To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question

I know how you feel. I am Romanian and have missed Ro so much while in US for 5 years. No one can understand how you feel until they had the same issues. I would say give it a try, but honestly, being that you have your studies completed in US, if you can find employment there, it is better financially to live there. You can make enough money to visit Poland as often as you can take time off. Moving there is not really wise given that your parents are back in US etc. Your wife should keep her apt and rent it out. This is what I would do. Best of luck to you and congrats for having found each other. Dana.

I think you should go for it. At least give it a try for a couple of years. But do it before you guys have kids, so when they come they will have a stable environment for growing up, either in PL or US.

Me personally, I would never do it, mainly because my wife and kids don't speak any Polish.
Plus I wouldn't want to leave my friends and family behind.

Also I know I could never provide for my family the standard of living we have here. I think I would have to be a millionaire to have a house like this in Poland, and we are just a middle class here.

IMO the fact that so many Poles have to travel to GB for work just to make the ends meet is telling. I don't want to have to do that, I'm to old for that :)

Anyways good luck to you guys and please let us know how it's going, maybe start writing a blog or something? That would be interesting.

I wouldn't do that, at least not yet. Wait a couple of years till Poland develops more (if it's even going to) and then think about moving here. The US is still much better place to live nowadays.

Hello from Connecticut,

Here, in New England, e have more JDs than jobs. Many try to get the few prosecutor jobs, which pay fairly poorly for Connecticut lifestyle.

I am fortunate that I am am RN. I am getting involved with a man who has been here from Poland for 6 yr. He is the kindest and most- beautiful man I have ever known. He seems to have been raised with a sweet manner and softness that Americans lack.

I would leave USA and move to Warsaw with him in a second if this is what he wanted. He loves USA. His parents are from UK anfd moved there long ago, before my friend was born.

His accent is enchanting! Yes, I've got it BAD for this man! I am blessed that he is the same toward me.

I hope that e can grow old together in Poland.

I would remind everyone that the American rockets have been turned down by the Polish state. Americans have been granted instead permissions to install the rockets in Romania. I find America, to be the agressor in the Polish President's jet crash in Russia.

Google for this article: "US Black Sea Military Buildup Could Trigger Missile War"

Go home to Poland. I believe it may be better to live in Poland in the near future, than in the US. Think of the US external debt and google Polands external debt.

Actually the opposite happened. The original design was scraped and it was decided to use SM-3s. The Polish government has agreed to having SM-3s stationed on its territory. So has Romania, and there's talk of placing them in Bulgaria as well.


Just make sure you have a job lined up first.

Whats the problem?Since you are us citizen you can move back and forth whenever you want to.Move to PL and if you get tired move back to US.

Thanks for the replies - it's funny I posted this a while ago and I havnt looked at it since....today we got into a huge fight about this very situation so instead of being able to vent I went online and googled my problem - low and behold found my own post. To make matters more complicated I'm currently an attorney with a steady job and we have a baby on the way - and she wants to go back :\

Merged: Should I? I am considering a move to Poland from the USA.

Czesc!

I was born in the USA, but have always considered myself Polish. I am now 45 years old and I am considering a move to Poland. I was there as a child and, have always felt that I belong in Poland. I have relatives that visit my mother and I in the USA, one regularly. When I know he is coming, I think of life in Poland. I realize that Poland is not the fairy tale land that I picture, I am realistic and need answers from Poles that are not family. I can speak what I consider basic Polish and have all my life. My first language was Polish, even though I was born in the USA. I worked up until a year ago when I started the process of Social Security Disability in the USA. I was considered a "workaholic" and that is part of my "illness" . If I decide to 'Retire" , my dream would be to live the rest of my life in Poland ! I would receive approximately 1500 USD per month for my retirement here in the USA. If I moved to Poland would my SS (Social Security) be enough to survive? Would I be taxed ? I was an IT Manager for years , but, would NEVER work in that field again! I am taking a TEFL course as a base for what I would love to do ... live in Poland and teach English. I am far from wealthy and would have to sell my home here ( not that much, approximately 300,000 Zl.) in order to move. I take care of my mother, which is not easy,but, I am thankful for every day I have with her. She would also move with me. I speak Polish rather well ( according to my cousins) but I would need to improve my writing skills greatly. I can read Polish but somewhat slowly at times :) .

Is this a dream, or a possiblility? I hope that the country I have always dreamed of living in, could become a reality! I am the first generation to be born in the USA so I hope that I would be excepted by the Polish people and regarded as a person with a "true" Polish heart and soul.

I am very interested in everyones input and responses. If you have read this far...dziękuję !

I will always have a love of Poland in my heart!

Considering a fair few Brits have moved there with not very much and managed, you are streets ahead, you have the language and enough to purchased a small property and have an income coming in.

Go for it.

First just come here and see if you like it before making a big move. Common sense. Secondly Polish people WILL NOT consider you Polish or having a pure Polish heart or whatever imo. You are American with Polish roots. That isn't saying that they will not be nice to you but you will not be considered Polish. If you get your citizenship then ok maybe but since you are not born here... So before selling the farm and shipping it all over here take a test run and see how it goes would be my advice. As well with American pp it isn't easy to stay here in the Schengen so u would have to get your Polish PP to stay longterm hassle free. A lot of Americans find it difficult to live here.

Seconded.

If you've got an income and some capital from a house sale from the start, that's going to offset any risk you might have with costs of care or basic subsistence. $1500 equates to around PLN 4,900 per month - you might not save a lot of that but it's net income (if earned in the States & taxed there, that should ensure no double taxation here - it certainly will while you're not yet earning in PL) and you could for sure live on that amount, if duties of care made work in any capacity impossible.

As you surmise, knowing Polish from the start will open you many doors.

I moved here (OK, not for the first time) this year at age 41 and it's been a great time to date. No-one bloody replies to my adverts for jazz guitar players, but we'll just have to live with that... :)

Do you have an area of Poland in mind?

Best, A

Its definitely a posibility Rysiek, my advice is for a recon first, if you're looking for a job Warsaw is the place to be.

by US government, yes.


by the looks of things here, i highly doubt it.., i am polish and born in PL but otherwise in similar situation and i am constantly attacked by my arsehole brethren as not being polish..


yup and as you said PL is not how you imagine it.. it's much harder life then what you are used to in the US.. much more expensive, much less room.. there many differences..


see? and even if you become PL citizen it still would be a stretch for most that you're actually Polish..


that is before taxes, i am sure..

Rysiekk - I strongly disagree with the opinions expressed here that you would never be considered Polish by heart and soul. I know a guy from Nigeria who live in my home town (Toruń - I reccomend). After he finished his university studies he decided to stay. He speak Polish with very funny accent, and he is welll... black, but everyone consider him a 100% Polish.

Being a "true Polish" is a tricky matter. It's hard to explain, really. It's not even matter of language or a place you've been born. Or who are your parents. It's a choice. As you said yourself - this is a matter of heart and soul.

As others said - 1500USD a month and a money from selling your house shall give you rather comfortable landing. My advice - go to Poland first before you decide any permanent move. Stay for month or two. Live here. Make friends. Live a life of a Polish - try it.

I feel in duty to warn you. Poland has changed. It's not like in your mother's story any more. For you - born and accustomed with the American way of life - some aspect of life in Poland may be annoying or even unbearable on the long time.

Give yourself a "test drive" with Poland and see yourself if you like it.

The cities I recommend to consider are: Toruń (for me the best in the world), Poznań, Wrocław, Gdańsk. Smaller towns: Piła, Kołobrzeg, Tuchola.

Good luck!

Travel to Poland, and spend a few weeks there. Then you will know if it feels like the right thing to do.

I'm almost certain that you'll be taxed on at least some of that amount. Obviously, you'll receive credit for taxes paid in the United States - but Poland starts taxing people at a ridiculously low amount.

Also, 4500PLN or so might be good money right now, but salaries are increasing dramatically. Of course, it depends where you live - if you're happy living in the countryside, about 50 miles or so from a major city, then you will be able to live well.

Something I don't understand - how can you be fit to teach and yet draw a pension from the US Government?

Go for it man!
You are polish no matter what. (Just get it on paper so that you can get your polish passport).

You'll love Poland.

RysiekK, you are truly a tough case.... After having read your post I think you need to see a shrink. And pls do not think I am demeaning you in any way. It just seems like you are running away from the only real life you know. Reconsider! Think it over..... Nothing wrong with moving to PL, many people have done that. I just sense you are not ready for that.

1500 USD for you and your mother with cash from the house probably would be fine. But long term you will always risk currency floats. Now it is closer to 5000 zł but not so long ago it was closer to 3000 zł.

The biggest risk I see in your move is health care. I understand you want bring your mother with you. I don't know exactly but I suppose neither of you is entitled to free polish healthcare after retirement. I suppose you will have to pay for it from those 1500 USD. My advice to you is check exactly what will be the cost of that.

As for other, not money concerned things. Either you will get lucky and make friends or not. Country of your choice has nothing to do with that...

after US taxes that's probably closer to 1000 if he has any other income..


maybe but I think Poles are less accepting, in general, so choosing PL is definitely a hard place and i think harder then most of other EU countries.

So I must assume you are one of those not lucky ones... Because I don't believe you have any valid statistical data about that ;-)


With that I can agree :-)

just read through these here forums.. it's rather plain to see..

Pricey for someone who is at least 60, I would guess?

It were already said in other threads that most of users of that forums are:
- non Poles interested in Poland
- non Poles not interested in Poland
- people with Polish roots living abroad

Natives are small minority here. If you take into account that some of regular users are really weird... Well, assuming anything from this forum about Poland is not very good idea. It not makes your general judgments wrong, it just make them lucky if they are right :-)

Frankly speaking most of threads in that forums are pure disgrace and moderation here is next to none. The thing is that they have good domain and many foreigners drop by here thinking that it is "Polish" forum when in fact it isn't...

i agree

but i am talking about Poles living in PL and posting here.. maybe the rudest and least accepting bunch of all.

Ok, now I feel personally offended ;-)
To end this off top (I think I've already crossed the line with mods...)...
The single most rudest and least accepting bunch in society I know would be the youth, everywhere ;-) It happens that this group in Poland knows English the best... Usually they are also the best trolls of all ;-)

hey, i didn't say you; you seem nice enough... :) but most on here and maybe you're right about the young punks.. that may be the case here...

:)

Move to Poland, if you don't you'll always regret it. If it works out great, if it doesn't you'll learn to appreciate where you're from. You could always go back. Just expect to spend a bit of cash. Every time I've moved it cost me money. If you can afford it, I'd keep my house in the States and wait to see if a permanent move to Poland is what you really want.