Want to live with same-sex partner in Poland? Long-term residency.

Hi, I'm an American citizen studying in Canada at the moment. I have a long-distance same-sex partner who lives in Poland, and I would like to live with her within a couple of years.

At the moment, I have planned to spend my last full university year studying abroad at the University of Warsaw in two years, and if I'm lucky, I will try to find a job in Warsaw for another year. After that, however, I don't quite know how to go about staying there full-time with my partner. From what I've seen, long-term residence permits only last a year and cannot be extended except in the case that unforeseen circumstances crop up. And because my partner and I are both females, we cannot marry in Poland and have the two-year residency permit, or other similar visa benefits.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Anything would be a great help!

good luck. you will have a hard time with this. perhaps she could move to canada- at least you can legally marry.

better fly her/his butt over to canada, particularly Toronto, and get married.

We have a big chunk of the city 'reserved' for the LGBT community. :D

You are right that residency permits can not be extended. However, there is nothing stopping you from simply applying for and getting another one.

I'm slightly confused as to whether your partner is Polish or not. Is she?

As far as I know a karta pobytu for Americans is usually two years (but sometimes is given as only a single year).

Yes, she is Polish. She's wary of living in another country, because she's finishing a degree on Slavic studies, and she's not sure how easy it will be to find employment abroad with that. But, if we find it too difficult to make it in Poland, she is willing to go to the UK or Ireland.

I thought a karta pobytu for two years is only issued to EU citizens, and this on the condition you can prove you can finance your stay?

Anyway, good luck to the OP.

No. These days EU citizens get no card at all, they just get a certificate confirming their right to reside in Poland. It is good for five years and there is no penalty at all for not having one (so why bother).


OK, I've had a think and a couple of chats and it looks like you won't have too many problems. You can either apply for a residency permit (i.e. karta pobytu, a temporary resident's card) on the basis of a job in Poland (easier to get but often the card will only be valid for as long as your work permit is valid for, which means that you have to get a new card every 9 to 12 months) or on the basis of wanting to reside here with your unmarried partner (admitted the only people I know who applied on that basis where hetero but in theory there should be no difference, the regulations are the same). The downside of applying for a card on the basis of wanting to reside here in order to be with your partner is that you will need to prove that you have sufficient funds to support yourself throughout your stay. That can be cash in the bank or it can be a commitment from somebody to supply you with a guaranteed amount of money per month. The upside of it is that your card will be good for two years.

Even if you are married, you still need to have a resident's card. I believe that the first card is for two years and then every card is for five years (but I could well be wrong on that, I'm not non-EU and I'm not married either). The only advantage is that you do not need a work permit (if you aren't married you need a different work permit for every job). It might be interesting for you to get married in an EU state and then try to get married person status in Poland (i.e. exemption from the requirement to have a work permit). I'd certainly like to see what happens!

I suppose that as an absolute last resort, you do have an American passport: I doubt it would be much of a problem to arrange a paper marriage with a Polish man who wants to get an American passport in exchange for you getting a Polish passport.

Thanks so much for all your advice! That's very useful, and it helps a lot.

Hello,
I find myself in the same situation now. Would like to know if you had success with your permit? I am not so sure if same rules apply for same sex couples as stated before.

Thanks!

Merged:

Same-sex partner residency rights in Poland

Hello,

I've been trying to get some information about my situation, but I am having issues getting a clear answer. I am hoping that you could help me out?

I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada currently, but I am thinking of moving to Poland for studies (duration: 6 years). I am in a same-sex relationship and I am looking to find out whether my partner would be able to reside with me in Poland and work, considering that I am also already a Polish (and EU) citizen? I know that Poland does not recognize same-sex marriage, but I also saw some information about the "residency rights" or "partnership visas" for LGBTQ couples. Considering that I am an EU citizen, would my Brazilian (non-EU) partner be able to live with me in Poland and work there? And would we have to be married or would our current situation, a common-law partnership, be adequate?

Thank you and please let me know if you need any more information!

I have never heard of anyone being pushed from a roof in Poland because of that.

If the hate campaign continues, anything may happen.

lol should it worry you,Paw?

Why don't you tell that to all LGBT activist all those money and organizations that talks about things that never happened, made stuff up as they go, all those money pumped to people like you to crate a problem that wasn't there in the first place, all those - must have a parade - political BS aimed at divide and conquer type activity...

Let them aLL STOP and there would be civilized live and let live reality in Poland that was there before you and other Marxist **** stirrers started all that nonsense. Cheap ****** you lot.


No you are not. You are a troll or at beast some political hack that looks for a story your ideological little booklet. Get a life!

Yes, it always worries me when innocent people are mistreated for their convictions or beliefs because it is an abuse of democracy, freedom and Christianity.