Believe it or not in Denmark they have a law that requires Danish citizens who were born abroad to confirm their citizenship before turning 18 years old and additionally you MUST accumulate a minimum 2 years period of residency in Denmark BEFORE turning 18 AND be able to communicate in written and spoken Danish by taking a language test. If you didn't meet ALL those requirements, then you LOST your Danish Citizenship as long as you don't become stateless as a result of it.

Germany was very relaxed in terms of transmitting its citizenship jure sanguinis until 2000. Any German citizen born abroad after 2000 that has a child also born abroad and holds another country's citizenship, will have a period of 1 year since the child's birth to register the child in Germany through the competent German consulate of his place of residence. If that requirement is not met, then the child will NOT be a German citizen.

I'm not saying that Poland will become so ridiculously strict but if they want they can make new rules to be applied after certain date onwards.

They also can if they want, of course, depending on the political situation, make the nationality laws more relaxed, allowing more people to regain their lost citizenship and widen the criterion of acquiring citizenship, for example by giving the woman the ability to transmit her citizenship without limit of generation (i.e. inheriting the citizenship without restrictions by maternal line before 1951).

 

Canada recently tightened up thier citizenship laws in a similar way. If the Canadian parent was born aboad, then the children from that parent have until the age of 28 to claim Canadian citizenship.


These seemingly unintrusive laws can affect many people. And most of us would have kicked ourselves in the head if we had been sitting on our laurels assuming that the law would be the way it is forever, and did not make a move to file the appliction.

 

Based on history in regards to other country's nationality law changes, I would say that the chances of the law changing in the future to be more inclusive (i.e. retroactively allowing maternal passage of citizenship) is far less than the chance of it becoming more exclusive (i.e. language tests, history tests).

 

I don't think it would have a far less chance of one happening over another. In Spain and Denmark you lose your citizenship when you gain another and Poland says you cannot really lose your citizenship. EU countries have very different laws and it is difficult to compare. German is very anti-immigration, mostly because they had high unemployment and even the new EU blue card system (green card equivalent in EU) will be very restrictive because of Austria and Germany.

Poland is fast growing unemployment fell from Poland (9.2% 2007 to 6.7% 2008) and Eastern European population is shrinking fast. "The working-age population (aged 19-64) will continuously decrease from 2011 onwards," (Stochastic forecast of the population of Poland, 2005 – 2050). While people flock to Western Europe very few choose Eastern Europe.

The reasons I think they will not make it more difficult are: Of the number of Poles that left since 1918, how many try to confirm citizenship? This is an extremely low number in proportion to people leaving "In 2006, consular offices have adopted 646 proposals to the President of the Republic of Poland to give Polish citizenship, and 2,725 applications for a declaration of Polish citizenship." (link below) Of the people who obtain, try to obtain it, how many get it with the intention to reside in Poland? Less than 1000 a year I bet.


http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl ... =firefox-a

 

These are great stats. But facts are different that puplic perception. All you need is a few politicians to convince the public that they are being taken advantage of by foreign Polish citizens, and voila! You have the motive for a new law.


The numbers were relatively small in Canada as well, but politicians were convinced that the laws was being taken advantage of, so eventually they adjusted the laws.

 

Why do you say "foreign Polish Citizens"? We are Polish citizens by birth , not foreigners naturalized Polish. For the Polish law we are as Polish as any Polish born and raised in Poland. It doesn't matter where you were born (i.e. in Poland or elsewhere), the only thing it matters is your Polish origin, whether they like it or not. You are either a foreigner or a Polish citizen, you can't be a "foreign Polish citizen".

 

I think he meant non-resident Polish citizens

 

Yes you are right, it must be that...my apologies

 

I will say this... none of us really know what will happen.

Anyway for those who are interested in how many people submitted a declaration of Polish citizenship: 2006 (2,725), 2005 (3,826), 2004 (3,560). 2003 didn't have numbers.

 

Hi

My father was born in Poland and came to Australia after 62, but he came as a child and travelled on his mothers passport. So theres no way he'd have renounced his polish citizenship, therefore how would I go about obtaining a Polish citizenship and a Polish passport.

PS: The people at the consulate weren't that much help

Thanks,

Michael

 

You need your father's birth certificate from Poland, and a document describing him as a Polish citizen, (e.g. his mother's passport when he traveled would be perfect).

When you've got that, prepare a biography of your self including your family, all in Polish language, and fill in the forms that they give you in the consulate for confirmation of Polish citizenship, and get 2 passport photos.

 

Thanks, that sounds like it reflects what I meant to say.

 

Yes courious, I now know what meant . What I was trying to point out was that there was only one type of Polish citizenship unlike British citizenship which has 6 types, and one of them is "British Overseas Citizenship" and an "British Overseas Citizen" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Overseas_citizen does NOT have the same rights as a "British Citizen". there are in some way second class citizens.

 

Have any of you had translations certified at the consulate via mail? I was curious as to the actual time frame to getting them back. I was told about 3 weeks, but knowing them, that could be 3 years.

 

My father actually doesn't have any of his Polish documents thats the problem, his Australian passport does say however he's born in Legnica but if we don't have any documents, whats the best way to go about it then?

 

I believe, the best thing to do is bring your dad to the consulate and have him order a new passport. While you're there, have him register your birth, and that's it. You're already done.

I would skip the lengthy confirmation process...

 

My father was born in 49 but came to Australia in 62 (If that makes a difference) I'll have to see if there are any Polish documents that grandmother has. Would an Australian passport that says the birthplace is Legnica count? Otherwise what process should I take?

 

Michael, I edited my last post. Reread it, it's totally different now.

And no, Poland will not accept an AUS document as factual. They'll accept their documents, but they don't care if an AUS document say he was born in Poland. Every single document of my grandfather say he was born in Poland, hsi parents born in Poland, etc, but they don't care. It means little to the process, sadly.

You should be able to have a passport and all within 6-12 months, if you do what I said in last post. Good luck.

 

If you don't have your grandmother's Polish passport, they would probably be some immigration records describing her and your father as polish citizens, and if you are lucky there can even be her/his passport number.

 

All I need to do is walk in there, get my dad to ask for a Polish passport and get him to register my birth?

When I asked the lady at the consulate she said nothign about this, I don't understand why she wouldn't know about this, but you're sure it can be done?

Also wouldn't they ask for proof of citizenship, or would they have it on computer record?