News / Poland, The Starbucks report. [42]

You got the right idea Joker - it's a choice to go there not compulsory. 13 zloty for lukewarm coffee plus the privelage of waiting 10 minutes in line to get it. The food is horrible - sweet and greasy. No interaction with other people

Work / Security/Defence Analyst/Consultancy work in Poland [5]

Well call those guys and ask them - without Polish it might be tough but start off with your existing contacts as you are obviously smart.

News / Poland, The Starbucks report. [42]

Pozegnanie was Ok - a bit small and like a lot of Polish places of that era not enough toilets (a problem when you are selling a diuretic).

DD is back in Poland after a long absence ! I like them but they are mainly stand up counters - there is one in Galeria Polmoc and another at Centralna.

As to Starbucks, Costa and Green Coffee my issue is not with the idea of sitting in a coffee shop. More it's the service - you might have 15 minutes to get a coffee but you have to stand in line and wait for them to make it for 10 minutes, so your well deserved coffee break becomes a hassle. They never have enough staff, never have the right change in the cash register and the product is extremely overpriced - a coffee and a cookie can easily go north of 20 zloty. The sandwiches are horrible - lots of cheap bread and not enough filling.

News / Poland, The Starbucks report. [42]

Well we have found something we all agree on :)) so maybe Starbucks is good for society

I think long majowkas are perfect whatever your poliitics :))

Work / Diary of a Teacher in Poland [181]

Maybe because living in the Uk costs twice as much ?

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

Thats not correct - there are huge numbers of Irish in the UK, long Established communities of Spanish Italian and Portuguese, hundreds of thousands of French and Germans. Cypriots, Maltese and Greeks that have been there since the 60s et cetera

The issue with the poles is that apart from a smallish population that came in the late 40s,they all came at the same time and thus were more visible especially in the effect on the labour market.

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

I think the only place in Europe with gdp less than inflation is Britain - Not really to do with the welfare state, more to do with high inflation following the pounds slide after Brexit And GDP falling due to uncertainty about Brexit ( or the weather which is a government!)

Love / How do we know that Polish guys really serious in their relationship? [16]

How is he sweet and nice if he doesnt even ask if you are feeling better ? Saying hes not a doctor is weird and definitely not Polish

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

Dirk last weeks GDP numbers fir the UK were shocking - GDP per hsad is now fallling. The pound is also falling. The UK govts lack of planning and uncertainty is now having a major effect. Time will tell indeed but Brexit has paralysed politics and that alone is very costly.

I think the end result will be more educated Poles with no family ties to Britain might either return honw or look to other natkets like Germany

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

Spiritus one of the weird quirks of the Brexit vote is that about a third of Indian and Pakistani voters chose leave - one reason for that is a promise that once the Poles and Romanians stopped coming it would be easier for their cousins to immigrate to the UK

I agree that there is definitely a bit of anti Polish feeling ib the UK - it is mainly resentment about wages and job openings - people know poles are more easily assimilated and are hard working but that doesn't help a low wage british person.

Law / Poland's ZUS/NFZ payments for businesses [27]

Remove or increase the cap on the employers ZUS - it wouldnt hit that many people and those who were hit would not be that price sensitive.

Raise the employees ZUS a couple of percent so that in zloty terms they pay a bit more and bring them closer to the amount paid by self employed (employees are more likely to use the system)

Reduce the fixed ZUS rate but be more strict about petrol and cars claimed for business use - i dont think i know a single person who is honest about it.

Law / Karty stałego pobytu (permanent residence card) for EU citizen in Poland [3]

Thats a bit alarmist but you probably do need to see a tax specialist

Regarding the interest - there shouldn't be much if any to pay since you gave with holding tax on interest is 20% - higher than the Polish rate. But you don't necessarily need to make a declaration - interest has specific rules, discuss it with an accountant and they will tell you what you should file

Your UK company should pay UK corporation tax if it is a limited company - if it's a sole trader then as said above then consult a tax accountant.

They do have access to other countries tax databases - but unless you are stashing millions in a VAT fraud I wouldn't worry so much about that, I have rarely met anyone in a tax office he speaks good English and not that many who would be confident using a computer for a difficult task.

I wouldn't wait to settle those issues before working on your health insurance questions - doing things sequentially in Poland doesn't make sense as the bureaucracy can take very long.

No idea about your health insurance questions, speak to a specialist. The only thing I would say is don't rely on any Brexit arrangements being in place because the UK government hasn't really started work on any of the complicated issues yet.

Maybe park a bit of your business in Poland - register a business and pay the minimum suits for you and then you will at least be sure of some health coverage. That depends if you can afford the 1200 zloty a month

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

Increasing interest rates normally increases a currency's value.

You are right however that the Pound will go down more - Brexit will be a disaster for the currency. I dont think it will be stopped - they already sent the letter and the EU is preparing for life without them. The British govt negotiations are in disarray but i think the EU definitely wants them gone by the end of 2020.

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]

I disagree Miro - the UK had a serious voice in the EU and was exempt from the currency union, schengen and the social rules. Outside the EU they will struggle badly both financially and politically - the main industry is finance and that relies on them being the office for the EU. I realize that did not strike a chord with voters outside the cities but they are the ones who will be worse off after Brexit.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

But they wont be taking money And they would be falling not running. exiting the EU would be an economic catastrophe that would put Poland at the same level of economic development as Ukraine or Serbia.

I can believe these leaks are coming out of the commission - I have just finished a book by the Greek Finance Minister, and this was their modus operandi when they were trying to force through decisions against the Greeks, leak that the other side had been given conditions which they have never seen before. The Greeks just like the UK compounded this with their own disorganisation and sometimes amateur performance - I can imagine precisely the same things coming from the Polish government.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

Of course - how can Czech and Slovakia be ready to fight smog but Poland not ? Do you ever soend any time walking around Polish towns Gumuishu ?

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

So why are the neighboring countries, poorer than Poland, able to comply and have air quality seveal times bette than Polands Beijing levels?

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

Czech does - its right over the border from slask. Romania also has a sizeable coal industry.

Work / Job offer in Lodz, gross 1000€/4260PLN. Apartment and healthcare paid for. Good in Poland? [46]

I think a key reason for different answrts is between people who have been to Lodz and people who have not.

Its not a great salary and i would not assume you would rise quickly - chances of a mote stimulating role would depend on speaking Polish or alternatively getting to a management role in the Shared Service Center.

But Lodz can be a fun place and its cheap to live so you should manage ok with that money

Work / Job offer in Lodz, gross 1000€/4260PLN. Apartment and healthcare paid for. Good in Poland? [46]

Yes it means that effectively you can only get the benefits from KRUS if the profit from your other activities are below about 24,000 zloty. Which is more or less equivalent to the minimum wage in Poland.

Quite a lot of small landowners are switching from KRUS to ZUS at the moment.

Work / 13000 zloty salary enough to save 9000 zloty with normal living in Poland? [37]

No thats not true. It will be about - 2800 after tax but depends on a few things like if you are married etc.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

If yesterday was an average day in the US there would have been 30 gun deaths including plenty of innocent store owners, cab drivers, cops or unlucky bystanders. Worry about making your own streets safe first.

Law / Having Job and About Law with company owner in Poland [5]

She certainly wont go to prison and its not a police matter, rather would be dealt with by a court summons from a body called PIP (labor inspectors)

If she is the owner then I don't see how they can make her leave.

Really the best thing for her to do is to sit with these other guys and come up with a solution - it's probably six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Law / Having Job and About Law with company owner in Poland [5]

Is this company worth something ? Is it profitable?

If so then she can probably be in a strong position. The Police will have no interest in that and any other legal steps will take months, possibly years. But if there is money at stake she should get a lawyer

If its not profitable why doesnt she just walk away and let them get on with it ?

UK, Ireland / Polish Migration to the UK - A moderate speaks! [41]

Payouts or not the smart ones willl probably be looking at other countries

You might end up stuck with some of the moochers and alkies but they would fit in well with the British population of Bognor.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Anywhere on earth apart from say Baltimore, Philly, Atlanta, St Louis, Oakland, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Washington and many others that all have murder rates far higher than London or any other Eurooean towns. The reason is obvious - free availability of guns

Love / Polish Wife - Common Bank Account in Poland [21]

There's not a lot of logic or understanding of Polish law in either of those replies. I don't think either of those guys are married by the way, and they certainly don't live in Poland.

What you have, whether it in a separate bank account or a joint bank account is part of your unified marital assets - if things end up going wrong in the future then all of your assets will be added together.

You could of course salt a few thousand away in a different country and no one is going to spend too much time looking for it, but honestly if you're not able to have trust in your wife at this stage then something is not right - this is the person who will be the mother of your kids, it's important that you feel able to share bank account.

My parents had a, bank account we have a joint, bank account - yes I've got some on my own cash that I spend on things that I don't always want my wife to know about - cigarettes or booze but fundamentally your assets are addee together.

Love / Polish Wife - Common Bank Account in Poland [21]

Fair enough Joker. Apologies - i did not know you were married

Dirk in your scenario who would fund and care for the kids ? Would the wife fave to do it out of this bizarre 35k sum (its not s considerable amount - its one years salary for a Biedronka employee)

USA, Canada / Polish or American Education? [180]

I think this is one of the rare occasions when Dirk is right! I attended uni both in the UK and in the US, and the US was much better. The teachers were more engaged, more respect for the students, better quality professors, and better networking and chances coming out of that experience.

Of course a lot of it is to do with money and with more money big US universities are able to attract better faculty - however they also treat the students much more like customers and part of a lifelong community.

I think the issue is not so much who is in in the top 10 as who is in the top 100 then I will think you will see many big US public universities - Washington, Michigan, UCLA, Virginia etc which all have very good standards.

Also split my high school years between the UK and the US - on that score I would think the UK was probably slightly better. From what I see on FB, the people I knew from US high school either doing very well or very badly.

Real Estate / Tenants Rights in Poland - who should cover additional equipment costs of the apartment? [3]

For the leak the landlord should fix it. Take photos and send them to him.

The blinds are not the landlords issue and you dont really have any legal wat to get him to pay for those - presumably you saw the flat before you moved in?