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Posts by amIpolish  

Joined: 4 Nov 2011 / Male ♂
Last Post: 4 Nov 2011
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amIpolish   
4 Nov 2011
Law / The Age Old Question: Am I a Polish Citizen? (now American) [11]

For years I have researched whether or not I am a Polish citizen by descent and have considered applying for confirmation and that wonderful benefit of an EU passport. I have consulted some experts in the field and have gotten various answers. I thought that I would query here to see if someone can dissect my case and give a good and straight answer. I am considering heading to Warsaw in a few months and coughing up near 1000 euro to a lawyer to help me in this, and hoping for some encouraging news from someone knowledge before I do so.

Here is a rundown of the case.(BTW I am American)

Documentation
-Birth and death certificates of all relevant family members
-Naturalization certificate
-Polish passport of ancestor
-Polish birth certificate of ancestor
-Polish(Rabbinical? family is Jewish) marriage document of ancestor and spouse
-Statement from US military service that they have no record of my ancestor in US military

History
-Great-Grandfather born in Poland 1896
-Leaves for US in 1928
-Grandmother born in 1932 in US
-Great-Grandfather becomes US citizen 1935(but never joins military which apparently keeps him from losing citizenship in Poland)
-Grandmother turns 18 in 1950
- More sane nationality law goes into effect in Poland in 1951
-Father born in 1958

Issues
According to some because my grandmother became an adult in 1950 somehow Poland view her as losing her citizenship then as it was before the 1951 reforms. I have conflicting reports on this. It doesn't seem to make sense to me and I believe I've read there was a provision to exempt people of Polish national who were born in another country and acquired citizenship there by birth there from losing Polish citizenship for that reason. I am not sure why here becoming an adult effects her citizenship status, as this has no bearing on citizenship in the US.

I am also worried about the 1935 naturalization, my great-grandfather was 39 when he was naturalized here, within military obligation age and thus according to what I read and heard it wasn't possible for him to lose the Polish citizenship for this reason.

Hopefully, someone who has been through the procedure or is very familiar with the regulations can help me sort this out before I invest in more professional and expensive help. Also I hear that the laws are somewhat subjective so I hope that being an educated and productive member of society would help to lean the odds of me confirming my Polish citizenship in my favor.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I am also became rather well versed in the matter, besides my own complicated case, so if you have any question please ask me and I will try to help.