Law / An international student in Poland wants to stay here permanently and get Polish citizenship [23]

You should be staying in Poland 5 years to get permanent card and then 3 years after getting permanent card, you can apply for citizenship-after proving Polish language skills. This residency in Poland should have been legalized for work, the times that you spend as a student are count as half.

As far as I know, if you get married, you can be citizen within 3 and a half years. However, I would personally say -do not get married like a lot of eastern people do- just to get papers

Travel / Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all? [149]

I have been hearing from people who come from the UK and Ireland- generally- that the drivers are big mess here. I have never been to the UK, however after coming from Istanbul, I can say that Polish drivers are generally good and law-abiding (mostly you may not agree with me but remember I compare with Istanbul :) ).

However, if we get to the speed topic this can be a little crazy, as I see when the limit is 140 on the highway (please correct me if I am wrong) when I am on the right lane with 120-130, I see a lot of cars passing by me much faster on the left lane. Speed limits are not respected mostly.


Sometimes it can be really disturbing as delphiandomine mentioned, they get stuck to your back like ticks until they get a chance to overtake.

But I would tell you to relax, some rules are not respected but if you are careful, you will not face any problems.

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]

Lesson should have been learned before, the same happened again. We were looking for a car for my girlfriend, we went to check the car around 80 km. She was so excited to buy it, we took it for a check- not detailed-but like suspension, brakes and so on- it looked okay. We also took a test drive and everything seemed well.

It is the first owner and he said there is just local painting on the back and etc. Then we gave them an amount to keep the car so we were gonna buy it tomorrow. Today it came to our mind that we should have checked it more detailed- I went back to that city and took it to the brand's service department and oh my god-whole body got painted apart from the top-leaks with turbo and oil pipes-chassis is damaged-probably it had a big accident . It was big shock!

And the so called "family guy"- the thief, who was saying the car was tiptop, refused to give the money back that we gave him as advance.

I was thinking it was mostly happening in Turkey, but the same happened here in Poland, I am really so angry, I could hardly stop myself hitting him.

Be extra careful when you buy a car and do not trust even to your father!

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]


Yes I know but you know we are trying private persons- I bought my car from a guy in Krakow- whatever he said was true when I went to the service after a full check- and I am pleased with that- there was a small accident he had from the front and the bumper was changed, he also had the photos after accident. I am using it for a year and pleased with that.

I would say that okay - if there was just leaks they did not realize but c'mon whole body painted and chassis is damaged? I was thinking he would be ashamed after seeing the result but he flippantly refused to give it back.


I was thinking about that, probably I will take something from Germany.


After that when he wıll be going to the police I will be the one who will suffer- maybe even deported. It is not worth for such money- I am just angry about myself, it is my mistake, do not f.... trust!

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]


you do not have to buy it but consequences Dougpol1, I need to think about...

By the way I saw 2 more but resprayed from important places, even if they say they do not have accidents, it is hard to trust.


Very nice way of thinking :))

History / When will you Poles give back German land and the cities which you robbed? [557]


if you are still here,-if you have a unlogical demand like this first give millions of lives you had taken back to the Poles and then you will have a face to demand something.

Work / What is deducted from a salary in Poland apart from Income tax? [155]


Hello Jake,

I earn similar, you will get around 4200 netto after around 30% cut. I think you can find a studio flat around about 1400-2000 depending on the location and the condition of the house-including all expenses like electricity, water and so on.

When I was single I was spending around 600-900 PLN for food-I mostly cook at home myself. If you have car lets say you full the depot once a month 200-300 PLN, if you do not have for public transport I am guessing 100 PLN. Some extras for you when you go out, drink beer, if you smoke-cigarettes- lets say 500 PLN

If you are a person who is not spending a lot, you may spend around 3000-3500, and around 700-1200 will be left for you. Of course I am generally taking into account what I am spending. You will be okay with that amount but not so comfortable.

Work / What is deducted from a salary in Poland apart from Income tax? [155]


Yes John of course that is possible, I was assuming that Jake would want to have comfortable life. When I had to, I was spending around 400-500 for food.


A big yes for this one either, again example of me, with 2400 pln I lived for 1 year, it was not so comfortable but I was still okay with that. The problem with lower wages that you always have to think about whenever you spend something :)


Hello Elturco- sorry I am not using messaging- if you wonder some things please open a topic I will gladly comment.

Law / Car Insurance in Poland (A/C) [32]

Hello,

So I want to add a question here too.

Any suggestions about which insurance company you would offer for OC and AC? I have totally around 1 year insurance background in Poland and have a Polish license. My insurance (OC) will end around 45 days.

I have 7 year old car and it is not an expensive one-renault but still I want to also have AC - so OC and AC together for a reasonable amount-that I can also pay with 2 installments. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Life / How Safe Are the Polish Cities? [179]

I have lived in 3 cities and visited some other cities in a few years. Krakow is the safest from my point of view. Especially south part of Krakow would be my first choice. For Trojmiasto I could say mostly I felt safe however, I have faced 3-4 times skinheads in 2 years which were really aggressive. But I can say mostly I feel safe.

Travel / Tips and advice on CAR HIRE IN KRAKOW AREA [10]


I have never heard something like that, I also drive my own car here in Krakow- I do not think that there is such thing as parking permit. Just when you park in the city center you should be careful and check for parkomat.

I used a company called "Rentis" once, they had good prices and the guy who works there was very friendly. They have comparatively good prices and you can leave the car in another city. (you will need to leave deposit) rentis. pl

Real Estate / Monthly Rental for a decent flat in Lodz - cost? [13]

600 pln including all ? I do not think so, maybe just for the house rent that can even be hard.

Law / Car Insurance in Poland (A/C) [32]

Thanks looker, correct, for my car it comes from 500 to 1000 pln just for OC and I am surprised to see they are putting a lot to the total amount when you want to pay with 2 installments.

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]

I bought my diesel renault for 15k 1 year ago and also happy with that. of course I have checked in Renault to see if everything is okay and everything that the guy said seem to be true and he also admitted that he does not know much about the early history of the car as it was imported from Germany.


I believe so, when money comes into the topic, looks like most of the people lose their honesty.

We found finally something nice for my girlfriend (end of august) from the brand`s dealer, we were more and more careful and checked everything in another service. Thanks everybody for the comments.

Love / Polish - Pakistani relationship. How it works in reality? Are Pakistanis a good men? [70]


that is mostly correct and it is not propaganda. As Turkey is the muslim country like Roger mentioned - which can be called the best Islamic place for women- most of the men treat the women as their "property" and "second class people". This is the best example and it sounds terrible-

I always say, a person who call himself or herself as "Muslim" cannot succeed in a relationship with "Polish" girl/guy ("Polish" can be extended to "European" or "non Islamic cultures" girl/guy. There can be some expections while the people are not so connected with "religion" but the proportion will not be high.

Travel / Caught on photo radar on Poland's road - how long for a speeding ticket to arrive? How to pay? [14]

Merged: Question about mandat

I had a very strange situation tonight,

After getting angry because of some closed roads in Cracow, I made a mistake and suddenly turned in the middle of the street to the other side and 100 meters later, I passed traffic lights when the lights changed to yellow.

Police caught me soon and they said 1000 pln mandat plus 11 points. When I insisted about the light was not red they said okay we will give 300 PLN plus 3 points. (I changed my driver`s license to Polish one I gave it to them with my karta pobytu)

10 min later they came and told me that I am so lucky and I will not get any points or mandat. I was so surprised

The question is if they can send me later any ticket because of this wrong turn and the light thing?

Any ideas?

Travel / Caught on photo radar on Poland's road - how long for a speeding ticket to arrive? How to pay? [14]


I am just thinking that my ID is a temporary card and my polish driver`s license was given in exchange for turkish one. Only possible explanation comes to my mind is they were not sure about what to do because of my papers. It was so weird that they gave up giving a fine. I surprisedly looked at the police and said `no mandat no ponts, really?` He said yes, enjoy your stay in Poland :)


I hope it will be like that because I am assuming they caught my U turn from the street cameras, they were waiting in another location, I saw them when I passed the lights.


He told that I could go court for it, that is exactly what I would do, I was sure about it was yellow not red. But I was surprised about not getting any fine for U turn.

Travel / Recommendations for places to stay in Zakopane [8]

Hello everyone,

I want to go for a short trip, for a few days, to rest a little and for sightseeing. I prefer mountainous areas in the south apart from Zakopane as I had been there. Would you recommend any city, town to go and spend a few days, any place nice like Zakopane or maybe even better that you think?

Language / Message from Polish speaking friend (in English) translation help [13]

I am trying to find out two car part names in Polish, if anybody can help

motor/engine mount and transmission mount, these are the parts to keep the car part from falling apart.

Language / Message from Polish speaking friend (in English) translation help [13]

Thank you, poduszka silnika is what I was looking for.

Law / PESEL urgently need - Current order of applications? [10]

In order to register your place of residence, you should have your contract signed between you and landlord - if the contract is in any other language than in Polish you will need the presence of the landlord with you and you should go to Urzad Miasta - City Hall and fill in one form which will not take very long time. If there is no contract, you should take the person who is giving you accomodation (along with ownership papers) and ask how to proceed in Urzad Miasta.

I lately heard from some people, they stopped giving PESEL number to foreigners except for people who have permanent residence card, in the past when you register yourself in Urzad Miasta you were able to tell them you would like to have a PESEL number and after a few weeks you could go back and ask them for PESEL confirmation..

Work / Information about jobs for Indian students in Poland [286]

Posted a lot of times as everybody mentioned, do not know why people are not checking previous messages.

Without knowing Polish (fluent level), the chance to find a job here, especially if you are a student, is too low. You might be able to find internship -if you are lucky- which you will have to work around 30 hours a week and most probably unpaid. You will have better chance if you know some other European languages (except for English) in areas like customer service, accounting and IT support. Just with English and Indian language (adding lack of experience), it will be very hard to find a job

Life / Going to Poland in a hijab - Polish people and Islam [154]

Poland is homogeneous country that even when you are have darker skin, people will be staring you on the streets- do not want to exaggerate but you will feel it most of the time.

You wont be able to socialize comfortably, especially your wife with hijab will have more problems with that.

As most of the people said, most probably you will have people staring at you but physical intervention is unlikely but not impossible.

This is not a country for Muslims to live if they are connected with their values, if the case is that you want to live here.

Work / Legal work in Poland for English speaking student? [3]

with native English, it is likely that you can find a job (lack of experience can make it a little harder), as you also carry Polish passport and you are not in need of work permit. As you mentioned that you do not expect high pay, you can check customer support or if you would be interested in accounting, it is worth to give it a try.

I was using sites like careerjet.pl (a web site which is bringing a lot of offers from different career sites) and pracuj.pl in the past.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

just a question here, do you think it is a `must` to go for a language course to learn Polish or you think it would be possible to learn it from books, cds, etc at home? I am slowly coming to my fourth year and after all still I have basic Polish skills, so that I seriously started to think to make some effort to learn.

Life / Moving to Gdansk from Lodz - having doubts [15]


I went from Sopot to Lodz after living in Sopot for 2 years - I could stand Lodz just for half a year(big depression), my job in Lodz was what I wanted, that is why I left Trojmiasto. Lodz is so dark and depressing, I would say in Trojmiasto, I would feel better. If the pay is not bad, I suggest you to move, you will feel better in Trojmiasto (in my case I would not even think, I would go back :)


I think, this is the most important part you should be thinking.

Work / What is deducted from a salary in Poland apart from Income tax? [155]

Hello,

The amount that you were offered will give you around 10k as net salary.

I do not have any children but just to give you some idea:

2-3 bedroom flat around: 2000-2500 PLN (in nice condition not far from city,)
bills: electricity, gas, heating, administration and so on: 500-800
Kitchen: around 1500-2000 ( a rough guess)
If you have car, lets say tanking it full once a month: 200-250 PLN

The part for your kid - school and other things I cannot comment but without costs of your child and your personal expenditures I would say you will spend around 5-7k a month.

And just to add, it always can change up or down according to what standards you want to live

Life / Moving to Gdansk from Lodz - having doubts [15]

I live in Cracow for a year, before that I tried to go back for Trojmiasto but it was not easy to find a job back there.

In my opinion, the best place is to live is Trojmiasto if one`s economic situation is good.


If you are close to the main train station it will not be a problem, as far as I remember during the working hours, you have train every 10-15 minutes to Gdansk. It can take some time by the way, around 40 minutes.

Law / WORK/LIFE - BRITISH RELOCATING TO POLAND. What are the steps? [3]

As far as I know and as it was discussed here, they stopped giving PESEL to foreigners. For tax purposes, you will need NIP number - for this one, you can go with your address registration to the closest tax office and register yourself there, I am not sure but I suppose you can also ask for NIP there. I think this part will be needed to start work- but you can confirm with HR department.

it is better to come here to stay in a hostel and find a place to stay, not good idea to deal with it from UK. As you are EU citizen, I do not think you will have problem to settle here for a few months without residence card and so on.

It can be fun to see that in some foreign offices, most of the people `may not` be able to speak English, but for sure you will find someone who can speak English, especially in big cities.

Law / In Poland on residence card (married to Polish girl) want travel to UK for 2 weeks! [16]

if you are non-EU citizen you cannot, you need to apply for visa.