Re: My case.

I believe that, as procedures go now, you can apply in one go producing all the documents in direct line of descent starting with your great-grandfather.

It makes it more likely to be approved, but not necessarily quicker as this depends on many factors (i.e. who is dealing with your case and how many applicants are in the waiting list).

Basically you need the following documents:

-Birth, marriage and death certificates (where applicable) of your Great-grandfather, your grandmother, your father, and yourself.

-Certificate of naturalization of your great-grandfather, his Polish passport and a letter explaining whether or not he had military history in the U.S. or any other country.

-Any other documents which give evidence of the possession of Polish citizenship.

-A signed autobiography including the details of your ancestors.

-Fill out the forms that they give you in the consulate.

-Three pictures of yourself.

-Everything must be written in Polish language and the Public documents must be certified with apostille and translated to Polish by a sworn translator.

Give them a call.

You do not need a lawyer unless you are in a hurry and you are prepared to spend a lot of money for someone handling your case in Warsaw. If I was in your position I wouldn't use a lawyer.

 

Any ideas on who can give a letter regarding whether or not my great-grandfather had military history in the US?

Won't his passport be sufficient evidence of citizenship?

Naturally I want to keep the originals of the documents, how does sending in copies work?

 

You can ask in the Military District where you live to issue a certificate stating that your Great-grandfather never joined the U.S. Army.

His Polish Passport indeed proves that he held Polish citizenship at some stage, but he might have lost it later on, and the important point is to prove that he didn't lose it.

Of course, you should send certified copies of the documents, NEVER send the originals (e.g never send the original of your great-grandfather's passport), but you need to send the original copies of the vital records which you request from the registry office with their translations.

 

You'll excuse me hopefully if my questions seem stupid, but I want to just make sure I know what must be done.

What are certified copies as opposed to regular copies?

When you say original copies of Vital documents, which documents do you mean?

Does the consulate do the translation into Polish themselves and charge you a fee or do you have to find someone else to do it?

How do I prove that he never lost Polish citizenship besides demonstrating that he never joined the US army and was between 18-50 at his naturalization?

Thanks again so much for your help!

 

Certified copies are normally photocopies of the original with a stamp from a notary or library which reads something like "this is a photocopy of the original"

I mean the copies that you request from the Registry Office like birth, marriage and death certificates.

That depends on the consulate. I know that the Polish consulate in Toronto Canada can do it for a fee, but I don't know about Polish consulates in U.S.A. You need to ask them.

That should be sufficient from your part unless he decided to renounce his citizenship and received approval from the Polish authorities to do so. But you said he never did it, so you will sign a declaration stating this.

 

Re: My case.

1. You can confirm yourself directly. Part of the process is showing the chain of Polish ancestry. You would start with your great-grandfathers passport/documents. After that your evidence will be US birth certificates. Grandma is born to Polish father.. etc. The only thing that might be an issue is women can't pass along citizenship until after 1951, therefore your father's birth date will be critical. Grandma had to be ~19+ when she gave birth.

2. Yes and no. If you have good documentation that supports your case it will help you get approved. If your documentation does not support your citizenship claim it doesn't matter how much you send. As for quicker, yes in a way it does happen quicker with all the documentation. Your documentation will go to Warsaw where it will wait its turn to be processed. Waiting to be assigned a processing agent takes the good part of a year. However, if you have good documentation you will not be asked for additional documents, which saves time.

3. Great-grandfather's birth certificate, school records, baptism papers, military records, passport, marriage certificate, departure papers, immigration papers, naturalization papers. Grandma's birth certificate, marriage certificate, dad's birth certificate and marriage certificate, your birth certificate and marriage certificate. Assuming everyone was married. All Polish documents need to be certified as copies of the originals because you do not send originals and all English documents need to have certified copies and certified translations into Polish.

As for the documents that you need to fill out are explained here. New York Consulate

4. All of the documents you will need to fill out will be online and you can get advice from people on this forum. Once prepared, you just mail it to your consulate.

5. You probably won't need a lawyer. Lawyers are good for difficult cases where you are missing documentation. Lawyers can also speed up a case if you are in a hurry. Confirmation applications submitted through the consulate take longer to be completed. Applications submitted in Poland go through faster, therefore a lawyer in Poland can shave some waiting time off. If you are not in a hurry you can save the money and get the same result.

 

Wow thanks again for the great info guys!

One follow up note, might it be possible to forgo my great-grandfather's birth certificate since I have the passport? Thing is I have a feeling it might be in Russian. Translating from English to Polish will be enough of a pain but finding someone who can go from Russian to Polish and speaks English might prove very difficult.

 

You can't avoid your great-grandfather's birth certificate. I don't think you need a translation of his birth certificate since it will be issued by the Polish authorities of the provincial district in Poland, and that would be a transcription in Polish ( most Polish people can read Russian). My grandfather's birth certificate was issued in Polish although when he was born they spoke Russian, so don't worry about that.

 

So I got the documents from my great-grandfather, when he moved from Poland his named changed from Awram Pres to Abraham Press, do I need to furnish papers proving this changes or is it evident enough.

The only paper I found that would server as evidence was an "Intent to Obtain Citizenship" form filled on Ellis Island. On this form it says something to the effect that signing the form means you intended to denounce citizenship of your old country, if I show this form to Poland will it matter? I'm assuming they wouldn't recognize what the US form says. Do I even need to bother supplying this form to Poland anyways?

Thanks Again!

 

Also, What exactly do I need to funish in terms of showing when he obtained citizenship, and where can you get this paper work in the US? He was naturalized in a local court I believe if that makes a difference.

 

It will be better if you produce two papers proving that both names are the same person. My father had two different spellings as well and the consulate asked me to show both documents for clarification.

To show a form of intent of naturalization is totally irrelevant, so don't do it. You need to show the actual Naturalization document from the U.S.

 

Wasn't able to find this in my grandmother's record, what do I do if I don't have it? Also still unclear on the military documentation thing, I was going to try to get a letter from the St. Louis archives but if there is a better way as that is causing problems for someone?

 

Well - St Louis archives sent me a form letter saying "we don't have a record for this veteran." (No veteran is involved in my case - point of confusion). They seem to be used to dealing with veterans trying to get benefits, not people like us.

Then the Wojeowda wasn't quite sure what to make of it and asked the NY Consulate for guidance - which is the holdup.

If someone knows from experience what the NY Consulate will eventually answer, it will save us a lot of time (as they seem to be pretty slow just squeezing out an answer!) Thanks

 

I would have assumed that the letter from the National Personnel Records in St. Louis saying they have no record of my grandfather or great-grandfather ever having served was more than enough for the Polish authorities. If that doesn't help then I'm stack...How bizarre! My uncle recently sent to the Consulate in Buenos Aires a letter written by himself stating that the law in Argentina did not require his father to serve in the military service. I didn't experience a situation like this before and my uncle is still waiting the response from Poland.

 

You can request it from this site;

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... 18190aRCRD

 

Where you successful with the letter from St. Louis?

 

This didn't apply to me because my father naturalized Argentine after 1951. My uncle (my father's brother) is dealing with that situation since his father ( my grandfather) naturalized in 1950 when his younger son (my uncle) was under 18 and his older son ( my father) was over 18, therefore the younger son has to present his father's military history and his older son doesn't have to do it.

So far, my uncle is still waiting for an answer from Poland regarding this situation. As soon as I have any news about this, I will post it.

 

Hello,

I am living in Canada since 1991, and was born in Poland in 1979. I would like to apply for my polish passport, but do not have a PESEL number.

I have:
- A polish family passport - me and my sister with my mom. I understand we were one of the last to receive a family passport, and some might not be familiar with this document. As it is in my possession, I am sure that such a document exists.
- My mother's PESEL number. I mention this because it is with her that I have the above mentioned passport.
- Książeczka Zdrowia Dziecka
- Landed immigrant, Canadian Document. It confirms the passport number on which we entered Canada, place of birth, date of birth, lists citizenship as Polish
- Canadian passport, listing Wroclaw, Poland as the birth place

After reading that a birth certificate does not prove polish citizenship, I decided to ask for advice on how to proceed.

I would like to travel and potentially work in the EU (specifically Germany or France) starting the late fall season, and am looking at how I can go best about acquiring my Polish Passport.

On a side note, will a polish passport be enough to legally work in EU countries, or am I seeking the wrong document to achieve my goal?

Polish, German, and English communication and links are welcome.

Thanks in advance!
Slawek

 

Technically you should first apply for confirmation of Polish citizenship. Since 2006 if you don't have an unexpired Polish passport, the only prove of Polish citizenship would be the "Confirmation of Polish citizenship document" issued by the Wojewoda of your place of birth or last residence in Poland.

Given that the process of Confirmation of Polish citizenship takes far too long you wouldn't get it on time, so if I were you I would ask in your nearest Polish Consulate if you can by-pass this step and apply for the renewal of your Polish passport showing your mother's passport and your birth certificate.

A Polish passport is necessary but not sufficient to work legally in all EU countries. For instance, for the time being, in Germany you might need an EU work permit depending on what kind of job you are intending to do.