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Posts by Ziutek  

Joined: 23 Feb 2012 / Male ♂
Last Post: 22 Feb 2019
Threads: 9
Posts: 160
From: Gdańsk
Speaks Polish?: yes

Displayed posts: 169 / page 2 of 6
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Ziutek   
30 Oct 2017
Law / Finding proof of Polish passport of my grandfather [7]

Have you got your dates and locations right? Israel didn't exist in 1940 and I can't find anywhere in Ukraine that sounds like Delaityn. It's important because for you to have any hope of citizenship your great grandfather needs to have been been living in Poland in 1918 when the modern Polish state was founded.
Ziutek   
26 Oct 2017
Travel / Gdansk Christmas markets [26]

@Lisah78
I live in Gdańsk and naturally think it's the best place in Poland. However, I'm not sure it has the best Christmas market. If I were you, I'd consider Wrocław and maybe Kraków. As far as the beaches are concerned, of course you can go for a stroll on them in the winter but part of their attraction is the numerous bars, stalls and restaurants that they contain but which, with a few exceptions, close at the beginning of September.
Ziutek   
26 Oct 2017
Language / Polish pronounciation of: cz vs ć/ci, sz vs ś/si, ź vs ż and dż vs dź/dzi - how to make these sound diff [79]

Do you think that the 'i' in biały is silent and therefore the word is pronounced as b-awy?

No. Ziemowit has explained the situation better than I have so far managed. I was using the word "silent" in the same sense as you when you wrote

This is why in stickymany's example ' działa' is pronounced 'Ja-wa', and the 'i' is silent

. That is, it doesn't produce its own sound but serves to soften the preceding consonant (b in biały, dz in działa)
Ziutek   
24 Oct 2017
Language / Polish pronounciation of: cz vs ć/ci, sz vs ś/si, ź vs ż and dż vs dź/dzi - how to make these sound diff [79]

i always softens the proceeding consonant. What "soften" means depends on the consonant in question. For most consonants, it just means insert an "y" (as in "yellow") sound. If the i appears on its own it is pronounced, but if it is before another vowel it is silent. So "pani" sounds like "panyi" but "nie" sounds like "nye", "pies" sounds like "pies". However, for c,dz,s,z it means produce a soft "shushing" sound.

If the softened consonant is at the end of the word, an acute accent is used instead of i: n->ń, c->ć, dz->dź etc.
Ziutek   
11 Oct 2017
Life / Confirming Poland's citizenship required, but have Polish Birth Certificate? Born in the US. [5]

@zazak
It's much easier than you think. You only need a translation of your birth certificate (which you already have) and anything that proves your mother had Polish citizenship when you were born. It took me two months and my circumstances were far less clear cut than yours.

@DominicB Polish bureaucrats are a pleasure to work with if you have all of your ducks in a row. Agreed.
Ziutek   
3 Oct 2017
Language / The use of 'sobie' in Poland's language [16]

I always think of it as meaning "having a read of ..." but I'm not a native speaker, so maybe I've not caught the nuance exactly.
Ziutek   
17 Sep 2017
Law / Poland's citizenship by descent question. Polish great-great grandfather arrived in the USA as a kid. [75]

The basic principle is that if your parent is a Polish citizen when you are born, you are also a Polish citizen. You don't have to apply for citizenship - you already have it. All you need to do is have it confirmed if there is any doubt. Obviously, people born before the foundation of the Second Republic are an edge case and there the rule was that if you had not other nationality but were settled in Poland in 1920 or born there you were Polish. I would guess, this means that Charles was not Polish because Karol was not a citizen when he was born ie the 1920 act was not retroactive (and Charles wasn't settled or born in Poland). Harry is right that Karol would probably have lost his citizenship through lack of military service in 1929, but Charles would have been an adult by then so this would not have affected him. However the key point seems to be that he was not born a citizen of Poland simply because at the time of his birth, it didn't exist.
Ziutek   
17 Sep 2017
Law / Poland's citizenship by descent question. Polish great-great grandfather arrived in the USA as a kid. [75]

As far as I understand it, the situation is as follows. Citizenship was assigned on the basis of the 1920 citizenship law, which said that anyone born on the territory of what had just become Poland, and had not taken citizenship elsewhere, was entitled to Polish citizenship. This would have applied to Karol until 1938, when he acquired US citizenship. Any of Karol's descendants born between 1918 and 1938 would also have had it. However, I don't think Charles would have benefited because he was born on foreign soil BEFORE Karol himself obtained Polish citizenship. I could be wrong and I think it is worth checking, because if you can establish that Charles had Polish citizenship and that it wasn't renounced in any subsequent generations, then your wife would also have it by descent.
Ziutek   
31 Aug 2017
Real Estate / Tax on UK rental income, while residency in Poland [11]

In general, tax is paid in the country in which you are resident. There are a few cases where it is paid in the country in which the money is earned, rental income being one of these. I am not an expert, but my reading of the UK-Poland double taxation treaty is that the other country does not have the right to tax that income at all, meaning that if you have a tax allowance in the country where the property is, you get to keep it. I tested this by downloading some Polish tax-declaration software and trying some imaginary scenarios and it although I was required to declare the UK income, it did not affect the amount of tax payable. I wasn't asked how much tax I had paid in the UK so that the Urząd Skarbowy could use that as an allowance against tax payable in Poland for example. Since I am still officially UK resident, I have not tested this conclusion in real life.

However, it seems to me that your situation is different since it is not you, but your mother who is earning the income from the property. The fact that you are receiving the money means she is passing it on as a gift. I don't know if there is any special treatment for gifts, but I would guess that they count as normal income, which would be liable for taxation in Poland.
Ziutek   
28 Aug 2017
Food / Indian/Bangladeshi grocery store in Gdansk [9]

What is/was it called? The only shop I can find that might match your description is Kuchnie Świata but that isn't specifically Asian.
Ziutek   
17 May 2017
Law / A parent born in Poland. Obtaining a Polish birth certificate? [38]

You are welcome.
Unfortunately I've just been to get my birth certificate registered and they wanted to retain the original, so if you want to keep yours you should get a new copy from your registry office in Australia.
Ziutek   
16 May 2017
Law / A parent born in Poland. Obtaining a Polish birth certificate? [38]

Yes, they will be enough. Bear in mind though, that to get your passport, you will still need a PESEL and to get that you will still need to get your birth certificate transcribed to the Polish registry. It's just that it's not necessary for confirmation of citizenship.

If by "apostille" you mean getting your Australian birth certificate certified for international recognition, I don't think it is necessary. Maybe the rules are different within the EU, but I didn't have to get it done. However, you will need a sworn translation ( łumaczenie przysięgłe).
Ziutek   
16 May 2017
Law / A parent born in Poland. Obtaining a Polish birth certificate? [38]

@Iza22
Thanks!
But you don't need to register your birth until after you get confirmation of citizenship and the same applies to the PESEL.
So all you need is:
a) your birth certificate and translation
b) your parents' birth certificates
c) your parent's marriage certificate and translation if they were married outside Poland.
As for having your documents apostilled, if you go to the office with the originals, they will copy them and give them back to you.