Life / Get a refund in Poland for medical expenses abroad [5]

Just for the sake of completing the discussion (better late than never) to help others who could have a similar question : I went to the NFZ office, filled up a form and attached the bills from the doctor and the pharmacy. Shortly afterwards, I received the refund on my bank account (approx. 70% refund).

Life / Get a refund in Poland for medical expenses abroad [5]

Actually, not yet, because my wife says I can't get a refund because I went to a private practitioner, so I wanted to hear from other people first, before going to an office. Will go tomorrow morning, I've got time.

News / Election marathon 2018-2020 in Poland [1071]

One of you quoted a turnout of about 43%.
Yesterday, it was "niedziela handlowa". Does it have an impact on the turnout rate?
Have some people not voted because they were busy working or shopping?

And if they fit mostly a specific profile, would people who didn't go to vote for that reason be normally more encline to vote for PIS or KE?

Law / Sending annual documents to KRS (National Court Registry) online in Poland [3]

Last time, I couldn't use the free way because my PESEL was not in my profile, so I had to use the other way which costs 140 PLN, still an online procedure but however a different path on their website (the older interface).

News / Polish Independence Day March in Warsaw. Is it going to be the biggest march yet? [1530]

Delphiandomine, I won't waste time debating more, you're just ridiculous. I've been on this forum for years, have read many of your posts, and I really wonder what you're still doing in this country if you dislike it so much!

News / Polish Independence Day March in Warsaw. Is it going to be the biggest march yet? [1530]

I'm not a native Pole but been living here for 9 years. My wife (Polish) and I would attend the march if I didn't have to go abroad for a few days unfortunately. To me, it's not a surprise if some foreigners want to join, as they love what Poland stands for in a 21st-century European context, where a new form of independence needs to be fought for. I belong to them, although in my case it has deeper roots. I belong to a generation whose grand-fathers fought the second world war and my grand-mother joined the Resistance against the Nazi invader (she was in a network whose mission was to unmask quislings and kill them). For me, it's easy to get along with people of similar culture in another country. And what some people will call nationalist on a despising tone is to me nothing more than just being civic-minded.

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

PiS may have been beaten on the mayor election in several big cities and may have lost half of the voivodeships but if, as some of you say, many PiS voters didn't bother going to vote, and considering that the Koalicja is indeed made of parties having to unite for the occasion if they wanted to score, then PiS still definitely leads the charge. They may still well score in 2019 as I doubt that .N and PO will merge then, too many seats at sejm to be lost by ambitious candidates ;)... not to count Poles fed up with E.U. totalitarianism of which PO is the representative.

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

For Krakow it's not over yet. Second poll in two weeks and we'll see for whom those who didn't vote today for that old incompetent bag Majchrowski will vote now.

I hope Wassermann wins.

Law / Voting in Poland - Rights and Registration [11]

I went to vote this morning and encountered no problem. I just showed my card "dokument potwierdzający prawo stałego pobytu" and the lady checked her printed list. As I figured on the list, I just had to sign near my name, then she gave me the 3 forms for electing the mayor, the candidate for city council and the candidate for voivodeship council. Didn't have to queue at that early time, took only 5 minutes. I was voting in Krakow Bronowice.

What about you, other EU citizens residing in Poland, are you going to vote ?

Law / Voting in Poland - Rights and Registration [11]

I'm an EU citizen with permanent resident status here in Krakow and I wanted to vote for these local elections. We indeed have the right to vote for local and European elections but we can't just show up at the polling station and ask to vote. We first need to go to the city hall and ask to be registered as voter. That's what I did last May.

There are two registers: register A for Polish nationals and register B for us. A civil servant came to my home a week or so after my request (requests are discussed in a comitee) to give me the written decision in person.

How does the polling station know that you are registered? Do they have printed books o, or a computer connected to the city hall server ? Which documents do you need to bring? Only your resident card (the one looking like an identity card, called "dokument potwierdzający prawo stałego pobytu") or do you also need to show your passport or identity card, or the document written y the administration to certify that you are in register A or B ?

Work / Electronic invoicing service in Poland for businesses? E-invoices (e-faktury) [10]

Merged:

Which software to make invoices on MacOSX compliant with Polish requirements

Hello,

Due to the recent changes, I can't make invoices the way I was used to for the past 9 years: using a simple word processor. Business owners must now use a specific application which can produce JPK_FA data.

I need such an application which runs on MacOSX, allows me to make invoices either in Zloty or Euro (intra-communautary transaction) depending on my client's origin, and as a consequence I must be able to specify either bank account informations on the invoice for the customer to make a transfer (optionally should manage VAT split payments).

Can you recommend something ?
I'd like to avoid having to use Windows just for that if possible, and I don't want a cloud-based app.

Thanks.

Law / Sign PDF file with EPUAP profile to create XADES file ? [8]

Actually I finally sorted it out.

I went to the KIR company to buy the Szafir application. They preferred to use my passport rather than my E.U. identity card for proof of identity, then argued that after the initial letter of my third christian name, there was a dot on my passport, but not on my karta pobytu, so they recommended to sort this out first at urząd miasta. :-/

When I went to urzad miasta to retrieve the appropriate document testifying I was granted PESEL, I discussed the matter of the dot. So they immediately changed that in their computer and printed me again the document with my third name initial letter written on it. Then I went to court to register the KRS forms and they accepted the document testifying PESEL (uuuffff!!). I asked if it were possible to speed up the review process of my documents because the end of June was approaching and they accepted but had to write an improvised letter in Polish (there, at the desk) asking for it and justifying the reason. It worked, it took just a few days to see the changed reflected in my online data.

Meanwhile I went back to KIR and bought the app. They produced the certificate the next day. I created the Xades files without problem and sent them to court using the S24 portal. They were quickly reviewed and I received the confirmation from KRS on Friday 29th June, right before the end of the month and my departure on holiday. Good timing, but it was close !

Law / Sign PDF file with EPUAP profile to create XADES file ? [8]

My very friendly accountant already spent a lot of time with me (at no cost) trying to figure it out as well. I think I'll have to buy a software and a certificate to produce these files. My accountant first did the files for me using his signature. It worked when I submitted them through the S24 portal but a week later, I received a message through the system saying that they were rejected because the person who signed them is not a member of the board of my company. So they really must be signed by me. I'll still try to make these xades files using epuap today. If I can't, I'll go buy the Szafir software and certificate from the KIR office located in ul. Lea in Krakow.

All this just because I don't have my PESEL registered in KRS. If I had PESEL, a standard PDF would be enough to submit to the court through the Internet. When I moved to Poland eight years ago and I registered the company, I didn't have PESEL yet, I received it only three months later. So I now want to update my data in KRS and that's yet another exemple of stupid administration logic :

I don't have to simply fill up one form to update my PESEL. I need to fill up three forms !
The first form is to remind everything that the administration already knows about the company, and state the modifications I'm planning to submit.
The second form is to add my PESEL information to the president of the board (me).
The third form is to add my PESEL information to the shareholder (me again).
When I went to the court with these documents, I thought it would be OK.
No ! The lady asked me to join a document proving that I received PESEL.
I said well, it's written here on my identity card (permanent resident card) so the administration knows that it granted me a PESEL number.

Lady: the court doesn't know. Please join the original letter you must have received from the "urzad wojewodski" eight years ago, stating that it granted you this PESEL number.

Hmmm... I don't have any such letter so I went to "urzad wojewodski" as they handle foreigners matters.
No! We can't help you with that. Please go to "urząd miasta".
I go there (in Krakow, it's the same desks where you handle "zameldowania/wymeldowania" matters), but they can't produce such a document. Fortunately, the other lady there was nice, called her director immediately and, especially, they will write a letter certifying that I received this PESEL. So, next Monday (tomorrow), I need to go back there, straight to the director office, to retrieve the document (cost: 17zł) then go again to court to submit the KRS documents.

I hoped that I.T. would help them get rid of the old communistic administration methods, but it simply makes them worst, and the culture remains. They reproduced with computers the organization's complexity they had for decades with paper. My wife, who is Polish, is both amused and angered with what I have to go through, "Exactly like at the times of the komuna".

Life / English speakers community in Kraków? [17]

Hello MisterRocky. I suppressed my FB account a long time ago, but you can send me a private message through this site if you can't reply to this public thread. Cheers...

Life / English speakers community in Kraków? [17]

Hi, do these meetings still take place ? I attended once in 2014 then wasn't really available anymore due to family life, but would like to attend again.

Travel / Foreign beers in Krakow [18]

Merged: Where to find Old Speckled ale beer in Cracow/Krakow ?

I do love to drink an English ale from time to time -- though I'm no Brit -- and my favourite is the Old Speckled Hen. Are English ales generally sold in Poland? Can I found Old Speckled in Cracow (looked in Auchan, Carrefour, Zabka and Lewiatan but couldn't find any).

Thanks

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

Quite shocked by Tusk's threatening the UK of a so-called hard Brexit if they don't accept free movement of people. The former Polish prime minister seems to forget all the money from Western Europe put into Eastern Europe via the E.U. to help it rise from under-developement. Not to mention the million Poles working in the U.K. where they send back some money to Poland to make it better for their families. Same goes, although in lesser proportions, for Romania and a few others. It's time to say Thank you instead of vetoing! I understand he now speaks as president of the E.U. council but anyway such hypocritical behaviours won't change the opinion about Eastern Europe. I guess Tusk is aware that, in the case of a hard Brexit, U.K. would just kick out all Poles within short notice, so the dog may bark, let it bark...

Nothing wrong the U.K. in my opinion. Why did the E.U. want to destroy national sovereignties and integrate all countries into something that would be similar to the "United States of Europe" in the end? And why did it have to seek membership of poor countries form the south and the east? As a taxpayer who gave away a lot of money, I'll go the Thatcher way: I want my money back !

E.U. shouldn't have been different from what it was in the fifties: a union meant to prevent that intra-european wars arise again, with a common industry and energy policy to make us stronger together as facing the other emerging great powers of the world. There was no need for anything more.

Law / Just got my permanent resident permit to live in Poland :) [46]

@ivnp71
You must also prove that you have been a temporary resident for at least 5 years. It means that, over the past 5 years, you must have spent more than 6 months each year in Poland, and a good proof is to show how you earnt your living (work contracts, income tax declarations - yes, they can check).

Law / Just got my permanent resident permit to live in Poland :) [46]


I can understand you. My parents had English friends who were fed up of London at some point and started a new life in Cambridgeshire in the late eighties ;-)

@Polsyr,

Well, that's what I was thinking of. On one side there is the law, then if something is arguable, they may just extend a temporary permit instead of granting a permanent one. I've heard stories about that (true stories from consular source). What they also look at is whether you can justify earning a salary in Poland for 5 years (if there is an interruption, or if you "forgot" to fill up the PIT37 form), you may get in trouble or have your situation delayed.

Work / Salary expectation for a Junior java developer in Krakow / Warsaw Poland? [17]

I think 4000zl is a normal salary for that position in Poland, however the tax rate you will be submitted to is 18%, so that should leave you with 3390zl after tax. Your income tax also covers social security and medical care, but that's not much. I recommend taking a budget out of your salary to buy yourself a complementary private medical insurance in order to get the same medical care as you would expect in the West. Furthermore, many companies just offer such an insurance to their employees. Make sure you can't get one from your employer. That would be great if it was possible to include this in your package.

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]

[Moved from]: Salaries in Poland for specialists and executives

Hello,

I just came across a report made by the Antal Recruitment agency in 2013 about salaries in Poland for specialists and executives. The report is written in Polish but tables with figures are easily understandable even for a non-Polish speaker.

Here is a link to the report: kariera.kozminski.edu.pl/fileadmin/kariera.kozminski.edu.pl/Raporty/Antal_-_wynagrodzenia_specjalistow_i_menedzerow.pdf

From the report, a description of the methodology used to compile those figures:

Life / Many Problems with UPC Broadband in Poland - Anyone Else? [20]

I'm in Krakow (Mistrzejowice) and do not have problems with UPC.

Life / English speakers community in Kraków? [17]

Actually I made a mistake when typing. I do attend those French meetings occasionally. It's the Polish meetings which no longer exist (I'm speaking of the meetings which used to take place at Satori each Sunday at 6pm).

Life / English speakers community in Kraków? [17]

@MisterRocky
You posted this in January. This is now May. Do meetings currently take place at the same place and time ?
Then I'll give it a try. I often attended the French meetings since I live in Krakow (2010) because It's my mother tongue, but they're not organized anymore.

Travel / In Poland, breathtaking aerial photographs [4]

Merged: Where to develop Kodak Tri-X film in Krakow ?

Hi,

I'm outside Poland, doing standard black and white photography using Tri-X 400 film. Unfortunately, due to the decrease in demand and profitability, no shop here is processing those films themselves anymore and it takes 1 week to get them back, which is too late for me. I'll rather get them processed once I come back home to Krakow. Which shop do you recommend, that will process them or ship them to an external lab ?

Thanks