How to Prove your Polish Citizenship?

Pursuant to article 14 of the Polish Law on Citizenship, any person who has at least one Polish parent is considered a Polish citizen. It means that in theory even those, who were born and are currently living abroad in mixed families, have a right to obtain Polish passport and be treated as Polish citizens.

However, in cases of mixed families abroad a person entitled to get Polish citizenship quite often has neither Polish passport nor any other connection with that country apart from his or her parent’s (or parents’) citizenship. Nevertheless, such a person is still able to settle in Poland or take any legal activities there as a citizen of that country. For that reason the procedure aimed at proving Polish citizenship exists.

For starting the procedure you should collect all the indispensible documents and submit them to the competent administrative body. In cases of the persons who live abroad and have never resided in Poland the application should be made to the Mazowian voivodeship (Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki). The main documents to be submitted are the following:

– Filled in application form where you indicate all the relevant information about yourself and your Polish ancestors. Here you should describe the circumstances in which your ascendant left Poland;

– Documents proving your ancestors’ Polish citizenship: for instance, certificate of birth of your ancestor who was living in Poland or his or her Polish passport;

– Certificate of birth (if you were born abroad, it should be officially translated into Polish and legalized at the consulate). The document is needed for showing the direct connection between the applicant and the person having Polish citizenship;

– Confirmation of the application fee payment (it is 58 PLN for the application + 17 PLN in case you submit the documents with the help of an attorney)

The general rule is that you need to wait up to 2 months for the decision approving or not approving your citizenship status. However, as we know from our practice, an administrative body quite often asks to submit some additional evidence proving your citizenship. That’s why the entire process may take longer: for instance, half a year.

In case of a negative decision, it is possible to appeal within 14 days. If you have a positive decision, you are free to get Polish passport as a citizen of that Republic.

Anyway, the process may be complicated due to particular circumstances of the situation. Sometimes it might be challenging to prove the citizenship, since a parent or parents left Poland in a hurry long time ago, and have not preserved their Polish documents. Sometimes it happens so that you are not very well aware of your ancestors’ life in Poland (not knowing their place of birth, their address or exact year they left the country). For that reason the competent authority may carefully verify the facts before coming up with a decision. Since the person wishing to start the procedure of proving his or her citizenship lives abroad, the assistance of a qualified lawyer is absolutely indispensible.