Law / Is it possible to change visit visa to student or work permit in Poland? [16]


No. This is not allowed. Tourist visas can't be "converted" into anything else. You must get your student visa while you are still in India. If you come to Poland on a tourist visa, you will not be allowed to study unless you return to India and apply for a student visa there.


No. And anyone who says they can help you is a fraud scam artist who will steal your money and give you nothing.

You have to do it on your own. No "agent", "consultant" or "recruiter" can help you. They are thieves if they tell you they can help with getting a visa. Stay away from them, and don't believe a word they say.

USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [343]


That's an easy one once you recognize the building in the background. It's Marina Towers, so that puts you at State and Lake looking north up State.

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

Actually, they can. And do. I've had some jaw-droppingly good Polish cheeses at "Ecological markets".

The problem is getting Polish consumers to buy and eat decent cheese. The consumer palate is very much stuck on exceedingly bland, and very cheap. Getting them to even try a cheese that has any flavor, or, even more so, aroma, is like pulling teeth. And as for shelling out the bucks for a good cheese, forget about it.

Work / Job opportunities for experienced US Civil Engineer in Poland - any hope? [30]

@Mohammadreza

First of all, you will have to land a job BEFORE you come to Poland. You will not be able to enter Poland to seek work there.

Second, the market for engineers from almost all non-EU countries has dried up considerably because of the massive influx of Ukrainians over the past few years. IT jobs that formerly went to Indians, Pakistanis and others from the region now go preferentially to Ukrainians.

Third of all, the wages for engineers in Poland are lower than in the West, so that most engineers from foreign countries either move on to the richer countries of the West, if they can, or give up and return home with a few years. Very few stay long enough to become permanent residents, never mind citizens.

If you are interested in working as a civil engineer in Poland, then your best chance is to find work with an international company that does business in Poland, and apply for a transfer to Poland.

But then the question arises, why Poland? If you true goal is to move on to the richer countries of Western Europe, which it most probably is, you might as well concentrate your efforts on finding work there from the start, instead of using Poland as some type of "stepping stone". Or try the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (lots of opportunities in hydro-engineering), or the Gulf or South Korea.

Study / Permanent card for International Students in Poland? [16]

Yes, that's correct. One year only counts as six months, and four years only counts as two years. That means that you have to spend at least three more years as a temporary resident with a full time job on a real work contract. Very few graduates are able to fulfill that requirement. It's so difficult, that it might as well be impossible.

Law / Visa and work permit problems. Is permit valid for the specific employer in Poland? [12]

No. You completely misunderstand what a work permit is.

A foreign worker cannot apply for or receive a work permit.

It is the employer who has to apply for a work permit to hire a foreign worker.

That is why the work permit is employer specific and non-transferable, and is not worker specific.

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

Szmulik means "Little Samuel". It is a common Yiddish name.
Hewczak means "Son of Eve", as in "Adam and Eve".

Love / Why do Polish guys stare a lot? And what does that mean? [14]

How are a random bunch of complete strangers on some internet forum going to help you figure out what some guy, Polish or not, is thinking?

I assume you are an adult, and an adult would simply ask him directly face to face. Which is what I suggest you do. Keep acting like a silly pre-teen, and you may pass up the best thing that might have ever come your way. Have you even thought of inviting him out for a pizza or coffee? That would be a good first step.

Work / Business ideas for Poland [63]

@Jedynaczek34gff

I highly doubt you would find even a single customer. 500 PLN for a Yelp review? You've got to be kidding. No one is going to pay you that much when they could get it done for much cheaper than that, or even do it themselves. Or have their kid or a nephew do it. You've priced yourself way out of the market, and/or greatly overestimate the market for services in your price range.

As for peddling your services door to door, very, very few business owners are going to even give you the opportunity to make your pitch. They don't have time for any more uninvited solicitors promising to make them rich.

Sorry, but it's just another hare-brained scheme that's going to go nowhere. The big problem is that precious few business owners are going to value your services as much as you would like. And practically none are going to think that a silly yelp review is the best way to spend 500 PLN of their advertising budget.

Law / A parent born in Poland. Obtaining a Polish birth certificate? [38]

Cieśliński is a fairly common surname, and is widely spread in Poland. It's probably used by several unrelated families. If you don't have an exact place of birth, it is going to be very difficult to downright impossible to find anything.

If all you have is "somewhere in Poland", that's pretty much the end of the line.

Work / Business ideas for Poland [63]


You'd be lucky to get $10, max, for that. That is, if anyone is willing to pay you anything at all.

And forget about translating unless you have some expertise in a specialty field such as medicine, science, technology, serious finance or law. The streets are crawling and the gutters are lined with unspecialized, unexperienced translators who will jump on any available work for paltry rates. You can't compete against them and feed yourself.

Genealogy / Polish surnames of Hungarian / Ruthenian / Rusyn origin [14]

Try Hungarian. From "paitas". Influenced by Polish "pajda", which is a word of Turkish origin. My guess is that the protoplast was a Vlach, an ethnic group that once dominated the highlands of the Carpathians. The Górals are descended from Vlach herdsmen, as are present-day Rumanians.

Classifieds / Someone help me with the Polish visa appointment! [203]

No. No one can help you, and anyone who says they can is a scammer.

Language / I am looking for help to identify a song track which I believe is Polish. [25]

Apparently, the song has never been performed anywhere else than in this ad, so there is nothing for Shazam to identify.

Language / I am looking for help to identify a song track which I believe is Polish. [25]

Definitely not Polish. The commercial was filmed in a Warsaw subway station, God knows why, but the song is not in Polish.

Classifieds / Looking for a business partner in POLAND ..... [43]

I get the feeling that the Ukrainians outnumber them now, even in the IT sector, or at least they will displace them in the very near future. New hires of Indians seem to have gone done considerably. Since very few of these Indians plan to stay more than two years, their share of the workforce will also quickly decline.

Classifieds / Looking for a business partner in POLAND ..... [43]


Judging from the volume and content of posts to this forum and other forums over the past few years, it seems that job opportunities for people from India and other developing countries has just about dried up. Those jobs are now going to Ukrainians.


Ditto interest in studying in Poland among people from developing countries. There was a time when this forum received posts by genuine students asking relevant questions, but it has been a while since I have seen a post by someone who is genuinely interested in pursuing meaningful studies. Practically all of the perspective "students" who post nowadays are obviously looking for a backdoor into the EU, and intend to abscond for greener pastures in the West once they land in Poland. The serious students seem to have caught on that a degree from an English-language program in Poland is not worth much on the job market.

These English-language programs were designed to bring in cash with no strings attached and little expected in the way of quality from the rather undiscriminating target market. If anything, they damaged the reputation of Polish universities in that it made them appear they were little more than "visa schools". They seem to have peaked a few years ago.

I expect the number of Indians and people from developing countries to stagnate or drop as it becomes harder to exploit Poland as a back door to the richer countries of the EU, especially the UK. Poland seems to be clamping down on this by making rather hard to get a slot for a visa interview at their consulates. Most of the posts we get from people from developing countries these day are for help in getting a slot.

Law / I forgot to renew my Poland's temporary residence permit, what should I do? [9]


If you want qualified thoughts, you go to the Wydział do spraw cudzoziemców and get them straight from the horse's mouth, not to some anonymous internet forum populated by random unqualified individuals. If it turns out there are complications, you then consult with a competent and experienced immigration attorney.

Study / Coming to study at UITM Rzeszow, Poland [10]


It's not a real university, and is not allowed to call itself a university in the Polish language.


No. It is essentially worthless, both inside Poland and any other country.


With very few exceptions, English language programs in Poland are of low quality and reputation.


Students who can't get into real universities, and foreigners from third world countries that are not actually interested in studying, but in sneaking into the EU.

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

There are about 900 people with that surname in Poland, predominantly in Wielkopolska and Upper Silesia.

My first impression was that this is a Polonified German surname, and this was confirmed by Stankiewicz, who traces it back to the old German personal name "Kalc", which means "chalk" or "limestone". This is further confirmed by the geographical distribution. Both Wielkopolska and Upper Silesia had the highest rates of German settlement in Poland.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/kalka.html
stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=541

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

It's the name of a Catholic saint that is popularly venerated all over the world, including in Poland.

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

First of all, the proper Polish spelling would be Nepomucen.

It's from the name of a Czech saint, John Nepomucene in English. The name comes from the name of a Czech village called Nepomuk. See:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepomuk

Classifieds / Someone help me with the Polish visa appointment! [203]

Nobody can help you get an appointment. If anyone says they can help you, they are a thief and a fraud who will steal your money.

Law / Help regarding Poland's National 'D' Visa Appointment at Mumbai Consulate! [719]

@Nightrider

An appeal would be pointless. The consul was convinced that you are an economic refugee that just wants to enter Poland to stay in the EU forever. In an appeal, you would have to prove that he was wrong, and that's practically impossible.

Law / Moving back to Poland - Healthcare [112]

Why don't they call or write the NFZ office in the town to which they will be living to get a definitive answer? Straight from the horse's mouth.

I don't know what you expect from this forum. You are obviously withholding important information and framing the question in a way so that you get the answer you want to hear, so any answer you get would be worthless. Your in-law's are obvious an exceptional case, so any general answer would not apply to them.

Work / What are job opportunities in Poland for a pharmacist from India? [16]

@pratik_pratik

Chances are absolutely zero of your wife finding work of any kind. There is no shortage of pharmacists in Poland. In fact, many Polish pharmacists go abroad to work because they can't find jobs at home. Likewise with pharmaceutical companies, any needs they have are more than adequately filled by native Poles and Ukrainians. There is no need to hire anyone from outside of the EU. The same for all other fields. Your wife has zero qualifications that are worth anything on the Polish job market, and does not speak the language (and it would take her YEARS just to learn the basics). No one would hire her for anything.

Make your plans on the very safe assumption that your wife will never be able to earn even a single penny in Poland. If your plans depend on her finding work, forget about it. It's not going to happen.

There is no point in her getting her qualifications recognized in Poland. That would be a total waste of time and money because no one would ever hire her.

Sorry, but there isn't even the slightest hint of hope here. When I said zero chance, I mean exactly zero. Not one in a million or one in a billion. Zero point zero zero...........

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

Joking around, you could say it derives from the Polish word "gofr", which means "waffle". If that were the case, you could say that it pertained to someone who made waffles or ate a lot of them, or was so pockmarked that his face looked like a waffle.

On a more serious note, though, it looks like an Austrian clerks attempt to write the Polish word "gawron", which is a type of raven-like bird called a "rook" in English.

When Poland was divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria in the late 1700s, most Poles did not have surnames and the occupying authorities made them choose one.

The surname almost certainly started in or near a town called Brzeszko in southeastern Poland, which was in the part occupied by Austria.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/gofron.html

It is probable that the Austrian clerk charged with recording surnames spelt it this way in the official record, and the spelling stuck.

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

Then that spelling would be German, and not Polish. "I" cannot come after "D" in Polish. To determine what the original Polish name was, you would have to do some research.

Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [402]

That spelling is not possible in Polish. There are four possible names that could have give rise to it: Wodziński, Wodziński, Włodziński and Włodyński, the last two being rather rare. You will have to do some digging to figure out which was the correct original spelling.

Work / Can I find a job in Poland that requires speaking in English? [82]


No. It's basically worthless on the job market. There is a huge glut of business graduates worldwide. Business degrees don't count for much unless they are from a top business school, and even then, they don't mean much without plenty of actual business experience.