LIVE FORUMS / ARCHIVES / 2009

Witamy in PolishForums Archive :

Archives / 2009 / Everyday Life /

posts: 21

Polish bureaucracy - it went to a new level, they ask to pay for search

hairballThreads: 37 Posts: 787 Joined: Dec 16, 07	Oct 30, 08, 14:59 / #
Polish bureaucracy, something that everybody who has spent any time in Poland will be quite familiar with, but this month for me it went to a new level. I need a passport for my son who was born in Poland and has a Polish birth certificate. But when we went to apply for his passport I had to pay an extra 50zł so that the passport office could do a search to confirm that he is actually Polish. Unbelievable but true! Has anybody got a better one?

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 [Moderator]	Edited by: Wroclaw Oct 30, 08, 15:04 / #
hairball: Unbelievable but true! They may think that your son already has a British passport. Or he is registered as British, due to you coming from the UK.

hairballThreads: 37 Posts: 787 Joined: Dec 16, 07	Oct 30, 08, 15:16 / #
If he had a British passport I wouldn't need a Polish one for him! We did tell them that he's not registered as British and that I'm resident in Poland. But my point is surely his Polish birth cetificate is enough to prove he is Polish. Incidently under Polish rules he is allowed to hold joint British and Polish nationality. I don't know if he can hold both under British rules?

rsm109Threads: - Posts: 18 Joined: Oct 29, 08	Oct 30, 08, 15:25 / #
hairball: Incidently under Polish rules he is allowed to hold joint British and Polish nationality. I don't know if he can hold both under British rules? Yes, Britain allows dual nationality.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 30, 08, 16:49 / #
That's right. Dual nationality is allowed. Well hairball, I was told that, in order to change my status as a submitter of bills when contracting with companies to a VAT operator, I'd have to pay a fee of 170PLN. It's a technicality. My financial advisor was adamant that I had to do it, now he has changed his mind and said that I don't have to. Wow, what confidence I have. I'm happy with the way it is.

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 [Suspended]	Oct 31, 08, 11:25 / #
hairball: Has anybody got a better one? I once had my application for a temporary resident's card rejected because in the photos I'd supplied they could make out a tiny part of my right ear. So I had to make an entirely new application (with new photos of course).

hairballThreads: 37 Posts: 787 Joined: Dec 16, 07	Oct 31, 08, 11:46 / #
Harry: photos Yes they can be very pedantic about the photos! I spent an hour pointing out that my son was only three months old and in two weeks time he won't look the same anymore anyway! lol

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 2, 09, 21:46 / #
I had to pay 39PLN today for expediting the marriage procedure. The documents were submitted too late so I was happy to pay that. Yes, they have many fees but some are really worth paying. It's not all doom and gloom :)

ChrisPolandThreads: 3 Posts: 143 Joined: Oct 15, 09	Oct 26, 09, 20:14 / #
I can top that. When I went to get my becikowe (it's a thousand zloty baby bonus) the clerk asked me to prove that I hadn't received it already in my home area. You can apply for it another municipality than where you are registered but then you have to prove that you haven't already received it. I showed her again that my permanent resident is in that town and waited for my dough. She informed me that I had to prove that I had not received British becikowe. As I am American that would be a good feat and I explained that to her. Then she insisted that I prove I had not received American becikowe which for one thing doesn't exist and for another has nothing to do with Polish becikowe. I could see on the clerks face that she realized how stupid what she had just said was and that she was hopelessly incorrect but, god love her, she just kept on going until her supervisor took over and completed the transaction. Your turn :)

DiceThreads: 20 Posts: 677 Joined: Nov 27, 07	Oct 26, 09, 20:55 / #
Wroclaw: They may think that your son already has a British passport. Or he is registered as British, due to you coming from the UK. Why, can't you have two passports in Poland?

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 [Suspended]	Oct 26, 09, 20:59 / #
hairball: But my point is surely his Polish birth cetificate is enough to prove he is Polish. No it isn't. hairball: Incidently under Polish rules he is allowed to hold joint British and Polish nationality. I don't know if he can hold both under British rules? Yes he can.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 26, 09, 22:22 / #
ChrisPoland, super story! Isn't it sad when there were many confirmed cases of Poles double claiming in Britain and Poland? You'd think that they had the paperwork, given that they adore it so much.

Claritaslux	Oct 28, 09, 22:10 / #
Polish bureaucracy is one of the most horrible in whole Eastern Europe. This bureaucracy is suffocating the country and bringing it down to its knees... :(

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 28, 09, 22:13 / #
Any stories to support your position?

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 [Moderator]	Oct 28, 09, 22:21 / #
Claritaslux: This bureaucracy is suffocating the country and bringing it down to its knees... Yeah ! right. I sent 15 seconds in an office on monday. all because the counter was so far away from the door. handed over a VAT form... got one in return... no queue... that was it.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 28, 09, 22:31 / #
Well, there was the bare minimum of fuss at the wedding. Limited logistical formalities and done/dusted quickly. The same as getting the marriage process expedited, hassle free. Still, it depends on the procedure, of course.

mafketisThreads: 17 Posts: 1,880 Joined: Mar 31, 08	Oct 28, 09, 22:43 / #
IME Polish bureaucracy is a creampuff operation, mostly easy to deal with (and easy to get around). This presupposes of course, that you either know how the system works and have no special desire to reform things (and you know how to be polite in the ways that count). US bureaucracy has caused me far more problems than Polish bureaucracy.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Oct 28, 09, 22:52 / #
Exactly, it's a case of knowing the procedures and how they work. We have to accept that Poland operates differently. Some of the bureaucracy in Scotland is terrible.

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 [Suspended]	Edited by: delphiandomine Oct 28, 09, 23:39 / #
Seanus: Some of the bureaucracy in Scotland is terrible. And worse than in Poland - compare and contrast (like a Higher English paper...!) the difference between contacting government agencies in the respective countries. Here, if you don't get your dole payment, you go and shout at them in the Urząd Pracy. In the UK, you have to spend half an hour on the phone (at your expense, of course) and try and sort things out. Or what about registering as self employed? Queue up in Poland at the office, give them the documents, go to the tax office, voila. In the UK? Expect hassle, missing documents and a hell of a lot of stress, especially if they screw up. Don't expect them to actually receive any documents as well - unlike in Poland, where a stamp proves that they were given a copy. I won't even mention the 18 month waiting time for an EU resident permit in the UK as opposed to the 6-weeks-wait-at-most in Poland. Polish bureaucracy is mind boggling at times, but it's certainly no worse than in the UK. As far as my experience goes - you give the Polish what they want and the system is painless. But if you don't know what to give them because you didn't read the instructions (like many!) - then expect trouble.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Edited by: Seanus Oct 28, 09, 23:47 / #
I remember trying to get a document from East Kilbride. I had to provide a fossilised password which I couldn't remember. They wouldn't allow me anything without it and I had already given it 3 times to the same woman. I made multiple calls and it was just a blank that day. It happens! Sticklers for procedure. I appreciate the need for safety but she knew who I was. The call was monitored and, rather than opt for practicality, she opted for sticking by the anally-retentive procedures. Yeah, stamps really solve problems here. In Japan, they have a hanko (personal stamp) and Poland has followed suit. Signatures can be forged but having both gives added guarantees/protection. Also, the Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) set-up in Scotland is terrible. You really have to put yourself in the picture in Scotland, otherwise you are out on your ear and spending the rest of your time chasing shadows. Getting rejections for jobs that I wasn't even that interested in got boring.

BartolomeThreads: 2 Posts: 1,345 Joined: Sep 14, 06	Oct 29, 09, 01:27 / #
ChrisPoland: she just kept on going until her supervisor took over and completed the transaction And that's one of main problems of Polish red tape - one biurwa has his/her own interpretation of the rules while other biurwa can tell you something quite different.

Go UP

Similar discussions:

Similar to: Polish bureaucracy - it went to a new level, they ask to pay for search

Polish students take building light shows to the next level

1st level Cisco on call/on site support

In search of Iwona

Search for members

can the Church help geneology search?

Jan Burliga - how to search for a person in England??

Natkaniec Family history search.

Letter Translation requested from genealogy search

Wisniowka, Krupnik and Pierogi search in Montreal

Moving back to Poland after 20 unhappy years in Canada and USA

Funny pictures from Poland

Random: What is a Polish Nationalist?

Archives / 2009 / Everyday Life /

posts: 21

This forum is archived (read-only).

© 2005-2010 PolishForums.com | PolishForums LIVE | Archives | Random | Statistics