by alphazip » Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:24 pm
I've seen questions on here about Polish citizenship by descent and I'd like to give my experience. I was born in the U.S. to a Polish father. I decided that I'd like to claim Polish citizenship, so I inquired at the Polish Consulate in Chicago. The person I spoke with was not at all optimistic. He said that the fact that my father was born in Poland (and I had his birth certificate) didn't mean much. I'd have to have documentation to show that 1) he was a Polish citizen and 2) he hadn't lost his Polish citizenship by taking U.S. citizenship before 1955. The simple fact of having a surname ending in -ski and a Polish birth certificate was not adequate proof! I decided to file a claim anyway, which required filling out a form in Polish, a separate biography in Polish, and including a couple passport photos (plus a fee of about $60). After about a year, a paper came back from Poland saying that I'd have to submit more proof. Finally, after doing more searching in my father's old papers I found an old document that described him as a Polish citizen. After sending that, I received a paper from the consulate a few months later confirming my Polish citizenship. So, it's not an easy process. Important factors are: 1) Was your Polish ancestor born in Poland while it was a country? Remember...Poland was erased from the map at various times and if your ancestor was born in (say) a section ruled by Germany, Poland doesn't recognize it as a Polish birth! 2) Did your ancestor take foreign citizenship before 1955? If so, the communist-era citizenship laws stripped your ancestor of his Polish citizenship, which may have prevented him from passing it on to you. I've seen posts that say that if you had a Polish grandfather that makes you a Polish citizen. Unfortunately, the reality is that it's not that simple!
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