USA, Canada / Would you support a Polish village (Koniakow) by buying their goods? [3]

haha ... my Polish spelling is horrible... Beskidy - Bieszczady... it's a simple slip of the keyboard! ;)

USA, Canada / Now American men want to marry Polish women for polish papers. [38]

That's so funny Bimber! ;)

Polish girls are fantastic! There are a lot of fantastic girls over here - I definitely don't miss my time in the States that's for sure.

Ok, starting a business isn't a guaranteed way to get things done. There are a lot of considerations they take into mind when processing your Karta Pobytu papers (I know, cause I own my own business here). Running a business here isn't nearly like the States, either cause think about this. The Polish government ends up with more than 50% of everything that comes through your door. VAT, 21%. Personal income tax, 19%. ZUS (social insurance and retirement taxes) more than 15% and ... if you make too much money, they even have a profit tax they add on top of that so you don't get too comfortable with things.

Plus, if you don't pay all of your 1) business bills on time, 2) personal bills on time the Polish government will reject your application for residency permit. You will have to show proof of income earned, as well as receipts of the bills you've paid showing you have no out-standing debts. This is important to take into consideration.

Marrying a girl will ease the process of getting your residency permit, but don't expect to get citizenship. As an American, you can only have dual-citizenship if you were born to an American and to another nationality - like, for example my brother's children as they have both US passports and Swiss passports. My brother, although married for more than 10 years to a Swiss girl...will only ever travel with his US passport.

The Polish government isn't going to give you a lifetime residency/work permit either. You will have to stay married for more than 3 years in order to get a "karta pobytu stalego" which is your "permanent" residency/work permit. By "permanent", I mean 10 years. ;)

If you live in Poland for more than 5 years straight, without leaving the country for more than a 60 days each year - then you will be able to apply for a "permanent" residency/work permit.

Your best bet is to get married to a Polish girl or try and have a company sponsor your application here in Poland as it's quite a complicated process.

I've successfully applied and managed to get more than 5 of these things, while also running my own business so if you have any questions feel free to ask. ;)

or... you can check out my business to get some ideas of how I manage to stay in this fantastic country! :)) I, for one, will never go back. ;)

koniartusa.com

USA, Canada / Are Polish women marrying for US citizenship (or green card)? [19]

Come on guys.

Poland is EU these days and to be honest life here in Poland is pretty great. Polish girls like to meet foreigners because they're interesting and different than the normal guys. It's normal.

Marrying an American for their Green Card? That's more or less history when they can move to the UK and earn pounds which are worth even more than USD.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

Oh, be careful mate.

I've lived here in Poland for 7+ years, and have worked for quite a few private language schools and in the end, to be honest, I've opened my own. (joshlangaugecenter.com)

and be careful mate, be careful.

As a foreigner, there are simply many things that we don't know. Every other school I've worked for - I've been taken advantage of. In the end, my contracts put me at around 20 zl/hr which seems ok, but as a professional and talented teacher it's an insult when the Polish teachers whose English is at a much lower level than my own - both in terms of language and methodology - earn on average 50 zl/hr in my town. I don't know what about larger towns, but that's generally the way it's worked here.

Last April while applying for my residency permit (again) I found out that my previous school had me sign something which obligated me to pay ZUS (social insurance, retirement, etc...) on my own. I had no idea about this of course - a new arrival here in Poland. 6 years later, I ended up with a fine and paying interest of more than 5,000zl. Basically - they screwed me over by lying to me.

If you don't need the money - then dude, just do private lessons in a pub as you'll meet people and you won't have to deal with the dishonesty that goes on with lots of these second-rate schools who are doing everything they can to make their last groszy off you.

Hope that helps.

Study / Learning Polish at Adam Mickiewicz University [11]

As an American I have lived in Poland for more than 7 years - and to be honest, Poznan wouldn't be the place to go.

I run a private language school in Cieszyn, and I teach Polish to lots of Koreans who work at an auto production plant near here. This is perfect for them to get around and start learning how to actually speak/understand Polish and move up from there.

You can come to my school in Cieszyn - or find a private language school which can deliver an intensive Polish language course for foreigners. It's important that it's "for foreigners" too - as Polish philology teachers don't really have a grasp on current methods of language acquisition. Know Polish, yes. Know how to teach it - not really.

Hope that helps mate