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✎ EN Another "can I claim Polish citizenship?" :)

Discussion in 'Immigration Poland - Polska' started by rhrh, Jan 3, 2013.

  1. rhrh

    rhrh Member

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    Or rather, can my son...

    My father's parents were Ukrainian speakers (not sure if that matters), but near the border (Przemyśl which is definitely in Poland since 1918, according to everything I read). My grandfather came over to the US in 1913, so he was not a Polish citizen.

    My grandmother on the other hand came over to the US in 1920. She was unmarried, and came through Ellis Island (we have records of it). She met and married my grandfather (both from the same area) in the US. She also had siblings who came over, so we have a set of names.

    As far as my father knows, both of his parents had Social Security cards in the US, but they were NOT naturalized nor did they become citizens. I read about the 1920 act, as well as the "no other citizenship before 1951" rule. My grandfather died after 1951 (only a few years after :( ) and there would have been no reason for my grandmother to get citizenship before then. They were in a heavily immigrant community near NYC where most people spoke Ukrainian, Polish, or Hungarian. I therefore have no reason to think she could have taken

    The reason this has come up is my son plays football, and the US is not a great place for his future. It is very common for US citizens with parents from another country to seek citizenship in order to open up football opportunities for them, but Poland has citizenship by descent so my son should be able to claim Polish citizenship based on his great-grandmother, as far as I can understand.

    My questions:
    1) Is he eligible to claim Polish citizenship, assuming we gather the right paperwork?
    2) Would it matter if documents were in Ukrainian and not Polish?
    3) Do all documents have to be from Poland?
    4) If my grandmother was from a small village, is it possible that she would not have become a Polish citizen? Or if it was proven she was born there, and emigrated from there, would that be enough without some kind of passport or government document indicating citizenship?
    5) Can a minor get citizenship without the parent getting it, or should I assume that when I go to Poland with him, I will need to claim my citizenship too? Would my other children (all three are minors) have to get citizenship too?

    And finally, if there is a decent chance of it, would we start by trying to find relatives in Poland, or would a lawyer be wise this early? We do have information on their church in Przemyśl that could be start to a document search, as well as the names of her parents.

    Thank you, and thank you for this very informative site!
     
  2. texkourgan

    texkourgan Addicted member
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    As you may have seen in similar questions on the forum, this is a frequent topic of conversation:
    polish-citizenship-eligibility-through-polish-ancestry-t18234.html
    polish-citizenship-confirmation-t17851-260.html

    I am afraid the best info I could give is to refer to the guide on Poland which offers helpful information and links to Polish government resources concerning visas & citizenship, but I would also recommend contacting those forum members who have been active within the topic for advice. You may also try contacting expats through the network (once you've made a few posts to prevent spam).

    Absolutely best of luck and please share what you find as it is obviously a difficult task and the information you find can be helpful to others.
     
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  3. hey_now

    hey_now Member

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    Eligibility does not mean that citizenship will be confirmed. You need to be able to provide the evidence that there was no break in citizenship between your grandmother and your son.

    Birth place will not matter. Citizenship and laws will. A person born in Poland is not necessarily a Polish citizen. My (non-confirmed) Polish grandmother was born in Germany.

    Send an email to an attorney. Most offer a free initial opinion about your case; they will tell you how likely they are to succeed, based upon evidence you provide them, and quote you a fee (expect at least $800 per person; more complicated cases may be more expensive). Check the other threads for reports of other member's experiences.

    Documents have to be translated into Polish. Your attorney can handle it for you.

    There may be issues with you traveling to Poland as a Polish citizen without a Polish passport. Ask your attorney about that.

    Regarding naturalization, go here. Request a certificate of no record. It takes a few weeks. It will let you know if you grandmother was naturalized as a US citizen, and, if so, when. You will need it for the case. You have records, so the file will be easy to find.
     
  4. rhrh

    rhrh Member

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    Thank you for the quick replies, I really appreciate it. I understand that Poland has "by blood" but not "by land" citizenship. For the Ellis Island ship record, it says: "Ethnicity: Poland, Polish; Last Place of Residence: Krajna/Poland; Date of Arrival: Mar 20, 1921". Could that be sufficient to prove she was a Polish citizen, or is this just a clue to get information from Poland?

    And I'm thinking that since she was listed as an Alien in the 1940 census, she was not naturalized by then.
     
  5. hey_now

    hey_now Member

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    It does not really matter what it says. Immigration was a much easier time back then. People changed names, had limited documents, etc. It will not be enough to win your case.

    Knowing where your grandmother was is necessary. If she lived other places after leaving Poland, then you will need more documents.

    Your grandmother was likely never naturalized. Many immigrants of olden days were not.

    Again, though, consult an attorney to get a professional opinion on the matter. Lukasz Piotrowski handled my case (polishcitizenship.org/). I was very happy with his services.
     
  6. rhrh

    rhrh Member

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    Thank you, I will look the lawyer up. Her name was relatively uncommon, and I have her parents' names. She never lived anywhere else (had to save up to come over, and was joining her sister), but the ship left Rotterdam. My ace in the hole is the name of the church in Poland, I am hoping their records would be helpful.
     
  7. rhrh

    rhrh Member

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    I asked a few related questions elsewhere, but this was my original thread.

    My sole question now is whether a Polish citizen grandmother would pass her citizenship to her son (who was born in the US) or not. Re-reading about the 1920 Act makes me worried that she doesn't even matter, and the situation was different for her husband because he left what would become Poland in 1913.

    To that point, if he left southeast Poland in 1913, what country *was* he a citizen of? Russia? (I think that is why he "forgot" to go back, because of the Russian Revolution).

    Neither grandparent (my son's great-grandparents) were naturalized in the US.
     
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✎ EN Another "Am I Polish enough?" post Immigration Poland - Polska Sep 10, 2013
✎ EN Yet another Polish Citizenship question Immigration Poland - Polska Mar 6, 2013
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