork and also pay off the sacked officials who did nothing wrong apart from not being members of PiS. Receipts from the new bank tax are 30% less than expected as the banks obviously dealing with the effects of a weak zloty - on top of that there is still no credible way to fund the 500+. The government are economic illiterates and within a few months people will care much more about that than they do about abortion, the president's love life or poisoned horses.

Real Estate / Can foreigners buy land, house, or apartment in Poland? [60]

Jon there are rules about buying a house if you are from outside the EEA which is why I wanted to know. For an apartment it seems you can do what you want but thought its worth to double check.

Real Estate / Can foreigners buy land, house, or apartment in Poland? [60]

Bringing this thread back from the dead - unfortunately getting error messages on the Interior Ministry's website.

If a citizen of Belarus wants to buy an apartment here are there any legal steps required other than the normal ones ?

Looking for a helpful answer to this question but will give it 3 or 4 posts before it becomes a bunfight about either Pan Slav nationalism or national security threats.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

I love the fact that he talks about his Mum, Wife and kid being in Krakow and him having to look after them. That is accepted but I thought he might have realized when he decided to apply for the job of President that it was based in Warsaw.