How hard is it for an American in Poland? I'm computer networking IT

I was just wondering if anyone can give me some success stories of an American who isn't of Polish descent moving to Poland. I really want to move to Poland next year to be with my girlfriend but I'm afraid of not being able to get a residency permit and/or not being able to find a job. I am and have been for the last 4 years, a computer networking technician in the Air Force. I also have lots of experience working in restaurants and working as a chef. I tell my girlfriend, who is afraid for our future, that I am never going to give up and that I will make it work, but sometimes it can be scary to think about.

Smooth..........I can't give you a success story yet as we are just moving to Poland from the Chicago area. I am of Polish descent but still have had to go through the process of getting all papers in order to apply for temporary residency. There are a lot of hoops to go through and if you are shipping many things to Poland you must prepare early. You can follow my story on..............http://david-polanddavid.blogspot.com/

I hadn't even thought about the shipping of things to be honest. Are there a lot of rules? I am willing to part with a lot of what I have when I make the move, and I am only going to be moving "up the road" as I am living in Germany at the moment. Thanks for the head's up and the info. So where in Poland are you moving to? I want to move to Wrocław.

We're moving to the Poznan area. Yes, there are a lot of rules if you want to ship a lot of things. We shipped 40 boxes and it has resented some problems for us with Customs.

I wonder if I will have to go through customs at the border because I'll just be driving there.

I'm sure you can count at it.....as with any country, border control is going to be a stickler....I live in the US and coming back from Canada one time, I was given the third degree (I was staying in Windsor but transitting to a hockey game across the river). Granted, it was just after 9-11, but I was freaked out.....anytime you enter into a country, customs will be there to check everything out.....especially in this day and age!

Yes but you would be surprised Ranj. I don't know about the German Polish border because I've never driven across it, but for example you can drive from Germany into Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, and Austria, as easy as if you are driving between two states in America, there is a sign on the highway that is about it. No stop, no check, you just drive right on through.

Right Smooth, I found some information about the Schengen Agreement which lets people drive from one EU country to another without any physical border or checkpoint. Here you can find info about it. Apprently as from Jan the 1st, 2008 it will be the same between Germany and Poland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement