Think you're Polish (and live in the USA)?

Here are some questions to assist those of you who think you might be Polish but live in the USA on a permanent basis
Do you have/need a USCIS Form I-551? Yes/No
Are you entitled to consular assistance for staff from a consulate of the Republic of Poland? Yes/No
Are you exempt from US military service? Yes/No
Are you barred from voting in US elections despite never having been convicted of a felony? Yes/No

If you answered No to any of the above questions, you are most likely American. If you answered No to all of the above questions, you are certainly American. Although you could be Polish-American

OMG!!!! So now you made a thread about this, this is really hurting you isn't it? you've got an obsession.

OMG!!!! So now you made a thread about this, this is really hurting you isn't it? you've got an obsession.

Yeah, we should open a thread about expat Brits betraying Britain by leaving her. Should be fun :)

Or is it exclusively Polish phenomenon to 'betray' by leaving?

Or is it exclusively Polish phenomenon to 'betray' by leaving?

Don't get ideas above your station: there are a number of people here who have betrayed Poland in precisely the same way that you have.

HAHA this kid's living in some Neverending Story

Just wanting a different life elsewhere doesn't have anything to do with betraying anyone.

We're all stuck on the same planet, okay?)

:)

I think he should extradite Harry to Mars, so that he wont pollute the planet with his genes.

I agree entirely.

However it is perfectly possible to have a different life in a different place without taking up different citizenship.

And let's face it: if one takes up different citizenship, one is saying that one no longer wants to be treated in the same way as people of one's original citizenship are treated.

Not if you wish to socialise with people around you, or want to have certain rights in whichever country you wish to stay.

Not if you wish to socialise with people around you

want to have certain rights in whichever country you wish to stay.

The reason most people take up a different citizenship, is because they're usually happy where they are, and wish to participate just like everyone else around them.

Do you have equal rights without citizenship? No you don't. So there's your reason. Why wouldn't they?

Exactly living is a different country doesn't make one a traitor

Perhaps because they do not wish to have rights which are not available to them. Perhaps real Poles accept the lack of rights they have in foreign countries because those are simply the rights which Poles have in those countries and those people are Poles!

No, but swearing that one will perform military service against one's country does make one a traitor (unless one can claim that one is actually agreeing to perform such service in defense of one's country, which is not a claim that you can make).

No, but swearing that one will perform military service against one's country does make one a traitor

You ask to see people's passports before you socialise with them?

I personally have never been asked to show my passport before socialising with people.

Rights that are not available to people who are from one's original country? So one is saying that one no longer wants to be from one's original country: one instead wants to be from a different country. Doesn't that mean that one can not then claim that one wants to be from one's original country?

So you mean that they, to use the original example above, want to be American and do not want to be Polish.

Perhaps because they do not wish to have rights which are not available to them. Perhaps real Poles accept the lack of rights they have in foreign countries because those are simply the rights which Poles have in those countries and those people are Poles!

No, but swearing that one will perform military service against one's country does make one a traitor (unless one can claim that one is actually agreeing to perform such service in defense of one's country, which is not a claim that you can make).

Wha...?

Dude shut up!! you're like a tick that doesn't wanna come off

How about working somewhere? How about opening a bank account? How about setting up a shop? Etcetera! You think you can do that without citizenship? How??

I think you're mature enough to understand that you'll need to obtain citizenship in order to participate in society. Otherwise you're going to be a tourist, an illegal, or a temporary worker.

So, it's like that with citizenship (marriage) - if you love a country (a woman) you are its citizen (husband) and you don't take up another country's citizenship (marry another woman.)

Unless she doesn't make you happy anymore, or simply isn't happy with you anymore. (For whatever reason!)

I know that one can: I've done all of that in three countries (apart from setting up a shop, I only did that in two).

I've lived less than ten percent of my life in countries which I am citizens of, so perhaps I know a little more about it than you do? And no I've never been an illegal resident or a temporary worker.

In either case, if you decide to leave her and marry another, you're no longer her husband.

Being Polish means one has certain rights and does not have others.

I think many Poles are ashamed of their heritage, sometimes such Poles get to another country and want nothing to do with Poland what so ever.

Of course some countries have more rules and regulations than other countries.

So you'd call yourself a traitor as well?

why couldn't my country do the same for me as America

No, because I'd never be stupid enough to blindly commit myself to a policy of 'my country, right or wrong'. It's a source of constant amazement to me how people take such pride in something which they had absolutely no control over (i.e. where they were born and to whom)!

It is not the leaving that is the betrayal: it is the deciding that one no longer wants to be Polish because being Polish is no longer what is best for one.

I think many Poles are ashamed of their heritage, sometimes such Poles get to another country and want nothing to do with Poland what so ever.

Disappointment.

Ah, but you can still *feel* very Polish or whatever

Only your own actions should give you a reason to be either proud or ashamed.

No, let's discuss it here, keep all the discussion in one place.

Personally I'm neither a Brit nor an expat

It is not the leaving that is the betrayal: it is the deciding that one no longer wants to be Polish because being Polish is no longer what is best for one.