Dual Citizenship: American and Polish?

matthewz:

given that my Father is Polish, and was born in Poland, can this be grounds for me to claim Polish citizenship as a means to getting into the EU sort of through the back door so to speak? As I said, he is not sure if he is a Polish citizen in "hibernation" I guess you can say, but at the same time, he never formally rejected or gave up is Polish citizenship. He simply came to America as a young boy and then a couple of years later he became an American and thats that. So if any one can help that would be great.

DiceThreads: 20 Posts: 677 Joined: Nov 27, 07	Edited by: Dice Dec 3, 07, 12:32 / #
What if I have no need for and simply don't want the Polish passport? If one day I decide to visit the Old Country, will I be harassed by the Polish customs at the airport? What if I take my kids with me? Will they be harassed? What about my wife, who carries my last name but does not have a Polish ancestry?

MaatThreads: - Posts: 23 Joined: Nov 17, 07	Dec 3, 07, 19:00 / #
Well, unless you got any legal stuff with poland [you ran from military, juvelee record, etc.] you shouldnt worry about it, you can as well go on US pasport, your kids dont have citizenship as well as your wife, youd have to go to consulate and request that I think and some restrictions apply [they'd need to live in Poland prolly etc.] The only way you could get in trouble being a Polish citizen other than that described above is if you were still registered as liveing in poland [zameldowany w polsce] and didnt serv your military thingy, I had a problem with that, had to send a paper to my mom saying that I give her the right to unregister me from the house so the Army wouldnt harras her or stop me at the border...

Matt1	Dec 4, 07, 22:38 / #
Quoting: karturn My Husband was from Poland (in the US for only 5 yrs) & I am American. Does our daughter have dual citizenship, even though she was born in the US? Can she obtain a Polish passport? If so how? I have my husband's birth certificate, a copy of his parents marriage license, our marriage license, her birth certificate & his death cert. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, KT Polish law says she is if she wants to be if one parent is Polish. Practically it means she is. The danger is while she is Poland (while traveling for example she can be drafted to military like in Sweden if after medical school) is not recognizing her US citizenship while inside Poland. This law is since 2 nd Polish Republic before the wr and originates from the way Poland in 1918 was created against Germany and Austria. As a matter of fact millions of Germans from Pomern, Posen or Schesien have the same problem with Poland as it was the US. They have so called right to return to work in Germany when they would need arbeitslaibnis iif the were considered Polish by German state.

krysiaThreads: 26 Posts: 3,604 Joined: Aug 10, 06	Dec 4, 07, 22:50 / #
My kids were born in US but have also Polish citizenship.

AmaZedd	Dec 31, 07, 11:59 / #
My mother and father, now deceased, were Polish. I was naturalized a US citizen in 1957. How difficult will it be for me to claim dual citizenship?

skredberry	Mar 14, 08, 13:11 / #
I was reading the laws on this and it mentions after 1918. I think my great grandmother came over in 1915, but back then there is little documentation kept and I think the only thing we've found is where she signed in at Ellis Island. What kind of documentation would I need to provide to visit Poland if no one came over after 1918? Just curious b/c I wouldn't want to say something about being Polish, then have them not let me leave the country and not have anything to prove my family came over before 1918. Wouldn't mind having dual citizenship; however, I also have a son that I'd be taking with me and when you get into the US costs of getting a Polish passport and all the paperwork for the two of us, it would cost over $1000 without translation services.

szyja5	Mar 28, 08, 20:02 / #
As many of you are aware there is an idiotic rule which the Polish Sejm refused to rescind!!! (which results in decreased numbers of Polish citizens living abroad who travel to Poland) and which stipulates that any former citizen of Poland has to present ,if asked by Polish authorities(admittedly it is not a frequent occurrance), to present Polish passport to be able to leave Poland. Does anybody know whether new ID cards which are supposedly issued in the Polish consulates will be honored by the Polish authorities,instead of a Polish passport ,upon departure from Poland of the former Polish citizen who entered Poland using US passport? Incidentally,there are many so called Polish jokes which present Poles as stupid and ignorant.I have no doubt that the "brilliant" decisions ,as the one mentioned above, which antagonized Polonia and results in a substantial loss of revenue from tourism, contribute to perpetuating the unfavorable opinion about Poles.

EurolaThreads: 6 Posts: 2,647 Joined: Dec 2, 06	Mar 28, 08, 23:11 / #
I travel on US Passport to Poland and did not hear about "the idiotic rule" you mentioned. Never had any problems either...

szyja5	Mar 29, 08, 08:33 / #
The fact that you were not asked to show your Polish passport does not mean that the rule which I mentioned does not exist.It is true that it is very rarely enforced but many people,myself including, would not want to risk serious problems(one is not allowed to leave the country until a passport is obtained which may take several weeks)) if there is the slightest possibility of not being allowed to leave Poland.I suppose that not too many people who know about this rule would like to take a chance since it is enough to encounter the most junior Polish immigration officer who is in a bad mood and wants to make use of the existing law,to have a serious problem. Last year when I planned to travel to Poland I contacted the Polish Consulate in New York to inquire about this issue and I received the most unprofessional and idiotic (yes ,I use this word advisedly) answer."Yes it is true that there is such a law but you should not worry because it is most unlikely that you will have any problem".What makes this statement particularly appalling is the fact that it was an official reply to my formal request for clarification rather than a friendly advice offered during the informal chat.

wendymd	Jul 13, 08, 23:54 / #
my boyfriend and i are going to poland in 2 weeks. we have our passports and plane tickets all set. however we ran into a problem tonight. you see, he was born in poland 29 years ago but moved to america and got citizenship when he was 8. so does he need a polish passport as well? if he does, how long would that take to get and where do we get it? i really hope this doesnt effect when we leave for our trip.

VARSOVIE	Apr 10, 09, 06:28 / #
Hello, All of the above replies are quite correct ( plus the red tape ..... waiting period) Be aware though, that once she is granted polish citizenship and while she is in Poland she will be a subject of 100%o of polish law ( the whole shabang -good or bad) Secondary citizenship (despite of the place of birht and residency) has a minmal worth and therefore; other countries have marginal means to help if problems arise (God Forbid). Poland does not have restictions per say how many citizenships you may have,but legally they recognize only one ( guess which one?) once you are in their realm you have only one law- POLISH. In certain ways it is smart. Once you're somehwere in the world -- let other countries help you, while in Poland "u are ours" , maybe it sounds demonic, but it is not....just caution for non polish born and polish raised citizens. PROS:: - you can live anywhere in europe and dont need special permits, EU benefits available right away , as well as UI benefits EU citizens are helped by the entire EU member countries Higher educations is for free - (tuition only I am afraid)..........Oxford, Padwa ,Bologne, Madrid , Sorbone...........and of course I need to add the second oldest university in Europe - UV Jagielonski- KRAKOW - CRACOVIA- POLAND -they adore you if you are Canadian, Swiss, Japaneese.... or you pretend to be one . .......USA not so much you have to prove that you are worth it.............. FAKE IT!!!!!

McCoyThreads: 46 Posts: 1,756 Joined: Jul 3, 08	Apr 29, 09, 17:29 / #
VARSOVIE: second oldest university in Europe - UV Jagielonski- KRAKOW - CRACOVIA- POLAND second oldest in central and eastern europe. older universities are in italy, france, spain, england, portugal and czech rep

DiceThreads: 20 Posts: 677 Joined: Nov 27, 07	Jul 14, 08, 14:28 / #
Wendy, this is precisely the reason why your boyfriend shouldn't get a Polish passport. Think, what would happened if some underpaid, overworked bureaucrat with an inferiority complex in Poland decides to give you guys hard time in Poland? You're going to call the US embassy for help, right? And what will they do, when you tell'em that you didn't use your US passport and you preferred the Polish one instead? I think they may say: "Well in this case, why don't you call your Polish Congressman and ask them for help?” BTW, that crazy law where they (the Polish Government) consider you their citizen regardless if you want it or not, was a main reason for me not to even try my luck by going back to visit the Old Country for last 24 years... That and the fact that they had a mandatory army draft… :)

ewelina123	Jan 10, 09, 17:07 / #
I just did my citizenship and i just got my American passport. I have my old polish passport that has expired already, and its with my old last name on it because i got remarried here. Can i go to poland and visit with just my american passport with no problems?

matthewzThreads: 1 Posts: 1 Joined: Mar 14, 09	Mar 14, 09, 12:45 / #
Thread attached on merging: Can I get possible EU Citizenship to study and maybe work??? First off I'm an American living in California. My Mother is about as honky white Anglo Saxon Protestant as they come and my Father is not. He was born in Rzeszow in the mid '50s and immigrated to the US as a young child in the '60s. Despite speaking the language, he has never been back to Poland, or Europe for that matter, and really has no clue if he has still Polish citizenship. He thinks I am crazy for wanting to leave the US for any European country, but I am really considering taking my masters in either France or Spain. More opportunity in France, but my French is a work in progress whereas I can speak fluent Spanish/grammer. If I was an EU national, tuition in these countries would be much reduced and I could possibly even have a decent chance at finding work once I graduated. My bachelor degree, which I am about 8 weeks away for completing is in Accounting. Every country needs accountants, and the euro master programes that I'm looking at are all two years so I can only pray economies start to turn around by 2011. I could even get my American CPA and a couple of euro equivilents in the near future if this works out, and along with the contacts I come across, I could be sitting real pretty back in the States, in like NYC 15-20 years from now. So, after this long story, my question being, given that my Father is Polish, and was born in Poland, can this be grounds for me to claim Polish citizenship as a means to getting into the EU sort of through the back door so to speak? As I said, he is not sure if he is a Polish citizen in "hibernation" I guess you can say, but at the same time, he never formally rejected or gave up is Polish citizenship. He simply came to America as a young boy and then a couple of years later he became an American and thats that. So if any one can help that would be great.

inkrakow	Mar 14, 09, 16:33 / #
matthewz: given that my Father is Polish, and was born in Poland, can this be grounds for me to claim Polish citizenship as a means to getting into the EU sort of through the back door so to speak? As I said, he is not sure if he is a Polish citizen in "hibernation" I guess you can say, but at the same time, he never formally rejected or gave up is Polish citizenship. He simply came to America as a young boy and then a couple of years later he became an American and thats that. So if any one can help that would be great. It sounds promising as he never renounced his citizenship. Does he have a copy of his birth certificate? That makes everything a lot easier but you should contact the consulate and ask them.

DS	Apr 4, 09, 01:00 / #
Hello, I am married to a Polish man and I am an US citizen and this is why I want to receive dual citizenship; we plan on moving to Poland and I want to be able to work in Spain or Poland and with dual citizenship, it allows me heck of a lot of money and time and filling out applications, not to mention having to live and work in EU.... country for 10 years before being eligible and when only being allowed to work with visa for no longer than 6 months at 1 given time. This would literally take a person 20 years to gain citizenship. Well this is the info that I have found out in my research. DS

Guest	Apr 6, 09, 15:04 / #
To AmaZedd! If your parents obtained in any way US citizenship before 1951, then according to 1920 Polish Citizenship Act - article 11, they had lost their Polish citizenship and they could not pass it to their children, etc. (unless their children were born before they had obtained US citizenship). You can contact me - law.firm@prokonto.pl and I will answer any specific questions. Besides you can always apply to the Polish President for citizenship.

Guest	Apr 6, 09, 15:14 / #
You can apply for Polish citizenship after 3 years of marriage to a Polish citizen. Polish lawyer

jradThreads: - Posts: 1 Joined: Apr 29, 09	Apr 29, 09, 14:31 / #
Hello - I have been researching dual citizenship and I don't think I can get Polish citizenship but wanted another opinion. My grandfather was 100% Polish and was born in New York which means his parents immigrated to the US. He should be considered a Polish Citizen whether he claimed it or not, correct? Unfortunately, my grandfather died long before I was born, around the age my father was 18. My father is half Polish and half Italian. The Italian dual citizenship doesn't work for because my father was born 45 days prior to the law that says woman can pass their citizenship down to their children. I am hoping that will one day be overturned because I am a shoe in. My father is a US citizen and we, at this time were never aware that my grandfather claimed Polish Citizenship before he died. Can we claim it even though he is dead? I have been told by a Slovakian couple that my last name if very common Polish name, not that it matters. Thanks!

benszymanskiThreads: 9 Posts: 510 Joined: Feb 29, 08	Apr 29, 09, 14:37 / #
jrad: My grandfather was 100% Polish and was born in New York which means his parents immigrated to the US I am going to guess that your great grandparents left Poland before 1918 in which case no, you can't claim citizenship through them. Citizenship can generally be claimed only by descendants of Polish citizens who left Poland after the country became an independent state in 1918 You can read up on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law#Citizenship_by_des cent

littlekatiebirdThreads: - Posts: 1 Joined: Jun 11, 09	Jun 11, 09, 22:51 / #
Hi there, I'm hoping some one can help me with a question re dual citizenship. My parents are both polish and imigrated in 1961. My family went to Poland in 1975 and at that time I was a young child, 5 years old. I believe I had a polish passport, actually I think my parents still have it, obviously it's expired. Since I had a Polish passport in the past, does that mean I already have dual citizenship? How would I go about confirming this? I also went to Poland in 1991 but used a U.S. Passport only. Another question, I am married to an 100% american, and if it works out that I am a Polish citizen or can claim dual citizenship, can he also apply for Polish citizenship? The reason I am asking is that I may have a future opportunity to live/work in Europe and am starting to get my ducks in a row as far as having a right to do so. Any feedback is much appreciated.

mbiernatThreads: 3 Posts: 116 Joined: Sep 24, 08	Jun 12, 09, 06:43 / #
I think you can get it if you apply no problem. Polish citizenship and US citizen can exist together as,long as you apply. http://www.claritaslux.com/blog/dual-citizen/ The child is a Polish citizen by the Polish constitution already, just do the paperwork.

Danigirl87Threads: - Posts: 1 Joined: Jul 4, 09	Jul 4, 09, 02:21 / #
Can one get dual citizenship if their Great great grandfather was born in Poland?

benszymanskiThreads: 9 Posts: 510 Joined: Feb 29, 08	Jul 4, 09, 10:07 / #
Danigirl87: Great great grandfather probably not because your great great grandfather most likely left Poland before modern Poland existed. I think the cut off year was around 1918. If you do some searching on this site and google you will find this has been asked many many times before.

foreigner	Jul 5, 09, 15:59 / #
If at least one of your parents had Polish citizenship at the moment of your birth, then you can apply for the confirmation of your citizenship. An old Polish passport will help to prove it. After 3 years of marriage, your husband will be able to apply for citizenship as well. piter-1978@tlen.pl