Real Estate / How much would it cost to build a house in Poland? [23]

The land was cheap because of no water or drains but we had to invest in our own well and septic tank. Once you have invested I think you are better off because then your water needs are almost free other than the electric to pump the water up and the 4 times a year pump out of your tank.

We do live in a village well sort of next to a forest but technically in a village. Also the price was cheap as we built a wooden house all the Pole think we are crazy and that we would freeze to death in the Winter but it is very warm and totally comfortable.

Wooden houses are cheap here because wood is plentifull

Law / Registering Residence in Poland for a Polish Citizen [3]

To register you need to have proof of ownership or permission of the owner of the property. If its yours go to your urzad miasta with you act notrialna (spelling maybe wrong) This is the document you recieved upon purcasing the property. If it is not yours it can be more complicated you have to get the owner of the property to give you permission to register there. This can be easy i.e a letter but some urzad's will expect the owner to turn up with you with their documentation. Give me more details about your situation and I will see if I can offer more advice.

Love / How do Polish girls like to be asked and what sort of first dates are preferred? [4]

Ok So......

I am going to generalize allot in this post, about Polish men and Women no offence is intended and for every generalization there will be thousands who do not fit that image.

So here we go, Most Polish men are very Macho and this can be attractive to allot of Polish women however this Machoness comes with downsides, namely lack of intelligence, sensitivity and creativity. So you need to present yourself as a guy with these qualities but without loosing your manliness. In general a Polish girl will expect the man to take the lead so it will be down to you to do the asking. Also they in general like to be swept of their feet so the first date has to be good and well thought out. Also she has moved from her country to the UK which means she is exciting and adventurous and willing to try new things which is good. So my advice for what it is worth is.

You need to do the asking and just invite her for an evening out without allot of details be clear it's a date so you don't get disappointed when she rocks up with a couple of mates in tow. Now time for some planning she is fairly new to the UK so you need to loo for something she won't have done something interesting like an activity e.g boating or pottery classes or cooking classes. I am sure you will be able to google stuff like that for your city. Make sure the first part of the date is with little or no alcohol so you can show her that you have a brain aand can make conversation be witty and charming play on the nice guy English thing but really be nice listen to her and take an interest. Ask lots of questions and actually listen to the answers. Then after the interesting thing time to start drinking and now step from the interesting English Friend xone into potential boyfriend material. Take her to an interesting or swanky bar I prefer interesting and then get her drinks and tell her in no uncertain terms what you want from her but do not expect her to put out on the first night most Polish girls will make you wait it might not seem like it but it will be worth it. Then after the bar to a club to show that you can have fun even if you can't dance try she will appreciate it but tell her you are not a good dancer so she doesn't think your and idiot. Finally walk her home go in if she invites you but this will not mean you are getting laid trust me I made this mistake, have a coffee be nice and then leave. Also you gonna need to pay for most if not all of the first date. If she buys a couple of drinks great but be ready for this not to happen. The 100 quid you spend will be well worth it when you have a stunning Polish girlfriend to show off to your mates.

So that's me done good luck fella and remember Intelligent, sensitive but without loosing your manliness.

good luck

UK, Ireland / Do British partners of Polish people in the UK speak their (Polish) language? [17]

To answer your question,

I think it's rare to find one that does but there certainly are some who do. Generally being a Brit with a Polish wife and speaking the language, I am yet to come across someone like me. I am sure there are thousands though. It is well worth learning a little Polish though as people will not expect it, and when you start to speak it they will be incredibly surprised and interested. Also, most will assume you speak no Polish whatsoever and I have often heard people talking about me at parties in Polish and nothing gives me more pleasure than to comment on what they just said about me in Polish.

HAve a go at learning it

Good Luck

Genealogy / Place In Poland from an important passenger list - Morzeczyn [3]

This is a guess but I think that it is a town called Mrzezyno which is on the Baltic coast

Love / Recommendations for live wedding bands in different cities in Poland. [36]

Hey I got married in 2012 we used these guys

jurekband.pl

They are based in Gdansk so you wont have to spend loads on paying for them to get to you, They were great and learned the english song we wanted for our first dance.

Hope this helps

Love / Polish girl confusing me [22]

Yeh So I kind of agree with the above,

I would check the going rate for a room in your location I bet it will be more than the half of the mortgage she is asking you to pay and if so you are actually getting a good deal. Of course, it feels like you are paying someone else's mortgage but that is what you would be doing if you rented and you don't get to have fun with your landlord :)

Totally fair in my opinion but if the credit is more than renting a room which I doubt maybe offer her the going rate for a room in your area.

Language / Learn individual words or sentences? Best approach? (Polish learners) [6]

Ok so,

I would not say that I am fluent but definitely can get by in polish and have a good detailed conversation so this is how I did it. It won't work for all but it may work for some.

The first trick is a mental thing when you hear stories that children learn a language 3 times faster than adults it is true but why? It is because as adults we make learning languages harder for ourselves because we add an extra step along the way. We hear a word, translate this word in our head. Then when we speak we know what we want to say in our own language, and then we translate it. Children don't if you tell them this is a chair, they don't think chair = krzesło they learn that a chair is what they see in their mind's eye as a chair, hence removing the translation step.

So how do you achieve this? You need to train your Brain to think in the language you want to learn. So when you are thinking of something try to form those thoughts in your desired language. Start off simple, with things like shopping lists and the like. When you are in the shop don't think I need bread milk cheese, think Potrzebuję chleba, mleka i sera do this 3 or 4 times a day and then start to make things more and more difficult. What you will find is when you come to speak your new language you will automatically form the words in your mind and not have to translate this will make it so much easier to have a conversation.

Next is simple Practice Practice Practice but actively practice because just listening to the radio won't work unless you really want to understand what's going on. You need to listen to something you really have an interest in, something that fascinates you in your desired language, as this will motivate you to actively listen and this will help you learn a lot quicker.

Next, the wonderful thing about living in Poland is that you have access to native speakers all the time and for free, so every time you have a chance to speak Polish do.

Every day there is an opportunity for a free lesson and I love this. Go to polish parties and don't just listen get involved with the conversation express your opinions and don't worry about making mistakes in my experience the Poles will just love that you are trying to speak their language.

So when you get to a point that you can hold a decent conversation with people you need to then start to ask them to correct you. In general, people are polite so they won't but if you ask in my experience people are more than willing to help you out.

I didn't bother with lessons or grammar and in my experience, this is the best way.

So that's my two pennies worth

Classifieds / English/Polish speaking Canadian looking for work as Electrician in Poland [26]

Hey ,

Are you sure you want to do this??

Ok I am not an expert but this is how I see it

The pros are, good tradesman, are thin on the ground and there will definitely be a demand for your services. The Cons, however, are lots 1st I am pretty sure your Canadain qualifications will mean nothing here, and if you want to get any jobs more than just fixing a grandma's light switch you are going to need Polish Papers which means starting from the absolute beginning again.

The life in Poland is great in terms of if you can earn enough money but you will never be rich here trust me

Classifieds / English/Polish speaking Canadian looking for work as Electrician in Poland [26]

I wish you the best of luck and hope your qualifications are transferrable. I would seriously doubt they are. I have many UK Qualifications both professional and personal and nothing so far is transferable.

After spending 7 years getting my Yacht Master certificate, I was told as I live in Poland, and am not visiting they are not valid. I had to attend a level 1 powerboat inshore powerboat course, which I failed, becuase the instructer felt that my Polish wasn't good enough. That is just one example of how if you piece of paper doesn't have a Polish stamp on its useless.

Again I hope yours is transferable but I would die of shock if it is.

Where does your wife live if its drivable to Germany that would be a way better option as it would be easier to transfer your quals over and you would earn 4 times as much.

Just an Idea

Law / British citizen requesting polish criminal record check [3]

Have Look here

ms.gov.pl/en/national-registers/national-criminal-register

Law / UK Citizen resident in Poland dying intestate - inherited debt issue [17]

You do need a lawyer

but I think it will be fairly straightforward they will just need to sign a declaration and the debts will not pass to them but also anything from the estate will also not be inherited

Law / UK Citizen resident in Poland dying intestate - inherited debt issue [17]

Yonita16

Where do you live I used a Lawyer in London she was a Polish one and is now an English one I am not sure on her speciality but if you live anywhere near London I will try and get you a contact.

It may be worth an investigation into the size of the estate as houses here are not cheap and I am sure his half of the house would be worth more than 20k make sure the new wife is not trying to put one over on your daughters. Maybe she is not but signing a waiver would be the way she gets all the estate and also the taking the car out of Poland thing is rubbish they could potentially. Depends in whose name the car is in. There are plenty of English speaking lawyers here in Poland and they will be way cheaper than finding a Polish one in London.

Which city did he live in?

Classifieds / English/Polish speaking Canadian looking for work as Electrician in Poland [26]

I don't speak German, I think it would be harder for me to find work in Germany if I can't even speak the language

In Germany with English, you will have more chance to get a Job as 90% speak almost perfect English

I don't want to be Mr negativity. I dreamt too about coming here with a handful of English Qualifications in my hand and starting in the same high position I had in England but quickly discovered that my best option was English teaching. Can I survive? Yes, but forget making money the only way I have a decent lifestyle is because my English money paid for a house without a mortgage. In Germany, I could have started where I left off but after calculating the costs of travel and renting a place in Berlin I choose the teaching.

I think step one is to find out are your qualifications transferrable, but forget doing it on the net like a normal country, I am willing to bet that it will involve lots of trips in person to various government offices with lots of people just shrugging their shoulders at you.

On the positive side, I love where I live and wouldn't go back to England, but that may change the next time I have to change my car or some other big expense because my English money is gone and my Polish salary just doesn't go that far.

Classifieds / English/Polish speaking Canadian looking for work as Electrician in Poland [26]

You are right that eventually, you will definitely need to learn the language of any country you wish to prosper in and I am only sharing with you my experience and my learning in order to give you a real view of what happens here.

I came here luckily with enough money to last 6 months without employment and thank god I did because I think this is the minimum time you need just to find out if you can work or not and if not formulate a plan B. Lots of people come here because its a beautiful country and they expect that because it is in Europe it will operate very similar to other European countries. When you are talking about anything official this is simply not the case.

My advice would be to start the process as early as you can get an extended holiday from work and come here with the sole aim of establishing if you can convert your papers and if so how long will this take at least then you will arrive with your eyes open. I have come across a lot of people coming here to follow a dream just as I did and they end up going back with their tail between their legs 2 months later.

I agree with France but in Germany, the demand for foreign workers is so high that standards are very much lower and the pay is not affected.

Law / Joint property law in Poland [7]

I don't know if the below will help you.

I posted on your other thread I would suggest I know this will be a pain in the arse but take a trip to Poland find a lawyer here and get the ball rolling with them. Find me the closest city to where he lived and get an English speaking lawyer and be quick because no doubt the x wife is doing everything she can to disinherit your daughters.]]

According to the Polish Inheritance Law, the heir acquires the inheritance at the moment of the opening of the inheritance (article 942 kc), that is at the moment of the testator's death (article 924 kc). However, the death itself is not enough to make somebody an owner of the real estate belonging to the deceased. Firstly, it is necessary to obtain a decision regarding the acquisition of Polish inheritance. Such a decision is issued by the Polish Inheritance Court. During the proceedings, the court examines who is entitled to inherit (in particular if the testator left a will) and to what share of the inheritance the individual heirs are entitled to.

To begin the proceedings to obtain a decision regarding the acquisition of the inheritance, a special application needs to be submitted. To draft it, the copies of the civil status records of the heirs and testator's death certificate are necessary. The application needs to be submitted to the court at the last place of testator's residence, and, if such a place of residence in Poland cannot be established, to the court at the place where the inheritance estate or its part is located (Polish Inheritance Court). In case the above-mentioned grounds do not exist, the inheritance court is the district court of the city of Warsaw. The payment of 50 zł needs to be submitted with the application.

After the proceedings, the court issues a decision, which will state who inherits after the deceased. Only when the decision goes into effect, do the heirs become the formal owners (or joint owners) of the real estate. An appeal from the decision can be taken by filing an appeal.

It is worth noting that since March 1, 2009, Polish notaries became authorized to issue a confirmation of inheritance in Poland based on the inheritance protocol. The necessary conditions for utilizing this institution is the presence of all persons eligible for inheritance and the lack of conflict between them in regards to the division of inheritance. In practice, all potential heirs meet at the notary's office to draft the inheritance protocol. Based on this protocol, the notary drafts a confirmation act of drafting the inheritance protocol. Next, he registers it in the electronic registrar of the confirmations of inheritance. From this moment, the act goes into effect the same way the court decision regarding the inheritance acquisition deed does.

Classifieds / English/Polish speaking Canadian looking for work as Electrician in Poland [26]


I would say that this is true certainly if you have the right pieces of paper you will have to turn your phone off it will be ringing so much, but the pieces of paper are the key. Also, the economy is very different in different parts of Poland and the wages match this I have found that you can earn up to 3 times more in a city if your skill is in demand.

I would start at the Urząd Pracy but expect to be turned away with a shrug of the shoulders at first. I have found you need to use all your charm to get more than a brush off if you can find someone willing to help you I think they should be able to put you in touch with someone. You will probably be told like I was you need your residence card and confirmation of residence first though.

How I did it was bought a big cappuccino and used it to bribe my way past the initial refusals and eventually for the price of a couple more coffees I found a person who was willing to help me.

Good Luck

If you get it sorted and are going to live anywhere near Pomorski I may be able to help you with a job PM me if needed

Classifieds / My interest in Korea can be traced to the beginning of the years 2000s... (GKS 2019) [4]

definately a scam watch out people

Law / New car registration with old insurance after car purchase in Poland [5]

You have to register this car within 30 days unfortunately and the myth that the old OC will work I have discovered is just that, a myth.

Think a couple of years ago it was the case but having bought two cars here now, I can confirm you will need to inform the OC company that the car has a new owner and both times we have done so they have made an extra charge for this. This charge was very high and we ended up taking out new insurance as it worked out cheaper to do it that way.

I think technically you can drive on the old insurance if the Police stop you but god help you if you have a crash. Also, the old owner can cancel the OC at any time or not make a payment and you will have no way of knowing this as all documentation will be sent to the previous holder.

I would say bite the bullet and get new insurance and register the car but if you are a foreigner this may be a problem as well, as you will need a PESEL

Welcome to Poland buddy enjoy!!!!

Law / New car registration with old insurance after car purchase in Poland [5]

Enjoy the fun of the registration office a true Polish experience with lots of waiting, different rooms, paying and stamping of forms.

Have fun

For OC try Link4 or Aviva, they seem to be the best and if it is a beater car just buy the absolute cheapest, as OC is for other people not you.

Also you could try after you have done a quote online take it to a broker and see if they can beat it. I found if you go with quotes they will sometimes do you a better deal but without quotes you will pay through the nose

Real Estate / Help urgently - problems with the owner of rented apartment in Poland [6]

Ok so the first question is do you have a "legal " contract I am presuming you do that is why you think you have to pay the remaining 3300. I would imagine though if he is not paying any tax on the rental agreement I would imagine he won't want to go through the courts with it in order to get the 3300 from you. I would just refuse to pay and if he starts being aggressive about it. Say you will talk to the tax office about this I am sure he will soon calm down

Law / UK born, want to move to Poland. Rules? [17]

Having kind of done the same thing and to a village, I can offer some advice but I am a pre-Brexiter as the above say if our shambles of a government doesn't get their act together life will become much harder.

Ok so here is a rundown of all the mistakes I made so you can try to avoid them.

English thinking vs Polish thinking

English

I want to live in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view far away from a road in a little cottage heated with wood fires ahhhh how romantic.

I will get a Job if the poles can live off 400 pounds a month so can I, We will have a house paid for and so I am sure we can live the simple life it will be nice to not be so consumerist.

I will get a job teaching English I am sure I can earn a decent wage whilst being self-employed and having more free time to relax.

Winter will be pretty Snow on the ground white Christmases sledding and horse riding in the snow.

Polish

You must be by the main road because in the winter how will you drive the 2 km of dirt track to your house. Beautiful view ha! but what about connections to electricity water and gas, I know the person who sold you the land said the would all be connected next year but I am sure he is lying. Wood heating are you crazy?!!! do you know how long it takes to chop stack and dry your wood, plus when you go out for the day, the fire will go out and all your pipes freeze, what will you do then you English idiot.

400 pounds a month, good luck with that English man, do you know how Kurva expensive Biedronka is??? One week's shop is gonna come to at least 80 pounds

Of course, you can teach English but remember that as you will be self-employed we will take 200 of your 400 pounds a month salary for Zus (National insurance) whether you earn money or not, because that is the law so just deal with it. Alternatively, work all the hour's god sends to enable you to live and work legally, or join the majority of Natives on the black market, but remember next time you have an argument with your neighbor he will report you to the tax office.

That white **** will ruin your life! Wake up every morning to shovel the f driveway and the path outside your house because if someone slips on the pavement outside your house even though you live on a forest road in the middle of nowhere, they will take you to court for not getting up at 6 instead of 7 and cleaning it so they could walk past your house in the middle of nowhere just for fun. O and forget driving home from December to Feb that's just not going to happen its a free gym everytime you come back from work hauling the 2 kgs of potatoes on your back through the forest.

Ok Rant over

A lot of that is tongue in cheek but there are definitely some things to watch out for. Be more specific and I would love to help you out

Law / UK born, want to move to Poland. Rules? [17]

After the comedy version maybe now some practical advice.

So buying land as a foreigner you can buy up to a certain amount of building land (that is, land designated for construction) without any special conditions. I can't remember exactly the size but I do remember you would need to be building a massive hotel for it to apply.

No foreigner can buy "farming land" even if you are a pole you need to have finished farming school or be a priest so you want to be looking for land which is called "działka budowlana"

The next step will be doing admin like insurances buying a car getting electric etc things and for this, you will need a PESEL

Currently, the process is but again this is dependant on Brexit

To get a PESEL you will need to do the following

1. Apply for a residence card at the regional office of the place where you want to live not the town hall the regional office mine was Gdansk. For this, you will need to bring your Passport a marriage certificate if it is a Polish one it has to be dated within 3 months I think the same for an English one so you will need to get a copy and then you will need to have this translated by a recognized polish translator with a stamp. then after a month or so you will receive your residence card.

2. You will need to register where you live if it is your home this will be fairly easy if it is not you will need a legal rental agreement and the permission of your landlord most landlords will not allow you to do this so you need to check before you rent a place whether or not this will be ok. They don't like it as it makes it much harder to kick you out if you don't pay rent

3. After that, you will have a 5-year permit which after this period you can transfer to a permanent one again this may all change.

The Pesel is the key to being a citizen here so once you have this the rest is easier.

You will need to learn Polish trust me life here is almost impossible without the language.

Again give me specific and I will try to help you out more

News / Poland exports 60 million tonnes of meat annually.. but.. [11]

I think this story speaks of a Polish attitude of making a little on the side.

I think that the slaughterhouse had no idea what was going on at night or choose to ignore it (making them complicit). I have come across this allot I think this is directly related to low wages especially in the countryside and the Polish tradition of finding a way to make some extra money. I am not excusing the video it was disgusting but I think there is a deeper problem here the fact that people will do extraordinary things to make a bit of side cash. The only way to solve this is to increase the low-level wages to a point where a family could survive on them. You try to live off 1500 pln per month with the prices here now.

As I said I am not excusing this video and if the owners did know they deserve the most severe punishment but I think there is a wider problem here what do you guys think?

Work / Why do so many Poles accept to do such hard works abroad? [6]

I think the acceptance of low paid manual jobs is very psychological. You have to think of it if you were in their shoes. The average factory worker earns around 300 pounds a month for a very physical job and every month he/she struggles to feed their family.

So imagine you are a factory worker in the UK and you are used to your 9 pounds an hour, and all of a sudden you could quadruple that salary for the same amount of effort. Now working in a factory for 36 pounds an hour doesn't feel that bad does it?

That I think is the psychology and when they bring this money home it has a lot more buying power. Imagine like many brits owning a home was just a dream because of your 9 pounds an hour job, and then you quadruple your salary and you know in 7 years you could own a 150 m2 home with no mortgage it would help the drudgery of working in a hard job a lot I Think?

Law / Fishing laws in Poland [4]

Dougpol is right almost all fishing requires a permit the best way to do this is to arrange a trip through a guide you may have to pay a little bit more but it will be worth it to have all the documentation straight. They do check these permits regularly and love to issue fine especially to foreign visitors. So if you know where you want to fish google the Local "Polski Zwiazek Wędkarski"