Congratulations Curious!

I'm glad to hear that your hard work and perseverance has paid off.

 

Re: Polish Passport

Hello,

I've just received notice of my confirmation of Polish citizenship from a letter sent by the consulate in addition to a "Decision" document from Poland.
My question is, will I receive an official certificate of Polish citizenship?
Also, how can I apply for a Polish birth certificate?
Thank you in advance for any information.

Mark (Montreal)

 

Re: Polish Passport

The decision that you received IS the official confirmation that you always held polish citizenship since you were born by virtue of blood relation.
A certificate of citizenship is normally awarded to a foreigner who naturalizes after residing in Poland for a certain amount of time.
To apply for the polish transcription of your birth, you need to send the original birth certificate together with an official polish translation to the registry office in Warsaw. Ask at the consulate for details.

 

Re: Confirmation

Oh, I see. So having been confirmed being Polish at birth I won't be receiving any kind of certificate. If that's the case, why did they ask for 2 passport photos with my application for confirmation?

So I guess I have to give the consulate my long form Quebec birth certificate with an official Polish translation to apply for a Polish birth certificate? Do you know how long it takes to get a birth certificate?

Thanks for any info.

Mark

 

Re: Confirmation

Correct, you won’t receive any certificate of Polish Citizenship because you were born Polish and you already got that confirmation. In the same way you were born a Canadian Citizen and you were never given a certificate of Canadian Citizenship, were you? The reason why they asked you for two passport photos is only an administrative requirement in order to process your application for confirmation of citizenship, that’s all.

To apply for a Polish birth certificate you need the long form Quebec birth certificate with an official Polish translation, but since your original is going to stay in Poland and it won’t be returned to you, I advice you to ask for another original from the Quebec registry office instead of sending your original. It will also be a good idea to send a copy of the confirmation of your Polish Citizenship and a covering letter legalized at the Polish Consulate in Montreal telling them what to do.

When I registered mine it took 4 month to receive the transcription back, and it now takes around 6 months.

 

Re: Polish passport

Would it be possible to apply for a Polish passport before applying for and receiving a Polish birth certificate? Or must you have the Polish birth certificate before submitting a passport application?

I checked the Montreal consulate's website and EVERYTHING concerning passport applications is in Polish...

 

Re: Polish passport

You can’t apply for a 10 year passport before receiving your Polish birth certificate, since you need to send a copy of it in order to apply.

You can probably apply for a temporary passport issued by the consulate which is normally valid for one year, but it’s up to your consulate. For instance I was able to apply for a one year passport at the Polish consulate in London UK before sending my birth certificate to Poland. But my sister in Argentina was not able to apply at the Polish consulate in Buenos Aires. She had to get first her Polish birth certificate and now she is about to receive her 10 year passport at the beginning of June.

 

Immigration Lawyer

Hello does anyone know of a Polish immigration lawyer in London or Warsaw. I too have applied for confirmation of polish citizenship back in July of 2007 and I'm having some problems.

Thanks
Jen

 

Re: Immigration Lawyer

See previous posts. I believe a few have been mentioned in Part II of the thread.

 

Any hope?

Hi, my grandmother and grandfather were both born in Poland but came to the US as children. I believe he became a citizen before my mother was born, but my grandmother did not. She did, however, become naturalized in the late '30s due to fear that she would be deported back to a very unstable Poland. To my knowledge my mother never knew she was eligible for Polish citizenship, and either way, the country remained under communist control for her lifetime.

She was, however, always Polish at heart, spoke the language, etc. and I was wondering whether I could get her a record of citizenship now, even though she is no longer alive.

As a second benefit, I realize that her citizenship would open the possibility for me to become closer to the country, which I would like to do, though I do not think citizenship would be my goal at this time.

The question is, given that my grandmother naturalized in the '30s is this a done deal? Is there any exception made based on the war? I know that all the relatives in Poland with whom she was in contact before the war were never heard from again, so it certainly seems a justified fear....

Thanks.

 

Re: Any hope?

I beleive the Polish law prior to approx. 1956 says that if the person received a foreign citizenship, then they will have lost thier Polish citizenship.

I am not sure if there is a workaround for this, you may want to consult a lawyer. But since this is what the law states, technically, your grandmother lost her Polish citizenship upon naturalization in the US in 1930, which in essence has severed your ties to that citizenship as well.

 

I agree with curious, but not to further dissuade you, I am not 100% sure you'll even be able to claim descent based on your grandmother. Most countries up until very recently only considered a male able to pass along citizenship. I was told this by an attorney I spoke with in Warsaw. In your very different case, I would definitely speak with an attorney and just get a consultation if you can. From my experiences, they'll want to charge you like US$200 or so just to "research" it.

 

Thanks for the information - the one piece that I still question is this:

1. My mother, at the time of her birth in 1930, was born to a polish citizen mother and a former polish citizen father (naturalized to US). If they would let her gain citizenship from her mother, she would have been a polish citizen, though I don't believe she knew this, nor ever acted on it.

2. Even though her mother subsequently naturalized a number of years later (1939, I believe), I have seen no indication thus far that my mother's right to citizenship would have been affected.

So, I definitely understand that going to my grandmother, who was naturalized during a period where polish citizenship was lost upon naturalization (and technically my grandfather is the same situation just an earlier date) would not work for me to gain citizenship.

It seems, however, that my mother should have been a citizen regardless, unless somehow the fact that her mother was naturalized during her childhood this would affect it.

Does that make sense or am I missing something?

Also, what was the case before 1921? Just in case my grandfather naturalized before that date, which I am not sure of, the references I have looked at didn't go before then. If he didn't automatically renounce his polish citizenship upon naturalization (assuming he was before 1921 and that was perhaps the case...) my mother would have been born to two polish citizens......of course, I need to go check his records that I have somewhere......

Very appreciative of the help, by the way.

 

Poland became a republic in 1918. So, you would need a document from the Republic of Poland. As for your mother, from what I understand, a minor (or someone under a certain age maybe) would automatically become naturalized once their parents did. Since you said they naturalized in the 30's, and if she was young at that point, she would automatically be a citizen of the US and thus technically no longer a Polish citizen.

 

Thanks - too bad, as it would have been fun. I will verify all dates and such to be sure my memory isn't incorrect.

 

Verify the dates, and just for the hell of it, go ahead and request the USCIS document on your mother's naturalization. If her parents naturalized and she auto-naturalized because of this, there's still a solid chance it will come back saying she never requested to be naturalized (i.e. didn't naturalize). It takes a hell of a long time though (this whole process does). Plan on waiting 14-16 months before you get anything back from the US government regarding it. See previous posts regarding the document - I forget the name...something like D-143 or something like that.

If you can get that (a certified version, gotta call once it's in their system and have them make a note to do so), you could have just side-stepped the whole issue of naturalization dates.

 

According to the citizenship act of 1920 valid until 8th January 1951 a child born from married couples acquires Polish citizenship ONLY if his/her father is a Polish citizen at the time of his/her birth. Therefore unfortunately your mother did not acquire Polish citizenship at birth since her father was no longer Polish and her mother was unable to transmit her citizenship due to the law which was applicable at that time.

 

polskiarg is correct. I didn't see the "former" part speaking about your grandfather...you're not in good shape buddy. Sorry for any misguided hope I may have presented you

 

alyehoud: sorry that my nick name polskiarg ( which is the joining of Argentine- Polish) was not too explicit, but I am a HE, not a SHE...

 

Corrected post, and my apologies...I should have noted the "Polski" versus the feminine version. I meant no offense..... lo siento :/