Thanks for your answers.
polskiarg, I am also from Argentina. All my consulate experience is regarding the consulate in Buenos Aires. I am living in Slovenia now, but I didn't try to ask here. I guess I was expecting the same kind of answers. I will see if I go to ask here.

 

Adiacov, why are you contacting the consulate in Buenos Aires when you should be contacting the polish consulate in Ljubljana?

I am from Buenos Aires and I live in London UK. When I started the procedure for the confirmation of my polish citizenship I did everything through the polish consulate in London and the whole process took only 2 month (I got it in March 2005).

After I got the confirmation I sent my birth certificate with the official translation and a letter legalised by the polish consulate in London, together with a copy of my polish citizenship confirmation, directly to the Civil Register Office in Warsaw to request the registration and transcription of my birth in Poland. That took 4 month.

When I got the transcription back, I applyed for the passport which took 2 month to come back.

At first I had a lot of arguments with the polish consulate in London because in my father's confirmation they use polish leters like "J" which sounds like "I" in spanish and my father's surname is written with "J" and mine is with "I" so they told me that my confirmation can be rejected in Poland. They asked me to pick up my documents to correct my father's spelling and do the whole process again!! at which point I told them to contact the consulate in Buenos Aires and ask the consul to give them a short explanation on polish spelling and if they don't understand such a simple rule I should make a formal complain to the Foreign and Comonwealth Office to declare them incompetent. After saying that they told me that I don't have to make a complain, they will deal with my case, but they asked me if I had another document with my father's name written with "I". I presented such a document and everything was fine.

My advise is to contact the Polish Consulate in Ljubljana and tell them simply that you need to renew your passport because yours is about to expire. Try not to mention how you got your passport unless they specifically ask you every detail. Don't mention your grandmother, you can say that your grand parents are both polish (and it's true!).
It might be possible that you don't have to do the whole process again.

Good luck with this...you can pm me if you want to speak in spanish...

 

I just wanted to thank Curiousgeorge and everyone that supplied information to make acquiring a Polish Citizenship in an easy fashion.

I have had a family member in Warsaw have my birth certificate registered and have been informed that it will be ready November 25! This is such good news, and after I will have him apply for my citizenship, which will hopefully not take too much time.

Thanks a million, this thread has proven to be an excellent step-by-step guide through a very complicated procedure.

 

Hullo. Just wanted to update and perhaps get some advice?

About a month ago, the lawyers in Warsaw I hired contacted me to let me know they've found my file at the citizenship office. Apparently it had 2 application numbers attached to it instead of one, and no one wanted to deal with it, which is why nothing was happening. They said they straightened it out and have sent it back.

Fast forward to today. The lawyers contacted me and stated that the citizenship office has decided to make an official decision on my case on December 21st. However, my US documents (passport & parents' marriage license) need translation and apostille and must be resubmitted by November 24th or the decision will be postponed even further. This was apparently not the case in January of this year, when I applied for my confirmation of citizenship through the New York Polish Consulate--there was nothing on their application that required translation/apostille, and the guy in charge of the legal section looked over all my documents in my application and said I was good to go. Go figure. The lawyers are also saying that my father's Polish birth certificate stating that he was born in Poland, might not be good enough to prove that I'm Polish, and might get rejected. I have no idea what I'll do if that happens.

Right now I am living in Oxford, UK. Do I get my passport and parents' marriage license translated and apostille through the Polish Embassy in London? Do I have to deal with the US Embassy for apostille?

Any help/advice at all is appreciated...I have a headache just thinking of this.

Cheers,
jenni

ps. If anyone would like the contact info of the lawyer in Warsaw I hired, just PM me and I'll send it on. I had an inherent distrust of lawyers, but they've proven to me that they're getting something done, even though it is a right pain in the arse.

 

Which country issued these documents originally? If they were issued by the United States, then you would need to get an apostille from the US Embassy, and then you would get certified translations at the Polish Embassy.

I don't think you can get an apostille for a passport, but just make sure. Chances are the Polish authorites will be satisfied with a certified translation of the passport issued by the Polish Embassy.

 

I am so happy to hear that the steps included here were helpful....and successful!

 

A Polish birth certificate on its own does NOT necessarily prove Polish citizenship because polish law is mainly based on jure sanguinis (by right of blood) rather than place of birth.

A child acquires Polish citizenship regardless of his place of birth when both parents are Polish citizens or one of them is a Polish citizen and the other one is unknown or his citizenship is undefined or if he holds no citizenship.

A child born or found in Poland shall acquire Polish citizenship when both parents are unknown or stateless.

This means that is not enough to be born in Poland to prove Polish citizenship.

If your father is still alive, has he applyed for confirmation of Polish citizenship?

 

Thanks Curious. Both documents were issued in the US, so I'll check with the US Embassy here. I'll also check with the Polish Embassy to find out about certified translations.

Polskiarg, no, my father hasn't applied for confirmation of Polish citizenship. I think he'd have a harder time than me considering the fact that both his parents have passed, he has neither of their birth certs, and he doesn't have his Polish passport anymore, even though he was born in Poland and speaks fluent Polish and has a last name consisting of 11 letters, 4 of which are vowels, ending in ski. I'm going to double check with him on distant relatives though; perhaps there's someone out there that has something...

Are there any other possible documents that help prove Polish citizenship, or do they only accept Polish passports and/or confirmation of citizenship? What about immigration records? My dad immigrated to the states in the 60's. Surely they have something on record...?

Cheers,
jenni

 

ANY document that explicitely states that the person was a Polish citizen will be MUCH more helpful to your case, than no document at all.

Depending on the country, and the immigration officer who admited the person, the immigration record could note that the person was a Polish citizen upon arrival.

 

If you don't have his passport you can provide another document indicating if he immigrated to the US using a Polish passport and his passport number, even if he was anotated on one of his parent's Polish passport, as long as you know that passport number, it woud be enough to prove that he held Polish citizenship at that particualr time. That was my father's case and it was aproved.

However you should bare in mind that you still need to show that your father didn't lose or resign his Polish citizenship while you were under his care. I presume that if he became US citizen, it was probably after 1951, therefore that should't be a problem.

Another thing. To be able to apply for confirmation of my Polish citizenship, my father had to do it first for him.

 

Current wait times

Hello,

I am a Canadian citizen, born of a Polish father who immigrated to Canada in the early 70's and retained his Polish nationality. When I was born in the mid-70's, the Polish government informed my family that I was considered a Polish citizen. Unfortunatly, this documentation is not available.

I applied for confirmation of Polish citizenship in August, 2005. I submitted all of the requested documents at the time, and since have had two requests for further information, which I have promptly supplied.

Many people have posted their success in recieving confirmation and the time span on the forum, however I have not seen anything recent on this. I am starting to be frustrated since this my case is straighforward, I have all the relevant and supporting documentation necessary, and has already been 27 months of waiting. I foolishly believed them when they estimated 12 months. Has anybody out there recieved their citizenship recently? Any update on current time estimates, the situation in Warsaw, other relevant info?

Also, I would be very interested to hear any news of those of you living in France, or know of others living in France with Polish citizenship. My understanding is that restrictions apply for another three years, however obtaining information on the actual application of the restrictions effect individuals working or studying in France. Official information, and officials themselves seem to have conficting messages about this. Your real life experiences would be very much appreciated.
Thank you,
Basia

 

Re: Current wait times

I was born in Argentina of a Polish father. I live in London UK and my case of confirmation of Polish citizenship took 2 month (form January 2005 to March 2005).

I have a brother who is also a Canadian Citizen and lives in London Ontario. He submited his documents in November 2006 trough the Polish Consulate in Toronto and so far he has not yet heared anything about his case.

I also have a sister who lives in Buenos Aires Argentina and she submited her documents in September 2005. After a wait of 21 months I sugested her to telephone the citizenship office of the voivdeship of Mazowieki in Warsaw just to folow up her case. They said that her file was put at the top of the pile to be dealt with and her case had been aproved but they need to put the official stamp and send it back to the Polish consulate in Buenos Aires. Three weeks after that conversation she received at home the confirmation of her Polish citizenship in June 2007.

It seems that I was very lucky with my case since my sister's took much longer and my brother is still waiting.

 

Mother birth record 1932 Belarus - Help

Hello. First I would like to thank the many people who have provided such useful information on this thread. I am a Canadian born in Canada and my parents were both born in Poland. I am trying to get Polish Citizenship because I speak Polish, and feel Polish. I went to a Polish Consulate in Canada and was told that it would be easier for me to get a passport if my mother get's her's first. Here's the fun part. My mother was born near Lulinets, in 1932, which was then Poland, but is now Belarus. My father was born near Lublin in 1925, fought with the Polish Army under Gen. Anders, and is recently deceased. I would like to know if anyone can suggest how I can get birth records from Lulinets, Belarus for my mother, or if there is another way I can try to get a passport. All documentation for my mother and father were lost during the war so I have to try to get documents from Poland and Belarus. Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed. Thank you.

 

Re: Mother birth record 1932 Belarus - Help

My father was also born in Lublin in 1926... All the birth records are kept in Lublin and around. I was able to trace my family records up 5 generations back.

Probabely it would be much easier to trace your Polish citizenship through your father instead of your mother because the area of Lublin was always Poland and was stable for many years.

The problem with your mother is that it would be more dificult to determine the possession of her Polish citizenship because there are very complicated regulations which concern to persons who were born in those areas that were part of Russia, Belarus, Ukrain etc...

 

West,
Keep in mind that a birth record in and of itself does not explicitely prove Polish citizenship.

Which country does your mother live in?
Which country was your father in when he passed?
If the answer is not Poland to either of those questions, then did they have Polish passports?
If so, which year did they leave Poland?

If you can get thier old passports, this will help you file your application for confirmation of Polish citizenship. Once you get that approved, you would need to register your birth in Poland, and then you could apply for a Polish passport.

 

A question about Polish citizenship:

My girlfriend is from Belarus but she and all her family are from an area that was part of Poland pre 1939. All her grandparents were born in what was then Poland in the 1930s...

Does anyone know if she would have a case to apply for Polish citizenship? She and I are currently living in London so if anyone knows of a London based Polish lawyer who can help?? Or perhaps iCharsky... has anyone use them? They want $130 just to open her file and tell her whether she has a chance or not!!

many thanks in advance!
Fergus

 

A person is not a Polish citizen, even though
he/she had Polish citizenship on the 31 of August 1939, but he/she resides permanently outside Poland and:
If due to the change of Polish borders he/she
obtained foreign nationality in accordance
with the international agreements or
If a person is of Russian, Bielarussian,
Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian
nationality

Do you know which citizenship were your girlfriend's family holding after 31 of August 1939?

If your girlfriend is Bielarussian it is most likely that her parents and grand parents remained in Belarus after 1939 and they were no longer Polish citizens (if they have ever been). It looks like she has almost no chance.

Did you discussed her situation with the Polish Consul in London. Unfortunately I don't know any lawyers in London but curiousgeorge is The Expert on this matters.

 

Thank you Curiousgeorge for your response. Niether my parents had Polish passports, as they were deported to Siberia in 1940 when my father was 14 and my mother 8 years old. My father died in Canada and my mother has lived in Canada since 1958. Thank you again for your comments. Cheers.

 

West,
Would you be able to locate the immigration records that they used when they arrived in Canada? Its possible those docs state that they were Polish citizens.

In order of preference, from what I have gathered, these would be the docs to prove Polish citizenship for your ancestor:

1) An unexpired Polish passport issued in Poland
2) A Confirmation of Polish Citizenship document
3) An unexpired Polish passport issued at a foreign consulate
4) An expired Polish passport
5) An expired Polish passport where the person was added in as a child to thier parent's passport.
6) Any foreign document that mentions that the person was a Polish citizen, such as immigration records to a foreign country, or passenger records for a ship.
7) A polish birth certificate.

1 & 2 are the only ones that prove Polish citizenship, and your case would almost be a slam dunk. The authorities only need to confirm that YOU are not ineligible for Polish citizenship.

It seems 3 may gave some associated risk, as there has been an example of a Polish consulate that issued a passport without doing all of the background checks, and therefor the passport, although unexpired, may be deemed void.

While 4 & 5 do not prove anything either, they can still be considered as evidence that the person WAS a Polish citizen at some point in thier lives, and therefor the only thing the authorities need to confirm is that Polish citizenship was not lost in the interim.

From what I've been hearing from others trying to do this, if you are scraping the barrel and all you can get is 6, 7 or worse, then your case will probably take quite some time since you are relying on the Polish authorites to prove your citizenship for you. In addition, the risk of denial is probably much greater, since in the eyes of the Polish authorities, 5 and 6 really do not prove anything, and are only considered a lead or a clue to start the investigation. This does not mean your case will be denied, but if all you can come up with is 5, 6 , or worse, then my recomendation would be to hire a qualified professional to help you navigate the pitfalls, like a Polish lawyer.

 

Hi,

as I know one of the best Polish law office that render legal services regarding to certification is Advocate Lukasz Piotrowski, Law Office. I know it becouse he obtain Polish certification for my uncle and now he has rest of my uncle family case. They are Israeli citizen. I know that he cooperated with Charsky but Piotrowski has got his own law office now(Charsky have some problem with Clients I dont know what a problem but my uncle left him and now adv. Piotrowski handle his case)

adress:
Piotrowski Łukasz. Kancelaria adwokacka
0 22 840 40 70 - telefon/fax
00-466, Warszawa, Nowosielecka 14a