smurf: Just as a matter of interest, what benefits would a Polish passport have over your American one?
Quite a lot - unlimited stays in the EU, no need for a work permit, etc.
amIpolish: -Great-Grandfather becomes US citizen 1935(but never joins military which apparently keeps him from losing citizenship in Poland)
Automatically stripped of Polish citizenship at this point.
amIpolish: -Grandmother born in 1932 in US
Automatically US citizen, which would result in Polish citizenship being awarded and then stripped due to the law in place at the time.
amIpolish: -Father born in 1958
Wouldn't have had Polish citizenship to begin with - and would have been stripped regardless by the 1951 law.
amIpolish: According to some because my grandmother became an adult in 1950 somehow Poland view her as losing her citizenship then as it was before the 1951 reforms. I have conflicting reports on this. It doesn't seem to make sense to me and I believe I've read there was a provision to exempt people of Polish national who were born in another country and acquired citizenship there by birth there from losing Polish citizenship for that reason. I am not sure why here becoming an adult effects her citizenship status, as this has no bearing on citizenship in the US.
Ignore all these reports and look at the law. She was born a US citizen, which meant she automatically lost Polish citizenship. If you consider that at the exact moment of birth, she would have been a Polish and US citizen - but Polish law would have stripped her of the Polish citizenship at the exact same moment. The rest is irrelevant. There's no provision in the relevant law for being born abroad - the US is and was fairly uncommon for awarding citizenship based on jus soli.
amIpolish: Hopefully, someone who has been through the procedure or is very familiar with the regulations can help me sort this out before I invest in more professional and expensive help.
As it stands with the law, you have no chance. Polish citizenship passes down from parents to children and can't skip generations - but at least 3 generations would have been stripped of any potential citizenship.
Your best hope is to find a lawyer who is well connected - but in all honesty, it would be better to simply move somewhere with easy citizenship laws (Belgium for instance) rather than spending a lot of money trying to chase something that you're likely not entitled to.
amIpolish: Also I hear that the laws are somewhat subjective so I hope that being an educated and productive member of society would help to lean the odds of me confirming my Polish citizenship in my favor.
No. Polish law simply doesn't work like that - you're either eligible or you're not. They must make decisions in accordance with the relevant law - your only hope is to find someone that's 'connected' to find a way to issue a favourable decision. However, in your case, I just cannot see how you'd be eligible - bearing in mind that your grandmother AND your father would have to claim Polish citizenship first. You can't 'jump' generations.
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