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Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)?


PlasticPole 7 | 2,648
14 Jan 2011 #61
Harry is Polish since he lives in Poland.
guesswho 4 | 1,278
14 Jan 2011 #62
of course he is if you follow his logic.
Olaf 6 | 955
14 Jan 2011 #63
There should be a contest like So You Think You Are Polish :)
OP Harry
14 Jan 2011 #64
A question for Harry. Would you stand up fro the UK if they were under attack? Would you take up arms for them?

The country as an institution or certain people in it? I certainly wouldn't fight for something as abstract as a nation-state. If that means I don't deserve a passport, it means that you don't either: for mean years the UK was under attack from the IRA, did you take up arms to defend it? And did you sign up for the army the day the Falkland islands were invaded? Me neither.

What nationality do you cosider yourslf Harry?

I don't consider myself any nationality: I'm just me. I won't categorise or identify myself with other people just because we were born in the same nation or whatever. Do you identify yourself with Charles Bronson: you are both Welsh.

because hes not British i think, he likes to keep his true nationality a secret for some reason.

I am using a British passport at the moment but to me it really is just a piece of paper, one that can be useful at times and annoying at others.

PlasticPole:
Harry is Polish since he lives in Poland.

of course he is if you follow his logic.

No, I would be Polish if I asked Poland if I could become Polish and my application to become Polish was accepted. If I did apply, I would be accepted but at present I have no plans whatsoever to apply.
Wroclaw Boy
14 Jan 2011 #65
I am using a British passport at the moment but to me it really is just a piece of paper, one that can be useful at times and annoying at others.

i dont really see many downsides to having a British passport
Torq
14 Jan 2011 #66
Some people confuse two things - a nation and a fatherland.

As Henryk Elzenberg once wrote (more or less, I quote from memory):

"Nation consists of several millions of average entities, with a percentage of fools, scoundrels,
idiots; a mass susceptible to manipulation of all kinds, capable of evil, crime, mass psychosis.
Loving entire nation is nonsensical; you can only love - without being blinded by it - some
certain, usually modest, virtues of it, and certain of its representatives.
However, with nation there is connected a fatherland, and that's a completely different
matter. Fatherland is an ideal entity, something that was drawn from non-existence by the best
of the best in a given nation, something that floats above people, a great symbol, great fire
at which all the longings and aspirations are gathered. You can quite easily alienate somebody
from his nation, but you can't seriously try to deprive man of his fatherland."

That's why, in my opinion, there's nothing wrong in being proud of one's fatherland (in the
sense described by Elzenberg.)
OP Harry
14 Jan 2011 #67
i dont really see many downsides to having a British passport

It would certainly be easier to live in Poland with a Polish passport.

I'm still pretty certain that I'll stop using a British passport if/when they start fingerprinting people as part of the application process.
Teffle 22 | 1,321
14 Jan 2011 #68
i dont really see many downsides to having a British passport

Depends on where you are travelling e.g. extremists are likely to hold you accountable in some shape or form as being an ally of the US. Britain could be seen as hostile in its own right by some. More likely to be kidnap victim etc.

Whilst usually nothing to be alarmed about for most people,there are certainly less, shall we say, provocative passports to hold in Europe.
f stop 25 | 2,507
14 Jan 2011 #69
you can receive social security benefits abroad without problems

I keep hearing about that, but my mother is getting both US SS and Polish retirement without many problems.

The most important one - you cannot vote without it! I cannot fathom living in a country, any country, where I cannot vote.

you can be quite amusing

Where's your heart in Poland or the USA? Only you can answer that. It's not about advantage.

oh, it is about advantage. In my heart we should not need any passports at all.

At this point, it would take an emmigration lawyer to restart my US citizenship proceedings. So, for me to hand some money to a shyster, advantages would have to be pretty clear.
Wroclaw Boy
14 Jan 2011 #70
I'll stop using a British passport if/when they start fingerprinting people as part of the application process.

Are you on the wanted list then harry?
f stop 25 | 2,507
14 Jan 2011 #71
that reminds me: I was freakin' fingerprinted at the airport getting into US two weeks ago! WTF??
Teffle 22 | 1,321
14 Jan 2011 #72
Nothing new there. Since 9/11 as far as I know.

It's the reason I have not visited the states since, and won't be doing so again - unless this changes.

Purely on principle by the way - not that I have "a past" or anything like that : )
f stop 25 | 2,507
14 Jan 2011 #73
hmm.. I have popped in and out at least a dozen times since, this was the first fingerprint incident. They took face photos, too! Probably for their new face recognition project.

Plus, they went through my luggage with a fine toothcomb, even unfolding old tissues in my dirty laundry pockets and sh!t.
Musta been on high alert for Polish terrorists with sniffles ;)
Teffle 22 | 1,321
14 Jan 2011 #74
Which brings the whole circle neatly back around again...

Are you a US citizen? : )

If so, maybe that's why you didn't attract as much security before.
f stop 25 | 2,507
14 Jan 2011 #75
no, nothing's changed on my end.
PennBoy 76 | 2,432
14 Jan 2011 #76
No, I would be Polish if I asked Poland if I could become Polish and my application to become Polish was accepted.

Slow down! They first gotta check you out, personally i think your application would have been revoked.
Teffle 22 | 1,321
14 Jan 2011 #77
no, nothing's changed on my end.

Just googled it - fingerprinting applies only to "visitors" so as (I assume) a permanent legal resident, your security risk would be categorised lower?

Although doesn't explain you being fingerprinted now. Maybe just some over zealous tit.
f stop 25 | 2,507
14 Jan 2011 #78
Thanks, Teffle. Yes, I am a permanent legal resident, but somewhere, in the annals of some US database, my file is growing steadily... I'm sure my facebook account is linked in by now. ;)
OP Harry
14 Jan 2011 #79
Are you on the wanted list then harry?

Depends which one you're talking about.

They first gotta check you out, personally i think your application would have been revoked.

I've already passed all the checks a number of times thanks.
jwojcie 2 | 762
15 Jan 2011 #80
Wow, what a crazy thread :-)
I think that someone mixed ethnic origin with citizenship (which because of Poland homogeneity tends to be treated as the same thing when in fact it isn't)...

Well those are not clear concepts but the closest concept to me is:
-> citizenship it is a role in a social deal between the rulers and society, close to the contract, you sign up, you get the rights of society member, but you can sign off and make new deal in another society if they need you :-)

-> ethinc origin - in the biggest picture blood and genes but also cultural genes... anyway here is the part when some betrayal accusations can be applied... On the other hand I didn't come by on concept in Polish culture of condemning emigration (with exception of war or other emergency states...)
Marynka11 4 | 677
15 Jan 2011 #81
At this point, it would take an emmigration lawyer to restart my US citizenship proceedings. So, for me to hand some money to a shyster, advantages would have to be pretty clear.

Why is that? I think you can file your application at any time and any number of years after you received your green card, and it's quite speedy these days. The application is quite long, but nothing what you couldn't do by yourself.
PlasticPole 7 | 2,648
15 Jan 2011 #82
I would be Polish if I asked Poland if I could become Polish and my application to become Polish was accepted.

You wouldn't be Polish ethnicity. You would British-Polish.
skysoulmate 14 | 1,294
15 Jan 2011 #83
you can be quite amusing

How is that amusing? Voting should be mandatory. Those who do not vote because they do not want to or because they do not want to become citizens are nothing else than societal leaches. Not amusing at all.

that reminds me: I was freakin' fingerprinted at the airport getting into US two weeks ago! WTF??

That's pretty common in many places around the world and will become even more common. Everytime I fly into Japan, Korea and lately Singapore you stand in front of a tiny camera and a table with two glass covered areas that are for your finger prints. You show up, put your fingers on the glass table, smile and keep going.

At this point, it would take an emmigration lawyer to restart my US citizenship proceedings. So, for me to hand some money to a shyster, advantages would have to be pretty clear.

Marynka is right. Unless you have committed a felony, as long as you have a green card applying for your citizenship is fairly easy. You don't need an immigration attorney although it'd probably make things easier for you. You fill out the paper work, get it notarized at the Post Office for example and wait. Eventually you'll have an "interview" where they'll ask some basic civics questions and then they schedule your swear in ceremony. Nothing to it inless you have some major skeletons in your closet.

PS. Six months ago I was invited to my friend's mom's swear in ceremony. She was born and raised in the UK but had lived in the US for some 30 years as a permanent resident (green card holder). She finally decided to become a US citizen and had no problems at all even though it'd been some 30 years since she became a permanent resident.
f stop 25 | 2,507
15 Jan 2011 #84
She finally decided to become a US citizen and had no problems at all even though it'd been some 30 years since she became a permanent resident.

again, so what are the advantages? And don't say so I can vote, 'cause that just makes me laugh.

Why is that?

Because if your papers are lost, you cannot reapply until they try to find out what happened to the last application. And they can fvck with you like that for years, or untill you pay a lawyer.
convex 20 | 3,930
15 Jan 2011 #85
again, so what are the advantages?

My mother has lived in the US for over 30 years and never saw a need. She still votes back home. It just depends on if you feel the need to vote in the US.
guesswho 4 | 1,278
15 Jan 2011 #86
so what are the advantages?

1.No more dealing with the USCIS
2.You get to vote and can get elected
3.you are eligible for certain government jobs and benefits.
( you can get a government job without US citizenship, although citizens will be given first preference.)
4.As a US citizen you can stay out of the country as long as you like
5.will not be deported if committed certain crimes
6.more options to make a petition of a relative
7.you can get a US passport (which let you visit a lot of countries without visa)
8. if you live out of US, you can enter wherever you want
9.if you paid the SS and have the credits required to get it, you can get the money in any country.

wikilaw3k.org/forum/Immigration/What-is-the-advantage-of-US-citizenship-compare-to-permanent-residency-Greencard-448107.htm
PlasticPole 7 | 2,648
15 Jan 2011 #87
2.You get to vote and can get elected

You can vote for the Presidential candidates but you can never become President if you were not born in the US.
skysoulmate 14 | 1,294
15 Jan 2011 #88
again, so what are the advantages? And don't say so I can vote, 'cause that just makes me laugh.

Well, if voting makes you laugh then you probably shouldn't become a US citizen. I know it's a joke to you but it is important to me. Too many deadbeats in America already...

PS. You've gotten some bad legal advice. People lose their green cards all the time and it's not that complicated to apply for a replacement followed by a citizenship application.
f stop 25 | 2,507
15 Jan 2011 #89
skysoulmate

Well, if voting makes you laugh then you probably shouldn't become a US citizen.

so predictable.. I was giving you too much credit.

3.you are eligible for certain government jobs and benefits.

that one falls on the con side. I'm afraid I can be bought ;)
skysoulmate 14 | 1,294
15 Jan 2011 #90
so predictable.. I was giving you too much credit.

If it came out as me being rude than I apologize, wasn't my intention even though rereading it now I can say I sounded pretty mean.

However voting is important to me, it's a core value to me, you know some things I just believe in and it's hard for me to discuss something when there's no mutual groud to stand on. I didn't join the military for the money you know. Either way, yes being able to vote is the most important aspect of being a citizen to me. So basically I butted out of this discussion not to be mean but because we don't have the same set of values on this issue, that's all I meant by it.


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