Law regarding Polish citizenship

Once I marry my fiancee next summer in Poland, she should be able to claim Irish citizenship.
But will I be able to claim Polish citizenship?
What benefits does this afford me?

Yes, U will be able to claim Polish citizenship. According to Polish citizenship bill you can claim polish citizenship if you have been married to a polish citizen for 3 years. You must also live in Poland, and have a zezwolenia na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego Wspólnot Europejskich (a permit to stay for longterm EU resident) whatever the hell that is. Meeting this terms you may claim Polish citizenship in a designated office (Urząd Wojewódzki - I think).

I have no idea how this thing works in practice. I'm a lawyer but have never assisted any of my clients in such procedure.
When you come to Poland I recommend calling Urząd Wojewódzki in your district, and they should tell you all you need to know.

Excellent information methatron, Thank You.

It looks as though I cannot claim citizenship as I do not expect to be living in Poland for any substantial amount of time.

Things should statrt to change since Poland's accession to the E.U. Some years ago, I was in Poland on holiday with my Sister-In-Law in Czestochowa and I wanted to buy a piece of land, as an investment, or possibly to build a little house some time in the future. It was a nice area as it bordered a little forest. We went in to town and saw a lawyer who told me that as I did not have a Polish passport, citizenship or at least a pobyt na stale for a minimum of two years I had no rights of purchase. Rather strange, really as in England the Poles can not stop buying all that they can lay their hands on! We drove too to an office, it might well have been the same thing as the Urzad Wojewodzki, and the lady there said that I could apply for citizenship and that I could have the forms but for some strange reason if I left Poland, the process stops and then on my subsequent return I would have to start the process all over again. So how anybody would be able to build up the credits seemed very remote. To me, it sounded crazy and as if the Poles just do not want to accept foreigners. Most people of foreign origin that I met in Poland claimed pobyt na stale, as it was called then and nothing more. If they were arrested and had Polish passports their embassies could not help them-so beware!

Michal, thanks for your reply. Very informative. You sure have a wealth of experience.

I heard a similar story from a friend from Szczeczin, but he wasn't certain. He told me because I was Irish, I could expect to pay 20% more than the natives.
Luckily however, I will be able to invest in land through my fiancee.

I was unaware that the citizenship process stops if you leave the country. That certainly is surprising/dissapointing.
I wonder if this is to stop the country being bought up like Palestine/Israel

You do not want to take to much of what I write as I can only tell you what happened in my own experiences in the not too distant past. I am not sure of the law today in Poland since it is now becoming more and more an integral part of the 'New Europe'. Also, I was in Sopot once in the little English bar there and met an English teacher who is married to a Polish lady. He was telling me that sometimes people have dreadful difficulties in getting even pobyt na stale but others, at another time/and or in a different office get it straight away with no difficulty. Things in Poland have always been a bit of 'pot luck'. You may have legal rights to buy and own property now but a couple of years ago you did not. I could buy the property with my own money but the only legal owner would be my wife. I was then told by another source that after six years my name could be added to the title deeds on the land...so in the end, who knows. It all seams a little too complicated for my liking. Mind you, for some who got in early in the old day after Communism collapsed people could have made a real killing on their investments as land prices, in the right areas are bound to increase, especially in town centres such as Warsaw and Krakow where flats cost the same as London, so I have been told..

Yes, your right, my future brother-in-law made a 500% profit on a certain piece of land near Poznan.
When converted back to Euro, its not gobsmacking, but it would go far in Poland.

I would also agree that the law is changing, Frank posted a very good thread which shows a lot of the difficulty/differences in the system that us island monkeys are accustomed to

www.polishforums.com/apartment_purchase_poland-7_2707_0.html

About buying Land, if you are married to a pole, there's no problems, if you do the paperwork on her name, about the 20% more on price for foreigners, just do not say to the seller you are buying, ask your father in law to go with you, or some other relative of your wife, don't say a thing in english stay quiet at all times, get an idea of the price over the phone, before seeing the place with the seller, I am Brazilian, didn't have any problems on moving to Poland, finding a job, sorting out my work permit, buying a car or a flat, the only thing is, I always asked my father in law and my wife to go to see the flats or car before I was going, from the moment that you speak english, peopoe try to get some extra money, that is natural, it is part of the capitalism, I teach English in katowice, have got a few private students one pay 90 pln per hour, another one pays 60 pln/h and so on, the price goes according to the client's face, sorry, but that how the woeld works...

v.informative Rodrigo, thank you

That's true. Some EU contries (like UK) allow a "break" in your stay, and some don't.

Now for EU member states citizens there's no such thing as pobyt stały. Now it's called "EU member state citizen card" and it's regulated by some sort of EU directive or regulation - so the procedure is mostly the same in all EU countries.



That's also true. According to polish law: "The Republic of Poland does not recognise foreign citizenship", which means once you have a polish citizenship, you are a polish citizen, and nobody will bother to ask do you have any other citizenship. That's why "your" embassy will not be informed at any time.

To my knowledge there still are some limitations when it comes to purchase of land by foreigners but they all arise form the EU treaty which Poland has signed. It's all there but hopelessly boring, so I wont fill you in on that.