My Great GrandMother was born in Poland sometime before 1915 - any chance for Polish citizenship?

Hi,

I have recently come back from a trip through Europe and have since found out that my Great GrandMother was born in Poland. I was seeking some more information on becoming a citizen of poland so i can go back there soon. Currently i am only allowed to be in the EU for 90days as i currently am an Australian Citizen.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out if i am applicable for this?

Thanks

You come from the number one country in the world in which to live and you want Polish citizenship?

Thats just crazy, I would love to have Aus citizenship.

I agree with 'dnz'. You may need to check whether the law allows you to be a dual national.

what year did she leave Poland? As per wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law:

"Citizenship can generally be claimed only by descendants of Polish citizens who left Poland after the country became an independent state in 1918. Also, there can be no break in Polish citizenship between the emigrant ancestor and the descendant. If the applicant's ancestor lost Polish citizenship, the descendant did not inherit Polish citizenship through that ancestor."

Come on, for every Aussie, their dream is an EU passport :P

(being a dual Aussie/NZ citizen as well as an EU citizen would be fantastic...)

While it might be technically possible to get Polish citizenship from that, by the time you have finished with all the paperwork, you'd qualify for citizenship from having lived here so long.

Was she actually born in the Republic of Poland, or was she born in Russia/Germany/Austria-Hungary?

As far as i am aware she was born in poland sometime before 1915. Her name was Elspth Ena Prussenski.

I would love to have a EU passport but i am also completing a family tree and have hit the wall with her.

Then she wasn't born in Poland.

I'm not sure, but isn't that a Scottish first name? Maybe one of the haggis eaters here can confirm..

Looks more like an abbreviation, which was common in church books of that time. Could be Elisabeth Eleonora.

Born in second Republic of Poland or before WW1?


Witamy spowrotem do Ojczyzny :)


Then she was born in Poland geographically speaking but there was no Polish state after that. Although logically thinking those who were in Poland in 1918 had ancestors from way back living in Poland before Poland was created so you SHOULD have a CHANCE of getting it, but it will be hard work :/


Now your confusing me

Polish Passport with Access to the EU i meant.

Did she move to Australia then?

Sorry, but as far as I can see, you won't have a claim. Where was her child born (your grandmother/grandfather)?

If you want EU citizenship, move to Belgium - they have ridiculously lax laws and citizenship can be obtained without much effort.

As has been said - she wasn't born in Poland, because Poland didn't exist at that time.

She moved to australia when she was a child. Her Children were born in Australia.

My first priority was to find out about my heritage which is a slow process and if all turns out, i would love to move over to poland to learn more.

The whole EU thing was purely for the fact that i loved every minute of travelling through but at present time, i can only spend 90 days at once in there. I know there are ways around this but i would like not to have to.

My parents are going to see their aunts who apparently have more information about that side of the family. Will be great to get more info than i have now

The more i look into it, i dont think it is a possibility. That's a shame but not the end of the world.

Funny but true, you need a lot of paper work, and be given the run around, In Aus you can renew your passport over the internet and take photo's to a post office (takes about a minute) to renew a Polish passport you are given the third degree and face problem after problem. (nothing new when dealing with the Polish government)

@SRL
Have you made any progress? I'm curious as I'm in a bit of a similar situation.

Merged:

Obtaining dual US-Polish citizenship question - two great-grandparents and grandmother born in Poland

I wish to apply for dual US-Polish citizenship, but am not sure if I'm eligible. Here are the facts:

Two of my paternal great-grandparents were born in Warsaw in the 19th century. My grandmother was born in Warsaw in 1901. In 1911, my great-grandfather emigrated to the U.S., and was naturalized a citizen before 1920. In 1916, my great-grandmother and grandmother both emigrated to the U.S., and were naturalized U.S. citizens sometime during the 1920s (I am still trying to discover exactly when). My father was born in the U.S. in 1932, as was I in 1958. One other possibly pertinent fact: my great-grandmother's father continued to live in Warsaw until his death in 1921.

So, am I eligible for Polish citizenship given those facts (and assuming documentation to support them) or not? Any help will be most appreciated.

No, you are not eligible coz there was a break in Polish citizenship between your emigrant ancestors and you. Your father didn`t have Polish citizenship as he was born in the USA. In this way, you did not inherit Polish citizenship through him and that`s the aforementioned break. To make sure, why don`t you contact the nearest Polish embassy or consulate? They offer the so called "Confirmation of Possession or Loss of Polish Citizenship" service.

I am really sorry.

PS. You have been helped by a kind Polish teacher.

@pawian Thanks very much for the help. After I posted this, I also realized that even if my father had inherited Polish citizenship from his mother, he lost it when he served in the U.S. Army. I appreciate the clarification, pawian. You are a kind teacher!

You are most welcome.

If you have any other questions concerning Poland, ask without hesitation.

May I ask you why you felt the need to possess the Polish citizenship at your age? I collect such info in my private statistics about expat Poles. Thank you in advance.

Hi pawian. To be perfectly honest, I'm getting nervous about anti-Semitism in the United States, and have been considering possibilities for an alternative home if things here go downhill. I'm also considering Israel, obviously, and that will be my primary focus from this point. But I loved visiting Poland last year, and with my ancestral connections (my father's father's family was from Bochnia), I thought I'd look into it.

You are not being honest at all.

There is a very, very long list of Jewish organizations (especially lobbying organizations) all across the United States to address your concerns if they haven't done so already.

Jews live and work without any restrictions and many can be found at every level of Government (local, state and federal) where policies are shaped, passed into law, and carried out. Again, you can take your concerns to your political representatives or get a lawyer if you have an actual case to be addressed in the courts.

You listed in your profile that you are from the American state of Illinois. The town you listed is literally in the boondocks. Oh, and your current governor by the name of Pritzker is not only a leftwing Democrat but he is Jewish. Did you talk to him yet about your nervousness? Ask him why he doesn't share your paranoia.

As for the state of Illinois you choose to live in, yes you really do face a bleak future but it has nothing to do with you crying wolf on here about anti-semitism:

"We're financially bankrupt, we're morally bankrupt, we're ethically bankrupt ... I hope Washington, D.C. decides that if they're going to send us money, they're going to send us reform as well. Because the average Illinoisan is struggling."

Link to the quote: illinoispolicy.org/pritzker-should-look-to-other-states-to-develop-a-responsible-reopening-plan/

By the way, as an American there is nothing stopping you from moving to 49 other states with just as many isolated areas as you live in now. You can also run away to any several US territories like Guam or Puerto Rico where you can really get away from it all. You can even relocate to more urban areas in the US with larger Jewish communities; some come with their own boundary defining eruv lines.


Poland is no longer the place you claim your father's father's family came from.

Poland is very homogenous too now, so are you really telling everyone here that you want no part of the unparalleled diversity which only the United States can provide you?

Unsurprisingly, you didn't mention what you would do for Poland if you resettled. Well, don't expect a free ride like you've been enjoying up until now in Illinois.


But of course. The true ethno-state. An international pariah, unjustifiably funded with obscene amounts of rubber-stamped American tax dollars which ensures cradle-to-grave welfare for Israeli citizens, and a foreign country which is effectively if not literally worshipped by every single one of your American politicians.

I really am curious though as to why an American like yourself has such a problem with diversity and would rather hide in pale, homogenous countries like Poland or Israel.

Do you think you can pass Israel's DNA test which they now use for those seeking to settle there?

DNA Testing to 'Prove' Jewishness Is Spine-chilling

Link to the headline: haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/dna-testing-to-prove-jewishness-is-spine-chilling-1.7772897

More importantly, do you think Poland should copy Israel and use DNA testing for immigration use? Especially for those like yourself who are looking to run away from your personal problems now that you have reached retirement age.

I'm really looking forward to your "perfectly honest" answers.

It's my understanding that if you can show some kind of Polish ancestry then it's very easy to get permanent residence if you'll actually want to live in Poland.

It is see this American guys story below, he even tells you how to do it.

david-polanddavid.blogspot.com/

That is going to change, thanks to various immigrants. We already talked about Indians. Ukrainians - one million of them alrrady. Why not Jews? It would be great to see some Polish Jewish as permanent residents, not only visitors to Jewish sacred places.

Diversity rulez!


Why are you discouraging wanna-be immigrants from coming and settling in Poland? You don`t live here, so fvck off and leave us alone.

You won`t prevent diversity, give up those silly illusions. hahaha

Why does diversity rule? USA homeland of diversity is engulfed in ethnic conflict between groups. Plus Poland WAS diverse before ww2, and look how that turned out

can you name a single country that is diverse without serious conflict
Muslims inadaptability to European life is hidden by the media in western countries , Sweden went from boring and homogenous to weekly grenade attacks and mass rape of Swedish women., is that what you want for Poland? Evidently so....

@buttman
You are ignoring the successes of diversity as well, there are plenty of Poles with foreign background or mixed heritage yet feel as much Polish as any other Pole. Roman Dmowski can be a prime example as he had Tatar background if I am not mistaken

No sane person wants to live in a place with _real_ diversity, which has to include things like accepting different legal systems in the same place at the same time.

In really diverse societies different groups tend to live alongside and not with each other. Your life prospects (how much education you can get, what kind of job you can get, who you can marry, where you can live) tend to be constrained by the group you live in.

What people who say they want 'diversity' really want is what I call color coordinated mono-culture. This can be seen on lots of US tv shows where racially diverse casts play characters who share the same fundamental values and quirks are kept at home rather than brought into the public arena.

Immigrants especially from 3rd world country mostly never consider themselves Poles and would be loyal to their countries of origin
There is no such thing as Poles from a foreign background, you are either ethnic Polish or something else, Polish Jews may claim they are loyal Poles that is until Israel ask them for support in bashing their "homeland" for reparations and smearing 'their' country

Stick to the topic please