Renewal of Polish passport from the USA

I thought I would provide info for those trying to renew their Polish passport. My wife living in FL had to fly to DC to visit the Polish consulate on Wyoming Ave to renew her passport. Hours of the office are 9-1 only. You are required to present the expired passport and to fill out an application in person. She ended up getting a temporary passport which lasts for a year and which they will send to you in the mail within one week. You are required to provide two approved photo's which you can obtain at a local photographer within walking distance of the consulate. The consulate will provide the name and address of this business. Photos are $28 and took ten minutes and the temporary passport costs $58 (cash only). This fee is broken out as $14 for the temporary passport and a filing fee. We went on a Monday morning at 9:00am and did not have to wait to be seen.

The reason she went with a temporary passport was because she wanted her new married name on her ten year passport and the marriage certificate apparently needs to be registered in Poland before the consulate will change the name on a passport. This process takes about three months and has a fee of $75 I believe. The consulate legal department staff will provide the necessary paperwork and help if you need it. The temporary passport provides the time necessary to get all this done before reapplying for the full ten year document. The marriage certificate we showed them did not apparently have enough detail on it and we were advised to also attach copies of both husband and wife's birth certificates to make sure the Polish registrar has all the necessary details.

The current price of the full ten year passport is $114.00 (cash only). You may also have to pay the filing fee as documented in paragraph one above. If ordering both temporary and full term you only pay the filing fee once. We could have applied for both the temporary and full ten year at the same time if we had wanted but again we needed to deal with the married name. The full term ten year passport takes a couple of months to get. You will have finger prints taken at the consulate is choosing the ten year passport but not with the one year.

She did not need any other documents including birth certificate, visas, or proof of residency in order to apply.
I hope this is helpful as there is a lot of misinformation on the web.

My polish passport expired about 10 years ago and I decided to renew it last September. In the past, I could go to any polish travel agency, make the payment and let them work with the consulate. Well, this time I had to make the trip to the consulate in person with the old passport and the pictures ($20.00). Like you said, the renewal is $114.00 in cash. I spent about 4 hours in line hugging my ticket numbered 56. I found my experience at the Polish Consulate in Chicago very disappointing and not friendly at all.

Heck, I survived it. My polish passport is ready to be picked up (in the middle of November), but I need to take a day off work to make another trip there because they will not mail it. It sucks!

When I was renewing my American passport I just went to the Post Office, mailed my passport and a form, paid $86.00 and received a new passport in the mail within three weeks. What a difference in service!

Sounds like a little touch off good ol Polish hospitality State side. Yous htink theyd be a bit better over there. Its rediculous that you cant post with a postal payment, ohh they love to complicate things.

I renewed my passport this year. I contacted them by e-mail. I was told I'll have to travel to Washington, but then I got lucky: Embassy scheduled couple of days for their consul to travel and set up meetings in a Polish Center around Tampa. I made an appointment, traveled couple of hours, no lines, no wait, met and chatted with a handsome young Polish council and voila! passport arrived in the mail 4 months later. "Unia Europejska" right on the cover! Totally worth it.

Oh, and there was some certificate I never heard about that was missing in my application. They called me about it, e-mailed me the papers, I filled it and I faxed it back to them. Also, they would not accept the pictures I brought with me but insisted on re-taking them on the spot.

Likewise with our dear British Embassy in Poland.

Mystery of the week is why it costs over 600zl for the British Embassy to stick a piece of paper on a noticeboard that no-one is going to read.

Few more things: the missing papers was Numer Ewidencyjny PESEL.
There is no fingerprint anywhere on my passport.
I applied within 2 weeks of my old passport expiring. I asked if I could keep the old one. They punched two holes in it but let me keep it.

I think it was about $144, and then there was a mad scramble for change. I said they could keep the $6 or whatever it was, but that was not acceptable. I proposed to donate it to a cause of their choice, then somebody found some change. Thank God! My next idea would have been to ask the council to lunch.

What exactly is that about? I'm intrigued. My passport ran out over a month ago, so I'm going to need to renew it pretty soon!

It's for a 'certificate of no impediment'. Basically, the Polish Authorities ask for it to confirm that you aren't already married in the UK. Fair enough - they can't check their own databases, so they ask you to provide something from your 'home' country.

But the UK doesn't have any concept of national registers, so all they can do is stick a notice up in the embassy saying "so and so intends to get married" - just like they would outside the registry office in the UK. If no-one objects, then they grant the certificate. And for this, they charge 606zl at current rates...!

Passport renewals are another scam here, last time I checked, they were running at around 600zl! And if you need an emergency passport outside of consular hours, they charge you 128 pounds/hour for an official, on top of the emergency passport fee. And let's not forget that all fees must be paid in cash in person or via Poczta Polska - nothing else is accepted!

I'd love to know where this money is going - is it going to fund identity databases and ID cads that no-one wants in the UK?

delphiandomine

Hmm. Sounds like publishing Banns of Marriage. I bet they wouldn't accept a Certificate of Banns from the Anglican Parish here. I assume the Diocese of Gibraltar issues them. Maybe some small-town registrar could be persuaded to accept. And they only cost 12 quid.

I wonder about the money they charge for things too. Probably going on the salaries of all those staff who do little and earn a lot, not to mention the huge expat packages they get.

You're Gibraltarian?

I bet they would accept any old nonsense as long as it had a stamp on it purportrating to be from the British Embassy - in fact, it could be a nice little profitable racket! In fact - as long as it complied with what the Polish government says it should have, along with a stamp, I very much doubt they would bother to actually check it out in any detail.


It makes me sick. If the British Embassy did anything of note, then I wouldn't object - but what do they do, apart from charge extortionate amounts?

Ah wait, those garden parties have to be paid for somehow.

No. But Anglican parishes in Europe, including here in PL, are administered by the Diocese of Gibraltar. Their documents look very official. :-)


Me too.

A friend of mine got tired of seeing an extremely tatty Union Flag over the door of a shop in Warsaw that had gone bust. It was dirty and stained. He wrote to the embassy, suggesting that this is a bad reflection of Britain, and they might like to see if they could have it removed.

Days turned into weeks and then months, and nothing happened. The flag stayed there getting more and more ragged and dirty. So he sought out the building's caretaker, slipped him some money, and with his help, went into the empty flat above the shop, climbed out of he window onto the ledge, and with some difficulty removed the flag.

Two months later he got a letter, saying: "thanks to the unstinting efforts of HM Foreign Office, the flag in question has been removed by the building's owners and the matter is now resolved"

Sick-making

jonni

Sorry to quote myself, but it's too late to edit.

This is a bit closer to the title of the thread.

Do you think I'll have any problems renewing my passport, considering it's been out of date for over a month?

You learn something new every day..! I think it's actually worth a try - rules are there to be broken in Poland, after all ;)


Ugh. :( I don't think there's any other response than ugh.


Shouldn't be a problem - in fact, the only problem that I can see is that you're currently without valid ID from the eyes of the Polish. I've never heard of anyone having trouble because their passport was expired upon renewal - as long as you're able to present the expired passport, no problemo.

Actually most people I know want them and they are issuing more and more, the sooner the better everyone has to have one! Its generally illegal immigrants and people with something to hide that are against them.

I wouldnt say that, i feel most English people are against this kind of scheme as theyd feel controlled. Illigel immigarnts and such can access fake drivers licences and such whats the difference with ID card?

I'd suggest changing your social circle.

I've got nothing to hide, yet I don't see the point in wasting a vast amount of money that the country doesn't have on a massive database system, the reliability of which is questionable given that they admit that something like 10% of the DVLA's records are wrong.

Are you really happy for government officials to be able to access all sorts of private data about you, as and when they choose? Let's see...would you really want next door's neighbour being able to access a database which tells them all about you?

The databases will be a *huge* target for identity theft - and if you can successfully assume someone's identity, then the presence of an ID card will back your new 'identity' up. Voila, someone's life is ruined.

I suppose you're also for CCTV everywhere and completely in favour of endless photographers being harrassed just for taking photographs?


None whatsoever. The ID card technology has already been hacked, for one.

For once I agree with delphiandomine as two years ago I let my British passport go out of date by six months and just presented my old passport to the Embassy in Warsaw and there were no problems and it was delivered 14 days later. I should think Polish passports are very similar.


You can get this from your local town office in the UK and basically it is a letter from an official (mine was from the chief registrar) stating "to the best of my Knowledge Mr/Miss has never been married before". One problem is that if you are going to get married in a Catholic Church they really do not like the "to the best of my Knowledge" bit, and so I had a friendly priest who told me to go back and get it retranslated removing the offending phrase. If you throw the sworn translator a few more zl they will usually do it no problem.

Of course you understand this is illegal? It is called "certifying an untruth" and should never happen. Yeah, sure, some translators do it nevertheless, but if you ask them to, you're actively participating in a criminal practice. The sworn translator is obligated by law and by the oath they took to translate every legible element of a document, not leaving anything out and not adding anything unless in square brackets and marked "translator's note". BTW, British register offices issue very nice official certificates of no impediment which clearly and unequivocally state a person's single status, so why go to all these lengths and cheat into the bargain?

Of course I understand this and after living here for nine years and working with many sworn translators I can tell you that it is common practice - everyone has a bit of artistic licence in them and sworn translators are no different.

TBH sworn translators are some of the worst translators in Poland and they stick with their arrogant habitual mistakes and lord all over everyone else thinking they are perfect when they are not.


Well then that must have changed over the years then, because there never used to be such a document, nice to see that British local authorities are becoming Polanised :)

Cheat is a rather strong opinionated and rather hippocratic word when you are trying to deal with such an unnecessary bureaucratic system.

For one thing - most sworn translators are also "general stuff" translators; which means that they would have to be schizophrenically divided within themselves to be worst as sworn and normal as non-sworn.

I am a sworn translator myself, and I think I am rather good at my job, I try to correct any mistakes I might have made in the past, and generally hope to be getting better at my job and more professional every day. So there. You can stick your generalisations you know where ;-p


It is not unnecessary, if people are getting married it is good to know that they are actually free to do so. Saves a lot of trouble in the future - when the sh*t could really hit the fan.

Not generalisations Magda these are experiences there is a distinct difference :)

I am sure you are very good at your job and it great to hear that you are not prostituting yourself for money as others are :)


This is a complete waste of time because the document is not checked in the UK because we do not a have a national register of marriages in the UK that is searchable for this purpose.

So anyone could go and get this "nice official certificate of no impediment" because it isn't worth the paper it is printed on and only appeases the Polish catholic church who originally instigated the idea.

A bigger question is who the hell is masochistic enough to have two wife's lol

Depends whether they were sworn under the old system or the new one. A few years back in most place it was enough to be a graduate from any language course at university to be able to go sign your name on the list of sworn translators. Now the complete opposite is true, I know very good translators who are not sworn because the exam they need to pass is too difficult!

Yeah, I understand that. The thing is, the sworn translator community is as varied as the general populace. You get the old fogies who are primarily foreign language teachers and who earn a bit on the side "sworn-translating" and had gotten their authorisation way back in the sixties and never tried to improve their skills since then; you get real professionals (like myself! [pinch of salt added]) who consider sworn translation just one of the things they do in the general area of translation and interpreting, and who have a reputation to protect; and you get the young ones, who have recently passed their sworn translator examination and who either lack experience, or are willing to sell themselves "for a few złoty more" because they frankly see no harm in it (not that I agree with them, I just think they're both foolish and immoral). So take your pick. If you're not happy with a sworn translator, you don't have to keep coming back for more.

AND - if you encourage the artistic licence in these people, that does make you an accomplice whether they were corrupt to start with or not. :->


This is the UK's problem then, not Poland's.


No, if you wish to marry a Polish citizen and are from abroad, you need to present this certificate to the Polish register office. Also, if two British citizens wish to marry abroad under the local law, they also need to present this to the register office in PL.


...someone too lazy to divorce the first wife? ;-)

No, it is Poland's. They are the ones who can't make their system fit round what is normal in the world and so have to rely on a notice being displayed for a week in a place where virtually nobody will see it.

Helloo?! Nobody puts up notices in Polish register offices. You get the certificate of no impediment, present it to the authorities, they file it, end of story.

And it's not only a Polish requirement, hence the following entry on a form for Brits planning to marry abroad:
"To be issued in the case of marriage of two British subjects in a foreign country under the local law [...] To be presented to HM British Consul for the district in which the marriage is to take place'.

Please note: "foreign country" - NOT "Poland"; "district in which the marriage is to take place" - NOT "Poland".

Seems like quite a number of countries do have similar requirements then? And it is the UK's problem if they cannot truthfully state their citizens' marital status and have to issue certificates which certify to nothing at all...

What is the email that you used to ask questions. I live in South Carolina and my passport expired few years ago. Now I want to travel and need a new one. Tampa would be great if I got lucky and could go there. Please let me know what I need to do to start this process. Thanks

two questions: Need to replace a lost Polish passport. Closest consulate office is NYC. What kind of identification is needed, other than the lost passport number? Also need to apply for two new children's Polish passports and am curious how to proceed. Do both parents' signatures need to be on children's application? Do both parents need to appear before the consulate? Do parent signatures need to be notorized? Any help would be appreciated.

there is probably a website somewhere with all the relevant info.

the photos needed have to be in a particular style and format.

Merged: Polish Passport renewal in U.S. ( Is a visit to the consulate necessary? )

Does anybody know the sztick on this? We've read and it seems my wife needs to fly to the L.A. consulate to re-new her Polish passport. I've also read on this forum that she doesn't.

Trying to keep this topic alive.

I can see having to travel to the consulate in L.A. to get fingerprinted, but does one really have to go there to pick it up too? Seems absurd.

My wife just filled application and mailed it with pics and money order to NYC polish consulate and they mailed her new passport in 6 weeks

What about the fingerprints?