prezjam
20 Nov 2015
Law / Polish Citizenship Confirmation - Religious Greek Marriage Certificate Problem [3]
I am looking to confirm my Polish citizenship and my confirmation process should be pretty straightforward, the only hiccup is the fact that my parents were married in Greece and not Poland. They were married in a religious ceremony and not a civil ceremony so their marriage certificate is a religious one. The representative at the Polish embassy in Ottawa said that the religious document wouldn't do. When I went to the Greek embassy it was not on file with the civil registry in Athens and it seems that I would need to physically go to Athens to sort it out. However, the Greek representative did say that every few months or a couple times a year he faced this problem with someone else. He was able to give me an official stamped and signed document saying that civil and religious marriages are of equal standing and that a civil marriage is not a prerequisite of a religious marriage under Greek law. He said that he had given these documents out before and that he had not heard from them after so presumably the document with the marriage certificate was sufficient. Before sending in my application I am trying to contact the authorities beforehand to make sure the two documents combined are enough so I waste neither my time or money. The consulate in Vancouver said that it was a matter of the authorities in Poland to decide if it would be enough and that the authorities in Warsaw would be responsible for deciding my citizenship so I emailed them one week ago and am still waiting for a response. On top of this I have vital original documents spanning three generations proving my Polish citizenship. So my question is has anyone faced such a problem? Anyone else here or ever hear of somebody whose parents were married in Greece and only have a religious marriage certificate and how it affected their confirmation of Polish citizenship?
I am looking to confirm my Polish citizenship and my confirmation process should be pretty straightforward, the only hiccup is the fact that my parents were married in Greece and not Poland. They were married in a religious ceremony and not a civil ceremony so their marriage certificate is a religious one. The representative at the Polish embassy in Ottawa said that the religious document wouldn't do. When I went to the Greek embassy it was not on file with the civil registry in Athens and it seems that I would need to physically go to Athens to sort it out. However, the Greek representative did say that every few months or a couple times a year he faced this problem with someone else. He was able to give me an official stamped and signed document saying that civil and religious marriages are of equal standing and that a civil marriage is not a prerequisite of a religious marriage under Greek law. He said that he had given these documents out before and that he had not heard from them after so presumably the document with the marriage certificate was sufficient. Before sending in my application I am trying to contact the authorities beforehand to make sure the two documents combined are enough so I waste neither my time or money. The consulate in Vancouver said that it was a matter of the authorities in Poland to decide if it would be enough and that the authorities in Warsaw would be responsible for deciding my citizenship so I emailed them one week ago and am still waiting for a response. On top of this I have vital original documents spanning three generations proving my Polish citizenship. So my question is has anyone faced such a problem? Anyone else here or ever hear of somebody whose parents were married in Greece and only have a religious marriage certificate and how it affected their confirmation of Polish citizenship?