How can Americans of Polish descent get work in Poland?

Hello all!

I am Michał I was born in America and so were my parents. We all grew up in the states in a Polish Village much like that in Chicago. My Polish skills are terrible because I was forbidden to learn Polish so I could "blend in" to American standards. I think this is terrible but I am getting off subject.

While in Poland on a 3 month vacation two years ago I attempted to stay. Unfortunately I found it was something like this. In order for me to get a Job in Poland I needed a Work Visa, in order to get a Work Visa I needed an employer to sponsor the visa. BUT no one would sponsor a visa for me because Americans are not in the European Union and apparently if a Polish business hires outside of the EU they have to pay a fee for doing so.

How can I get a work visa without a promise for work?

why not get Polish citizenship?

My advice is work those family ties (if you still have realtives in Poland).

Ask any relatives in Poland to look around, ask their friends etc for someone who can offer you a job (at least on paper). It seems odd or inappropriate by US standards but it's perfectly normal in Poland. They may or may not be able to help but they won't be offended or upset about you asking.

Without extremely fluent Polish (or internationally valuable skills) you're most likely going to be stuck teaching English at least in the beginning. Get those skills and some kind of paper qualifications ASAP.

You can also get hired by a large multi-national and manage to get sent to Poland but that's kind of a long shot.

Start a company.

It takes a little longer, but it's worth the effort. I had no clue that one day I was going to be blessed with my Polish Citizenship. After a lot of paperwork we were awarded citizenship because of our grandparents. (They were Polish).

Next year, (hopefully) we will be ready to move to Poland from the US. Right now, we are on the process of studying the language.

Just as the US don't want illegal immigrants on their territory, Poland doesn't want illegal Americans, so I strongly recommend that you do all the homework you can in order to make it to Poland in a legit way.

Forget about the work visa.

Get all your (and your parents/or at least 1 grandparents') documents and apply for polish citizenship at your local polish embassy/consulate. It will take some time and most likely will be a tedious process but it will make living in Poland easy in the future.

Odds are that if him and his parents were both born in the USA, the grandparents would have been stripped of citizenship at some point.


It's the best and simplest way. There really is no need to mess around - 360zl a month for compulsory social taxes, 123zl a month for an accountant - job done.

other than being able to work what would other benefits be to getting Polish citizenship?

The right of residency in the EU.

Exactly why many Americans and Israelis suddenly discovered their Polish roots in 2004.

Ohkaye! Hmm...

hmmm im an american and i am trying to get an esl job in poland...
so far they really like eu citizens.

Normal?I don't think this is normal.Sure if you were a friend of mine I would try to help you out but if you approached me as a strange person I wouldn't do it and i think 99% of Poles wouldn't either.Tell me why do you think it is perfectly normal in Poland?

He is referring to nepotism, grubas. Back scratching is quite a common thing but it isn't so clear-cut here in Poland. Foreigners obviously have it that much harder for clear reasons.

Hey, everyone is free to leave the US. I don't have any problems with it at all.

True, this is a big problem mainly in government agencies.I thought he was saying it's perfectly normal to fly to PL and ask a strange person to employ you "at least on paper" because you need work visa.Isn't work visa valid for one job (work place) only anyway?

I'm not talking about strangers, but about relatives (even if they're not real close). And asking friends on behalf of a relative isn't weird either (ime, of course).

Strangers are VERY hard to access here. Most will ignore you. I don't know the position with regards to visas here.

I can imagine they are when one don't speak Polish.

Even when one does......

Poland should stimulate return of Polish Americans to Poland. It can strengthen Polish national being. It can be good for finances of Poland and for economy in general. Whole process of uniting the Poles would also result in many new ideas on all fields, rise of creativity.

Agreed, and the demographic shifts in America/Canada and Western Europe will ensure the strengthening of Poland in the future and weakening in the West.

One becoming tired of constant double standards that on the international community imposing ruling world establishment, mainly from USA and west of Europe. if they can stimulate immigration, Poland can, too.

i don`t care if some powers weaken after Poland start to stimulate re-immigration in order to re-populate Poland. i don`t focusing on that. Let just Poland take back what belongs to her.