Are foreigners welcome in Poland?

first impressions are not always the right impressions.

One of the joys of EU membership. Its nearly impossible to deport people without the ECJ hauling your ass over the coals.

You are a foreigner in Poland, you twit.
You are just obsessed with people of different colour.
Why not talk about your own experiences as an immigrant here and if you are welcome?

Whites that speak Polish well tend to be well-received. Non-whites are often left to do their own thing without much pestering. Let Poles get on with their lives and they will not hassle you, unless they are hardliners.

It is quite seldom that a Pole will stare at me because I'm foreign. I'm pretty unassuming and get on with my business and I connect well with people generally so there's no issue.

Definitely - whereas me, you and any other English speaker would know that if a girl says "no" - you don't take the risk of going further, even if she appears to be joking - a Pole may completely misread this and just assume that she's teasing.

Likewise, there's a definite attitude in Poland that if a girl is all over you, then she wants sex - the concept of someone being a cock tease is somewhat alien to Poles, I think. And likewise with drink - Poles don't have the idea hammered into them that if a girl is wasted, you shouldn't be sleeping with her.

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Believe me that has nothing to do with anyone being Polish or not. That's what a certain type of person does. Same with the later piece of your post.

There are so many charges and surcharges in life these days.

If the foreigner says good things about Poland without being overly flattering (which makes Poles question their sincerity) then they will likely be accepted.

To any foreigner, you are welcome!
As long as you behave like you have behaved (normal)
Don't think your in the center of the universe because in Poland, everyone knows about Copernicus work :)

To any of those first posts at first page
I wore a Polonia Warszawa T-Shirt over half of Warsaw when going home, (a lot of tramwaje) I only had a comment "if you weren't that young I would beat you up!"

I was like 13-14 at that time

people are nice :)

an AMAZINGLY white society, completely homogenous, a national language that basically nobody masters (even some Poles) and a history of being pissed on over and over.

sorry, but it's a recipe for racism.

it's good to be white if Poland is your choice.

I agree that it\'s good to be white.

If we return to topic from my experiences yes foreigners are welcome in Poland. I am living in Poland so far for 10 months and I made few trips to different cities, I never had any unpleasant experience (other than my old crazy neighbour but it is sorted out by my flat owner). My colleagues and other Polish People I met so far very open-minded and interested in foreign cultures in very positive way.

While the situation is like that it is strange to see many racists in PF (ahh sorry I forgot most of them are not Polish even most of the time it is doubtful if they have any connection with Poland other than racist propaganda).

There will always be a hardcore of nationalists who dislike any foreigners. I've been told to get back to my country before, though only once. Weird given that I'm whiter than those that said it but there we go. In general, I'm either ignored (like in any country where people don't know you) or warmly welcomed. Poles respond well to positive energy when they see it.

That is true, although there are some exception the the rule. People of PF say what they would not say in real life. I am glad that you are having a positive experience in Poland and I would not worry about those racist, most of them are unfortunately mentally disturbed I think.

Jev
I can just agree with you, and im black with a polish girlfriend, but im still afraid when i go out during the nights when we are in poland

why are you afraid, at night you are practically invisible

ironside wrote:


yet another failed attempt at humor ironside. i hope his invisible fist finds the side of your head one night in the rynek.

poland is, in general, a racist country but much of it stems from simply not understanding other cultures. poland is polish, not much else. full of "ironside-type" people.

Finally, but we welcome well behaved guests, any color or creed.

Ye man! Someday you will get to realize what is a joke and what is plain racist remark...not funny at all. I know many blacks who are decent people and good friends. I too hope one day or night you run into jblack and he gives you something to remember.

Funny. So the blacks you know are decent, but you expect them to give him something to remember?

Can't you realize that because of "decent" foreigners, the decent poster that started the thread gets stigmatized?

Give? That depends what transpires....if jblack get harrassed or attacked for no reason except his color, I would hope he gave "ironside" types something to remember and would even help him do it. You got problem with that?

What about European citizens. They usually have something to offer that benefits Polish economy, e.g. teaching of English and some specific skills that are hard to find in Poland.

The useless immigrants are people from Africa and Middle East. Most of them have very little to offer and only take jobs that leaves Polish people jobless.

That's the point I made loads of times: (some) Poles think they can discriminate galore in Poland and yet they complain when discriminated when abroad. What goes around, comes around I'd say.

Thank God, the vast majority (I assume) is not like that. All ppl have a brain and most of them use it actually.

>^..^<

M-G (racism and discrimination is sth that doesn't belong in the 21st century. Not in any century, for that matter)

I have to agree with that, M-G. They can't have their cake and eat it (too). Benefits or no benefits to immigration, swamping is swamping. Poland couldn't cope with such a deluge of folk.

No, they are not.


Very well said, nothing can be added or removed from this sentence in my opinoin.

seanus wrote:


there's a lot to be said about this fact. it has a lot to do with why poland is what it is today.

people don't come here. to poland, that is. sure, the yearly krakow tourists and random group of germans coming to wroclaw every summer to see where their grandfather lived before Poland took it over, but otherwise, it can't compare to the influx of foreigners and vacationers of Western European countries. part of it is because those countries simply have more to offer, and part of it is due to the general mentality of polish people........a mentality that is less than appreciated by a foreign visitor (along with the fact that nobody speaks Polish besides Poles).

poland in many ways in recent history got the $hit end of the stick, but i've lived here long enough to know that if the country's mentality changed, you'd see a bigger and better Poland. as an American, the Polish mentality appears utterly myopic, xenophobic and nationalistic yet at the same time jealous while complaining about everything and anything. often times i want to say to my students, "Sooooo......do you like Poland....or not?"

regardless, a complete personality overhaul wouldn't change the crap weather of this country, another reason why most people steer clear of Poland.

i think as a foreigner, the longer you stay in Poland, the more of a love/hate relationship you develop. luckily i've met some really good people along the way.

Hi,

I have been to Poland several times and for months together, and am happy to say that people I've met have been nothing but pleasant and extremely friendly and positive. even with the language barrier.

I am Indian and therefore would fall under the 'brown skinned' category but I never once faced any incident of even a hint of racism.

I spent most of my time not only in cities such as Warsaw, Krakow but as well as in southern Poland - Rabka/zakopane etc.

This is the first instance of crimes against foreigners in Poland that I'm hearing of! and hope these are exceptions than norms!

Hello IndiGal,

Thing about these threads is it is only nasty people who write in them, most people who come to Poland get on fine I am sure but this majority does not waste it's time posting thier enjoyable experiences, thanks for that.

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Gentlemen's I would point out that Dutch as well as the British were emigrating in their drovers for hundreds of years, also they have kept the large chunk of the planet in their sway.

How does it compare to last five or four years when Poles started to move about on the serious scale?
Anyhow, its funny to talk about immigration within EU, according to propaganda its supposed to be one country.
It never case to amaze me as people from old EU country;s are ignorant in a ways of the EU policy.
Yet, they complain, now?!
Poland is open to foreigners from EU country's, from Vietnam and country's of former Soviet Union, sporadic voices on the very forum (they could be anyone) mean nothing.

I would say that reluctance in acceptance mass immigration of blacks is not to be scorned as long as policy is implemented by state rather than personal attitude of individuals.

In my opinion the real problem is omnipotence of state, so called nanny state.
Its sends a wrong signal to voters - in exchange for a vote they expect bread and entertainment!

Hi everyone;

I am from Colombia and I lived in England around seven years ago, while there I dated a Polish guy, we were think in move togother to Colombia or Poland but before taking this decision, I need to see the country and meet his family. This was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, they were fantastic, his parents didn't speak English and my Polish was very bad still we managed to communicate trough two dictionaries. The things didn't work between us but the memories of all his family and friends are engrave in my heart.

The are very nice people, I really like them plus I think they are very beautiful.

I tried to speak Polish but I was not good at it. It was just easier to speak English and everyone would change to it anyway if they knew how so I never really got any good at Polish.

One thing I have noticed is that natives often laugh at you rather than encouraging you and helping when you mess up. There were times that people made such a big deal out of how cute I sounded or mistakes I made that it made me want to not bother. I never did that with people in English even if they did sound ridiculous...encouraging works far better than mockery.