Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]

Another Japanese here.

It seems my prospective employer in Krakow has been through a serious amount of paperwork for my work permit.

The local work/employment/whatever office has even requested a proof of my English language ability even though I HAVE A PHD FROM MANCHSTER UNIVERSITY! Even the UK Home Office, God help them, hasn't asked for it.

Komatta mon desu na.

Anyway, it seems things will be sorted by 01/12 when my job is expected to start, and I'll be living in lovely Krakow. Uraaaaa.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]

I've been to Poland many times and have a lot of local friends, so I've heard quite a lot about red tapes there.

Knowing the way things (don't) work in Poland, I'd rather not think about the coming troubles, such as opening bank accounts, get registered at the local government office, have a residence card, then visa extension, then work permit extension......

I've been to Manggha once and I liked some, if not all, of their collection. They have some very good swords, for example.

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]


1. Job - VERY good wage, exact match to my areas of interests/skills/PhD, etc.

2. Polish people - I know many. My good friends are mostly Polish.

3. Country - I've been there many times, and always loved it.

4. Slavic culture - very colourful in Poland, but it isn't so chaotic as in Russia or Ukraine.

5. Food - a big jump from cheap junks in Manchester. I want to have some Pierogi, Barszcz, Bigos or whatever meaty thing full of pork. (But I still insist Japanese food is better. Sorry!)

6. Zywiec, Okocim and Tyskie

.....so I'll be moving to Krakow very soon.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]


I had the same problem, but, having heard of the nature of Polish bureaucracy from my Polish friends, I thought it was just another bureaucratic b#llocks. I asked my boss here (a university academic) to write a letter stating my job title and income level. I guess that was enough.


No, I don't think so. The British "Royal Mail" and DHL are much worse.

The company in Poland got my work permit a week ago. It took them a tad bit less than two months. They sent me the provisional work permit and a statement regarding my work there separately by DHL, but the delivery men "allegedly" came during my absence and went away without leaving any delivery notice. They attempted to deliver twice each for two items, so they failed four times.

So, I ended up in going to their depot twice and picking them up. That has been the single most annoyance in the entire process so far.

I went to the consulate in London yesterday and applied for my visa. It will take two weeks for them to give it to me, so I'll enjoy the last moments of my life in Manchester.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]


I've just moved into my flat here in Krakow. It's so much cheaper than in Manchester and the environment is much better. It's been a big UPWARD jump for me. Yes. It's somewhat depressing to think about doing it all over again in a year, but the HR department of my company has been extremely helpful, so I hope it remains so.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]

It went fairly smoothly for me. It just took some time, but not much longer than I expected.

News / Dalai Lama says: "POLAND HAS RETAINED ITS SPIRIT" [77]

What he wants is autonomy of Tibet. He just wants his people to be able to talk freely in Tibetan, teach their children Tibetan history and tradition, and, of course, Buddhism. He is NOT asking for Tibetan independence.

Is that too much to ask for? I don't think so.

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]


Very untrue. Many non-EU/EEA countries have reciprocal agreements with, for example, Britain, Germany and France. I exchanged my Japanese licence with a British one, which I use in Poland now. My friend has exchanged her South African licence with a UK one. Another friend of mine had a Kenyan licence, which was also recognised by the British DVLA.

In Poland, you can exchange your licence if it has been issued by a signatory of the convention on road traffic 1968.

naukajazdy.pl/driving_licence_poland/driving_licence_exchange.html

Before the Japanese and Polish governments signed on the bi-lateral agreement recently, we had to take the theory test. Not anymore, thankfully.

Life / How Safe Are the Polish Cities? [179]

I've spent seven years in Manchester, i.e. one year near Piccadilly station (full of whores), a year in Victoria Park (mugging hot spot), and five years in two different locations in Levenshulme (just bad in every sense). Quite often, I threw a number of empty bottles at cretins trying to steal my motorbike from the backyard. In one occasion, some thugs came to nick my classic motorbike, so I went out with "Bokutou (木刀）", which literally means wooden sword and I guess they were too scared to challenge a mad and fat Japanese skinhead with something like that. They were arrested right after leaving my place on a stolen car that they crashed just around the corner. I think they needed a tad bit more driving lessons. A female cop that turned up afterwards was very kind and treated the Japanese chemical engineer very well. One very hot summer day, a hooded moron followed me for good ten minutes, so I turned back and walked straight to him. He looked at me, said "Oh, fuck!" and ran away. About a week before I was leaving the UK for good, I took a bus, and it was full of teenage idiots from the B-----e high school, shouting and throwing rubbish. There was one mother with her little son on their way to a local hospital as the boy had an ear infection. Every time they asked them to be quiet, the monkeys became louder, and that really blew my fuse. I yelled like a crazy warring samurai, "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU INBRED MORONS!". Another problem sorted.

One day before leaving the UK, a snow ball was thrown at me from a passing car. I thought, what the hell, I'm pulling out of this hell hole.

Now, I'm in Krakow, and I experience absolutely zero issues regarding safety. It's quiet, safe and clean, probably not as much as Tokyo, but certainly good enough for me.

Work / What jobs pay 10,000 zlotych per month? and Where can i find one? :o) [101]

If you have a PhD in engineering or science [1], 5+ years of experience, and work for an international company, you may well be able to.

I earn a bit less than that with only one year of previous experience as a post-doc researcher [2], and I don't have to speak Polish for my job.

[1] Real science, and NOT something like political science, gender science, media science or management science.

[2] It produced nothing.

Work / What jobs pay 10,000 zlotych per month? and Where can i find one? :o) [101]

I only need less than a half of my current income for a comfortable life in Krakow. I'm not really interested in expensive cars (or any car, to be honest) or a big house. It doesn't cost much to spend a sunday afternoon reading a nice book in a decent cafe or have some Tyskie with my very intelligent friends and talk about classics, history or biotechnology. Being a biker, I can always buy a cheap ratty pile of cr-p and fix it. I don't need a Honda Goldwind to enjoy riding.

It's just nice to live here. If life is all about luxury and showing off, it doesn't have to be in a nice medieval city. I can always go back to Tokyo or UK for that kind of nonsense.

Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]

> What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live?

They just got to do their jobs properly, whatever they are. Delivery men, cops, stinking petty bureaucrats, and all of them.

Someone sent me a packet from the UK a few weeks ago, and it's been stored in a warehouse 10 miles out of Krakow. They told me that I have to go there and collect it, because they have already (allegedly) tried to deliver it twice. Of course, they didn't leave any notice of delivery in both occasions. Buses run only once every two hours to that bloody remote location and the depot closes before I can even get there after work. I can take a taxi, but that sounds like a very ridiculous idea. Why do I have to do THEIR job out of my pocket?

Now, they're saying that they'll return the packet today as the period of storage has just expired.

This is probably the only one place in entire Europe where you miss the Royal Mail.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

1. Post office
2. All the other public services
3. Some North Korean bullsh-t that filled this thread up.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

Well. Compared with some railway operators in the UK, I can say PKP is better in a certain way - they anyway run their trains.

The problem is that they tend to be way too slow. It takes about 10 hours from here to Szczecin.

The public transport within Krakow is quite all right.

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

I think it's not about being upfront or direct.

Too many here too often try to outsmart the others for really petty things as if they have to prove something.

Why do people try to push others aside to get on a bus? Why do drivers run red only to be stopped by another red light just 30 metres or so down the same road?

Then, there's a general lack of enlightenment.

Why do so many people keep asking really pointless questions, such as "Can you see anything through such narrow eyes?" "Do the Chinese have trains? (and I haven't even been there at all)" "Is it true that the Japanese have a really small/big d-ck?"

And, why do they do the same elsewhere, such as in the UK?

But, to be fair, the same can be said about certain Southern European nations.

Study / Is Poland a good place to study for Black Africans? [90]


No. It is not a nice place for Blacks to stay for any purpose. Seriously, forget it. I've met a number of Blacks here, and they all have had some nasty situations.

I get more than enough bulls--t thrown at me in Krakow, and I am East Asian.

Besides, I am comparing it to a fairly degraded part of Manchester.

Travel / Hard Candy - Krakow, Poland - reviews? [131]

Avoid this place at all costs. I was talked up to by a group of three Russian women on Szewska last Friday, and we went there together. Stupid I know, but my usual bull*hit sensor didn't work after a few pints elsewhere with a good friend of mine.

I ordered a single Jameson, and the women some stupid cocktails. A moment later the bloody bill came to me. The price was 560zl.

Well. Of course they kept telling me to be a gentleman. I thought "Bol*ocks to that", but anyway I had to extract myself safely from the basement, so I went to a cash machine with one of the bouncers, and on the way I went straight to a cop van. The cops kindly accompanied me to the place and had some words with the management. I had to pay 60zl for the whisky, which is still a big pile of nonsense, but anyway that wasn't so much of an issue as the extra 500zl that couldn't really be attributed to me.

Life / Russian Language - is it offensive if I speak it to Polish people? [69]

When I spoke in Russian to Poles, it wasn't quite appreciated although many did understand it well.

When I spoke in Russian to Serbs, they were rather excited to hear it from an obviously foreign, non-European and un-Slavic person, but not so many of them actually understood it well.

Anyway, Serbian and Russian are, sort of, close enough to each other, so it as very useful there.

UK, Ireland / Oxford Polish bride 'heartbroken' over arrest - accusations of sham marriage [126]

Being a SouthMancJap, I have to fully agree. I've had enough crap thrown at me in Poland. England is the best place for non-Whites in Europe.

News / Poles and rest of us needs strong Poland [49]

> Poles and rest of us needs strong Poland

Poles and rest of us needs reasonable Poland.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]

It isn't just language schools.

I was there for a year with a huge international engineering company.

First, I had a phone interview, which I was successful.

Then, we arranged a real interview in Krakow, and I booked flights.

But, apparently, the secretary totally forgot about my interview and the big bosses had to go to a meeting elsewhere in Europe on the same day.

Well, I was anyway planning to stay there for several days to drink with my local Polish mates, so it wasn't a bit issue, but it was somewhat surprising for a big company to make such a mistake.

The rudeness lies in the fact that nobody admitted any mistakes about it.

History / Polish aristocrats - would be better off if we had Polish magnate families? [69]

They created so many communist sympathisers by being so greedy and self-centred.

Poniatowski was even sh#gging the future Empress of Russia. This tells how diplomatically silly they could be.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II_of_Prussia

"Frederick quickly began improving the infrastructure of West Prussia, reforming its administrative and legal code, and improving the school system. However, Frederick looked upon many of his new citizens with scorn.He had nothing but contempt for the szlachta, the numerous Polish nobility, and wrote that Poland had "the worst government in Europe with the exception of Turkey". He considered West Prussia as uncivilized as Colonial Canada and compared the Poles to the Iroquois."

Language / Are the languages of Russian and Polish similar at all? [94]

I studied Russian about a decade ago, and it was very useful in Poland.

No, I didn't quite speak it, because I didn't want to be drawn into silly nationalistic debates, but I was able to understand every interesting thing that the locals were saying behind me.

Example:

"Oh! There's a Chinaman!"
"Careful. He might eat your dog!"

Well. Ten years of learning Mancunian was quite helpful when I was throwing some verbal abuses back.

Life / Who's Leaving Poland? [138]

I was there for my work.

After a year, I quit and p#ssed off to Manchestan.


No, I don't think so.

I'd rather continue to live in South Manchester than in central Tokyo where I am going to inherit a house or two.

Love / Polish girls fall for Indian guys ? [217]

That's why I threw away my well-paying job as a research engineer there and p#ssed off to Manchester (and found another job of similar kind, anyway).

My Indian mate was working in a kebab take-away. I couldn't believe the amount and nastiness of abuses that he was receiving.


Seriously, good luck to you, mate.

I've seen a few blacks beaten to pulp in front of me. It didn't happen to me, only because I managed to apply some very superficial knowledge of ninjutsu to somehow successfully hide myself.

Polonia / i need advice for a korean friend [13]

Seriously, she deserves to be there in Korea.

She didn't deserve to live here in the first place as the marriage was bogus.

Being a "yellow" person myself, I am seriously pissed off by people like your friend.

Because of such disrespectful people who have absolutely no regards whatsoever to this country nor its integrity as a sovereign state, the immigration regulations in the UK are becoming tighter and the hurdle higher and higher EVERY F**KING YEAR.

We, non-EEA nationals, can't even get married without a permission from the home office now, thanks to low-life criminals like your friend.

WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH S#IT LIKE THAT HERE.

Tell her not to even think about coming back here.

Life / I got beaten and kicks in my face just cuz i dont look polish [205]

Yeah. I was there for a year, and within that bloody one year I experienced:

- One failed flying kick
- One occasion of hooligan/skinhead ambush (where I managed to hide myself behind a bus stop and saw some others getting good kicks)
- At least 20 punches, all of which failed
- General racist or otherwise provincial chav/redneck nonsense e.g. a man talking to his dog "Be careful! He's going to eat you!"

Then, some other examples:

- And my Czech friend left after he's got a Jew bashing by five local idiots, and he isn't even one.
- My Indian mate ran for life from some knife-wielding hools (fools)

...etc.

No, I'm not in a position to preach how Poland should be in the future or should have been in the past. It's all up to the Poles, and if that's what they want, I have absolutely nothing to say.

Love / How many Polish girls are married to foreigners? / How many Polish boys to foreign girls? [104]

And, here's a Japanese man who is about to marry a Polish girl.

We live in a fairly uncivilised part of Manchester, and Polish/non-Polish couples are quite common around here.

Love / How many Polish girls are married to foreigners? / How many Polish boys to foreign girls? [104]

Not really. I can't prepare myself to 15 hours of work every day.

Love / How many Polish girls are married to foreigners? / How many Polish boys to foreign girls? [104]


What's so interesting about it? Moreover, what is there to be discovered? It's bleeding obvious that many more "young" polish people live abroad, especially since Poland joined the EU, so it's statistically likely to see more Polish women marrying non-Polish men. My neighbourhood has literally been saturated by Polish immigrants.

I know two female Polish biochemists (both with a PhD). One of them married a Mexican man with an MBA. The other married an Irish barrister. My other half is a civil engineer who is about to finish another degree in Architecture, and I am a materials engineer with a PhD from Japan. Then, a male Polish biologist, also with a PhD, married a Japanese woman who is also a scientist of some sort. All this took place in Manchester since 2004.

But, the cafe just down the road from here is full of Polish, Slovak and Czech women with Turkish, Iranian and Romanian Gypsy men. They don't even speak any intelligible English. It's a mystery how they communicate to each other.

I guess everyone knows it's been more or less like this, and it's no secret.


Are you saying that it's fine as long as the sex pests are white men?


If that's what those women want to do, then who the hell are you, or indeed so-called the majority of Poles, to butt in their business and decide what they should personally do? I don't think those women need any democratic mandate with regards to their choices of partners nor have any obligation whatsoever to educate themselves about their entirely private behaviour. Besides, if the Nigerians are so s###e, who are the real losers here?

Then, assuming that it's indeed bad for whatever reasons to allow those foreign vandals to come over and steal "your" women, there's really nothing that can be realistically done other than completely disallowing people of certain ethnicity to visit Poland. Can you leave the EU and the Schengen Zone and then introduce racial profiling for visa applicants?