Life / What is the best city in Poland to live in? Relocating to Poznan? [41]

Do NOT come to Poznań - Rudest people in Poland by far - Cracow gets my vote

Love / What do Asian boys think about Polish girls? :) (and vice versa) [150]

My parents are from India but I was born and raised in Canada. In university I met my future Polish wife (who came to Canada when she was 8). I'm writing this to basically say that there are an infinite number of ways for two people to find each other. To generalize that Polish girls get with Indian guys for whatever reason is just ignorant. Ultimately it's between those two people and everybody else can suck it. I don't really understand why these threads keep popping up - does it really matter who a Polish girl (or any girl for that matter) chooses to date???

Law / Problems with Polish Bureaucracy, residency [17]


Fair enough, but somebody please try to explain this. In Canada I was able to go to the Polish embassy, hand them 5-6 papers and $100, come back in a week an have a 1 year Student Visa.

This summer I decided to stay in Poland with my wife and figured I'd get the Temp Stay Card instead (since it's also good for a year).

- I handed them a stack of papers two inches thick that took me at least two weeks to collect
- I was forced to have several documents legally translated (at my expense)
- I was forced to go through an hour interview (with a translator I paid for) after I handed in EVERYTHING that was required because they just "decided" to throw an interview into the mix

- I was forced to register my marriage which meant getting my marriage license sent from Canada (two weeks wait), having it translated, having my wife de-register herself from Krakow and re-register in Poznan (for some stupid reason) and after all that we still had to wait for a "decision" as to whether they would accept our marriage or not.

I have paid around 600 Złoty, wasted I don't know how many hours (it's taken me at least two months), I was temporarily an illegal citizen as my student visa had expired while I was attempting to take care of all this madness, and at the end of the day its for the EXACT SAME privelidge of being able to stay here legally for a year as a STUDENT. How does this make any sense???

They treat us like criminals and soooooooo many other students in my program are experiencing the same issues (some with the threat of deportation) simply because the bureaucracy is out of control. It is not uncommon for students to hear conflicting instructions time after time because none of the bureaucrats actually seem to know the law, let alone how to apply it properly.

Law / Problems with Polish Bureaucracy, residency [17]

It's hard enough for foreign students to stay in the country legally just to complete a few years of study let alone trying to live a real life in Poland.

The language of the law is written so unclear that every task ends up coming down to a "decision" by some lame bureaucrats.

All I can say is that I'm soooo happy not to be paying taxes in this country to support this madness and pay the salaries of thousands of useless people who barely do any work at all and seem to enjoy making the lives of others miserable.

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

I think it's important never to make any assumptions about mixed-race couples you might see walking around Poland because you never really know how those people met or what the story behind their relationship really is.

And ultimately at the end of the day, it's really non of your business anyways.

I think there are more interesting topics that can be discussed.

Life / My own thoughts about life in Poland (have lived here for two years) [133]

Where do Polish taxes go? To pay for the salaries of the endless number of useless bureaucrats that work for the worst bureaucracy in the world except for maybe India.

I think this is a major issue that was missed that will be an incredible hurdle for the future economic development of this country. How many foreign dollars are directed elsewhere because Poland makes it so difficult to spend them here?

Also - separation of Church and State anybody? How about access to abortion? Spending tax payer money to protect a cross outside of the presidential palace? The list goes on and on...

Travel / Traveling with a dog from Hungary to Poland [8]

I'm not sure how big your dog is but my wife and I brought our 14 year old dog over from Canada and the vet gave us medications to dope him us to make the trip more tolerable.

If you don't mind this option I would suggest flying and knocking the poor thing out just to get it over with faster.

Life / Winners-like store in Poland? [3]

hahaha £ukasz I can't believe you posted this question.

My wife and I moved to Poznan from Toronto and were laughing that there isn't a Winners here since in Canada they are always filled with 80-90% Polish women hahaha

Thanks for letting us know about TK Maxx cymru (forgot that it's the same company as Winners) - we'll be heading out to Malta shortly!

Law / How to get a private NIP number in Poland (for a foreigner) ? [28]

as a foreign student, can I register for a NIP number, and if I do does that mean I'll somehow be on the hook for taxes?

I need the NIP so I can pay for NFZ online. Thanks for any help.

Life / Is Poland a safe country for people of color? [241]

I'm of Indian decent, but I was born and raised in Canada and truly think of myself as Canadian vs. Indian. I've wanted to comment on a thread dealing with Racism in Poland for a while now.

My wife is Polish and we met in University in Canada. The first time we backpacked around Poland together was back in 2003 an I was completely ignorant about any racism that might have existed in the country which was great because everybody we met was extremely friendly and we had a great trip - 1 month and 7 cities! - I fell in love with Poland after that trip.

Since that trip we came back two more times for vacations and now we're going to med school here and couldn't be happier. While it's true that in any of the bigger cities you're less likely to experience any racism, the one and only time I have had a problem in Poland was in Wrocław and it really wasn't a big deal, just some ignorant prick blaming others for his own problems.

I read your comment about how you don't feel like you should have to deal with racism if you come here, but I think that is a little ignorant. The simple fact is that racism really exists everywhere in the world and you can't really pick and choose when you'll be a victim of it. But in Poland it's not as big a deal as people tend to make it out to be.

My wife and I noticed a trend, and those who spread the worst rumors about Poland (prostitutes and pickpockets everywhere, skinheads everywhere etc etc.) are usually those expats who left in the early 90's and never went back, or people who haven't been there at all and just don't have a clue.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you come to Poland, yes you might experience some racism, but it could also happen to you anywhere else in the world, that's just the way it is. There's racism in Canada in the US, racism all over Europe (just check the news to see how many hate crimes have been committed against Polish people working in the UK and Ireland), there's racism in Asia, especially against black people in India and China. It's everywhere, but 99% of the population are nice, friendly people who want to make a living and support their families.

Come to Poland and have a great time!