Restoration of Polish citizenship

Polish citizenship and Polish passport

Nearly 300 applications for restoration of polish citizenship For 4 months now foreigners may seek restoration of polish citizenship, which they had in the past and lost before 1 January 1999. So far, the Ministry of Interior has received 289 applications for restoration of polish citizenship, including 232 through consulates. Minister Jacek Cichocki has already issued 187 decisions – including 181 on restoration of polish citizenship to foreigners. Outside of Poland foreigners file their applications in consulates located primarily in Germany, Sweden, the United States and Canada.

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Restoration of polish citizenship is a new legal instrument. So far foreigners could not seek restoration of polish citizenship. Until recently, foreigners could acquire polish citizenship through – inter alia – the act of the President of the Republic of Poland. The procedure for restoration of polish citizenship may be used by – inter alia – persons, who acquired foreign citizenship between August 1962 and December 1998 and received a permission to change polish citizenship to a foreign one, thus losing polish citizenship. Foreigners, who had had polish citizenship in the past and lost it before 1 January 1999, may seek its restoration through applying to the Minister of Interior. For this purpose, a foreigner residing in the territory of Poland shall file a special application. Foreigners residing outside of the territory of the Republic of Poland shall file applications for restoration of polish citizenship via consuls competent for the place of residence.

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 In the four months the new provisions have been in place, 289 applications for restoration of polish citizenship have been filed with the Ministry of Interior. The majority of applications, as many as 232, have been filed via relevant consulates. 57 applications have been submitted directly to MI. Most of the applications via consulates have been filed in Germany – 93 (including 45 in Cologne, 30 in Berlin, 11 in Hamburg and 7 in Munich). In Sweden, foreigners filed 53 applications, in the United States 20, and 19 in Canada. Minister of Interior Jacek Cichocki has issued 187 decisions so far – including 181 on the restoration of polish citizenship to foreigners. Foreigners who lost polish citizenship after 1 January 1999 could and are still able to apply for the polish citizenship to be granted by the President of the Republic of Poland.

Polish citizenship and Polish passport

The application for restoration of polish citizenship shall contain, inter alia: data of a foreigner, address of residence, declaration on having polish citizenship in the past, information on circumstances of its loss, as well as a curriculum vitae. A foreigner’s application for restoration of polish citizenship shall be accompanied by, inter alia: documents confirming identity and citizenship, documents confirming loss of polish citizenship and a photograph.

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Applications, declarations and documents drafted in a foreign language shall be filed together with their translation made or certified by a sworn translator or a consul. The Minister of Interior shall issue a decision on restoration of polish citizenship pursuant to the provisions of the Act on polish citizenship, while applying the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Code in the process. The provisions of the Act of 2 April 2009 on polish citizenship and the Ordinance of 8 May 2012 on the specimen form for application for restoration of polish citizenship and a photograph attached to the application came into force on 15 May this year.

Acquisition of Polish citizenship

Polish citizenship - general

Before we explain rules that govern Polish citizenship law, let's see at international law. There are several possibilities to obtain citizenship. The most important is ius sanguinis (right of blood - it's also base of Polish citizenship law), by which nationality is determined by having an ancestor who is a citizen of the state. Another principle is ius soli, known as birthright citizenship, according to which a child acquires the citizenship of the state in whose territory it is born. Parents' nationality is irrelevant. Under the Polish Constitution, the basic form of obtaining Polish citizenship is the right of blood. However, according to the Polish citizenship act, birthright citizenship is used if child is born or found in Poland, and both parents are unknown or they have no citizenship.

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Acquisition of Polish citizenship

Polish citizenship can be obtained on the basis of naturalization. The Polish citizenship is denizened by the president at the application for naturalization. Before that, a foreigner must reside in Poland for five years. However, in special cases, the residence in Poland is not required. A stateless person may be regarded as a Polish citizen under similar conditions as those for acquisition of Polish citizenship. A foreigner who married a Polish citizen, also may acquire Polish citizenship and get Polish passport. In this case, it is sufficient that he legally resides in Poland for 3 years. Marriage of a Polish citizen with a person, who is not a Polish citizen, does not affect the citizenship of the spouses. In the case of dual nationality some states, require renunciation of citizenship of a foreign state. Under Polish law, a person with plural citizenship is regarded only as a citizen of the Republic of Poland and has to use ,Polish passport there. Some states also established specific rules concerning the loss of nationality. Under the Polish Constitution, a Polish citizen can not be deprived of citizenship. The only way is voluntary renunciation of Polish citizenship. However, parents of nascent child, who, in case of conflict of right of blood and birthright citizenship, acquired citizenship of two countries, can decide that the child may lose Polish citizenship.

Rules that govern Polish citizenship law are very important for all who wish to get Polish passport

Polish citizenship - granting and acquiring

Naturalization – how to get the Polish citizenship and European Passport

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Polish citizenship - law

According to art. 8 of the Polish Citizenship Act, “one can give (grant) the Polish citizenship on foreigner’s application if he/she has stayed in Poland on the basis of settlement permission, residence permission or long-term stay permission of the UE resident for at least 5 years”. According to what other legal acts settled in that matter, granting the Polish citizenship is within the competence of the Polish President. Granting the Polish citizenship can involve submitting the evidence of loss or renunciation of a foreign citizenship. To sum up, even people who don’t have Polish roots could be given the Polish citizenship and Polish passport (European passport).

Art. 10 of the same Polish citizenship act states: “A foreigner, who has got settlement permission and is married to a Polish citizen for at least 3 years, gets the Polish citizenship, if he/she will submit the application at the right time indicated in 1a. to an appropriate institution which will issue the decision to accept the application”. 1a. The application for the Polish citizenship should be submitted 6 months from the moment when a foreigner got the settlement permit, or 3,6 years from the moment when he/she got married with a person who possess the Polish citizenship. Considering art. 10, if anybody would like to apply for the Polish citizenship and passport - he/she has to be given a settlement permission (except of being married to a Polish citizen) but it requires permanent residence in the territory of Poland for at least 2 years. It means that within 2 years intermissions which may take place cannot be longer than 10 months in total, and none of them can be longer than 6 months.

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Polish passport - procedure

However, para. 2 of art. 8 (the Polish Citizenship Act) gives an exception to the condition of 5 years’ residence in Poland on the basis of a settlement permission, long-term residence permission of the European Community or right to permanent residence, stating that in particularly justified cases the cited rule does not apply and a foreigner may be granted the Polish citizenship on his/her request, even if in a particular case it does not correspond to the conditions specified above. This applies both to a foreigner staying in Poland for less than 5 years on the basis of the above mentioned permissions, and to a foreigner living abroad.

Each case is being considered individually. With this procedure, the Polish citizenship may be acquired by people who had it before (or if they ancestors got the Polish citizenship), but there were different circumstances when they have lost it (for example, if they resigned the renounced Polish citizenship or lost it because of some regulations/laws). Only the President of Poland has an authority to grant the Polish citizenship.

Residents in Poland submit their applications for the Polish citizenship through appropriate regional governor office (corresponding to a place of residence), and people who live abroad - through an appropriate consulate. Applications and accompanying documents shall be submitted to the Department of Citizenship and Repatriation in Ministry of Interior and Administration, and then sent forward together with the position of the ministry to the Chancellery of the President. Granting the Polish citizenship to both parents also applies to children remaining under their parental authority. When a child reaches the age of 16, this takes place by his consent.

Detailed procedure in cases of Polish citizenship and corresponding certificates and applications are listed in the Regulation of the President from March 14 2000 (Dziennik Ustaw Nr 18, Poz. 231). To get a Polish passport (European passport), further procedures are necessary and it may take some months.

Polish citizenship and Polish passport

How to get a Polish passport if you have Polish roots:

Polish citizenship

People with Polish roots, when they do not have documents proving their Polish citizenship (a Polish passport or ID) or whose personal data and citizenship cannot be ascertained, may apply for confirmation of the Polish citizenship. Of course, it does not mean that all people can apply for the Polish citizenship – all interested people must verify their Polish roots through a special procedure (confirmation of the Polish citizenship).

The Polish nationality law is based upon the principles of ius sanguinis (it is a different system than ius soli - which is in force in USA, for example). Children of Polish parents usually acquire the Polish citizenship regardless of the place of birth. People born in Poland but having foreign parents do not normally acquire the Polish citizenship. Therefore, this system is based on descent, not on the place of birth.

http://www.cklawoffice.eu/ The Polish law does not deal with a problem of dual citizenship, therefore Poland will consider a person with dual citizenship as having only the Polish citizenship. Thus, Poland does not approve the foreign citizenship of people when they are on Polish soil.

Polish citizenship - Polish passport

Today, the Polish citizenship & passport open doors to the whole European Union.

To confirm the Polish citizenship (procedure of confirmation of Polish citizenship), the following documents are usually necessary:

- An application letter filled in Polish.
- Two passport photographs.
- A detailed autobiography in Polish, including the details of Polish ancestry.
- Birth certificate.
- Marriage certificate (if a person is married).
- Certified copy of foreign passport or another ID.
- Certified copy of naturalization certificate of an applicant, his/her parents or grandparents (whichever applicable).
- Declaration (in Polish) what other citizenship(s) an applicant has (or had).
- Declaration (in Polish) if applicant or his/her parents or grandparents ever renounced the Polish citizenship.
- Certified copies of any documents proving Polish ancestry (for example, parents' or grandparents' birth certificates, baptism or marriage certificates etc.)

Consular fee must be also paid. Procedure (confirmation of the Polish citizenship) carried out by a qualified law office is not much more expensive, but is a better option, as embassies do not provide any legal help if problems appear.