So can i show up and have them certify a copy, or must i make a copy of my us passport, get it notarized and then apostilled, translated, and finally take it to the consulate?

This (or you can show your ID instead of passport)

+ your birth certificate (the same as above)

 

Hmmm...
It sounds like all you need to have done is go to the consulate and present your U.S. passport (and perhaps your mother's as well) and ask to have a "legalized copy" made (A fancy term for a 15 cent photocopy + consular stamp). I checked on their website under "oplaty konsularne" and that will cost you $33. Could you drop in on them and speak to someone in person??

I'm sure that every person working in the consulate is familiar with a U.S. passport. I see no reason why you would need to have it translated or apostilled. "Co kraj, to obyczaj" but that is just ridiculous. Perhaps "pani urzedniczka" was having a bad day??

 

Hi:
I had previously "announced" that my citizenship was successfully confirmed last month. I wanted to supply some of the gory details to give people an idea of what they can be up against if you get "lucky" and get a caseworker like mine.

I thought I had a pretty straightforward case with strong evidence. What I wasn't prepared for were the "intangibles" relating to the discretion of the caseworker processing my case. Let's call her pani Ropucha (toad) just for fun.

Well into the process, Pani R. began requesting all sorts of "supplementary" information that had absolutely no bearing on the confirmation process through my mother (ex. she wanted info/documents about my father). She also got fixated on getting my mom's birth certificate (which proves nothing about a person's citizenship), even though I had supplied her with my mom's expired Polish passport. She was unreasonable from beginning to end. She was basically flouting her power and making matters more difficult and complicated than they needed to be.

When my lawyer inquired about timelines, Pani R. retorted that the slow administrative processing by the Canadian consulate in Montreal (I live in Toronto btw) were responsible for the delays. My lawyer contacted me in late March and asked me to make some local inquiries. I naturally called the Toronto consulate (my family has lived in Toronto for 60 years) and asked about protocals and processing of inquiries from Warsaw. An incredibly helpful and kind lady at the consulate answered all my questions, expressed some thinly veiled dismay at Pani R.'s breach of protocal and set me straight. Next, I wrote a firmly worded letter to the general "info" mailbox in Montreal asking politely that they turn their attention to my case, and which had been before them since late January. I fully expected my letter to "vanish" into the ethernet....imagine my surprise when I received a firmly worded letter from the Vice-Consul that same afternoon detailing their speedy response a day after receiving the inquiry in January.

Can you say "pulapka" (trap)?? We had caught Pani R. in a gigantic lie. ::))
My lawyer wrote a series of very strongly worded letters to the head of the Ministry in charge, and anyone else that would listen. MAGICALLY, a week later, my lawyer was notified that my citizenship, my brother's and my nephew's were ready for pick up. My mother's citizenship was NOT among them. Yes, you read that right. My citizenship was confirmed without first confirming my mom's.

Pani R., having had her knuckles firmly rapped by powers higher up, continues to be a gigantic pain in the butt and has fabricated some crazy story about how my mom's case needs further investigation or "evidence". She cannot deny my mother's citizenship (having granted Polish citizenship to her children), but she can delay granting it pretty much indefinitely. Evil woman. Slimy toad.

Me? I got what I needed out of the process and am grateful to my lawyer for all his hard work. I just wanted people to know that there are clerks like Pani R. out there, that are spiteful and difficult to deal with, that can complicate matters or draw them out unnecessarily.

Good luck to all.
I'll be voting in the upcoming Polish election.
:))

 

Wow... you were really "lucky". My confirmation was very fast, and everybody i spoke to was polite and caring. btw, my father's confirmation was issued 2 months after mine... they told me it was coz people born in Poland get their confirmation at the city they were born - people born in other places have their cases reviewed in Warsow.

 

""coz people born in Poland get their confirmation at the city they were born - people born in other places have their cases reviewed in Warsow.""

Not applicable in this case. My mom was born in what is now Bialorus.
Just plain ill-will on her part.

 

and i was wrong anyway... i meant the city her birth certificate was issued. (my father was born in what is now Ukraine) his bc was issued in Legnicy.

 

I am currently having trouble finding documents that prove polish citizenship for my grandparents. They were from lodz but were shifted all around europe during the holocaust and ended up in italy where they took a boat to the us. I just found the letter of identification from the boat and on it, it states their birthplace as lodz. It then says, "nationality present: stateless" and under that, "former: poland."
do you think this will be of any help to me, or does nationality not also mean citizenship?
Thanks!

 

I think the first thing you're going to want to track down is their birth certificate. Also important to find out if they became US Citizens after 1951 (something like that, better if it is after).

 

I'm currently working on tracking the birth certificates, but as i understand that is in no way a proof of citizenship. They become citizens in 1957. So now i'm just trying to find other pieces of evidence that they were citizens. Contacting people in poland, but would love to find something in my own files if possible as it would make things a little easier.

 

yea, i know what you mean. My family is the same way. Only have birth certificates from poland, but as you said, doesn't prove citizenship. I eventually went with hiring an attorney, Piotrowski, and he's doing some research for us, as I understand it. If they are listed as stateless on the shipping manifest (as were my grandparents), I'm guessing they don't have their polish passports (they may never have had polish passports).

I think all you can do is looking for supporting evidence from the time they were living in Lodz.

 

on the bc it would list their parents and from that you could prove that they were polish, based on their parents' nationalities.
WW2 affected a lot of people so having missing documents, traveling to various countries etc is not unisual. That was the situation with my father. As Nebratu said, the listing on the manifest doesn't really mean much, maybe just that they didn't have Polish PPs (many refugees didn't)

 

So i am considering getting citizenship confirmed and i am not really sure if i should proceed.

My grandparents (all of them) were from poland. My mother was born in germany and was nationalized us citizen in late 1960s, however documentation and family history is very difficult to obtain (she does not even know where her parents were born). My father was born in the us. His parents came to the us in 1951 as dps; they never obtained foreign citizenship (lived in us as permanent residents). His father (deceased) was born in 1910 in what appears to be "nadrasz, pow. Rypin" (part of congress poland i believe) according to pow "legitymacja" (marriage certificate, from germany, says rypin as well). His mother (still living) was born in gdynia in 1923. I am attempting to track down birth certificates and other documents now (i have little idea how it works and have placed inquires with individuals who provide such a service). Neither was ever issued a passport from poland according most information i have. The only real proof i have is that anyone was polish is that my grandfather served in the polish military.

From this information does this appear like this could be a fruitful endeavor? It seems that it would be easiest to proceed through confirming through my father (as there is more information available), if it all would be possible to do.

 

Hi everyone, been a long time. I'm going ahead now and finally transcribing my birth certificate. Does anyone know if you can apply for the PESEL and passport at the same time at the consulate still?

I think before it may have been birth cert + PESEL at same time, but definitely not anymore. I tried looking back, but finding the specific info is really like finding a needle in a haystack. Anyone have recent experience?

 

Just went throught this process and am awaiting my passport.


PESEL/passport can be a little tricky. Practices seem to vary across offices.
What I did: I logged on to the Toronto-specific consulate website, thinking that accurate information might be found there. Wrong.

Although there is an entire paragraph (bolded) describing the fact that the PESEL application is a separate step from the passport application, the practices is not followed.
I arrived at the consulate with my PESEL application and they wouldn't accept it without my passport application. Since I didn't have my photos with me, the trip to the consulate was a waste of time.
A week later, I arrive with all documents (PESEL and passport) and am told that it is a 2-step process. I must submit my applications, but then come back a second time once the PESEL number is actually issued for fingerprinting and payment. I was told that it would take a couple of days. Three weeks later, I finally get a call to come in and "complete" the application. Pani urzedniczka re-examines all my documents (incl. photos) and then starts to frown. She hands back the photos and tells me they are NOT acceptable. I start to argue with her. I show her that they were done in PL at a professional photographer (I still have the sleeve with the name/address of the shop). She is unmoved, and so I waste yet another trip to get my photos re-taken at a mom-pop variety shop and repeat the whole process. They are finally accepted and my passport may be ready in September sometime.

Don't assume anything. I would call the consulate and ask what the process entails, and how many trips are required.
Good luck

 

I originally was dealing with the consulate in Washington DC. I'm now dealing with the one in Tel Aviv. I am pretty sure that I could do both at the DC consulate. When I was at the consulate in TA last week, I spoke directly with the 2nd Secretary (not the guy at the window) and he, who's in charge of all of this stuff, seems confused when I told him that at other offices (ie DC) you can do both at the same time. I guess this plays into what you say about different offices, different rules, but my impression was he was doing it 1 at a time, per the rules of the government.

Maybe what happens is, sort of as you said, that (some of) the Consulate makes you initiate both parts - PESEL and passport - but actually treats it as 2 separate parts, thus you have to come back a 2nd time and pay and do fingerprints. Interesting.

 

DC won't let you do both at the same time. I just went through this a few months ago for my younger son, and I had to get the PESEL first.

 

Hi all, my applicationforpolish citizenship was rejected and i can appeal to the court.
Did someone appeal to the court? How does it work?
Thenks in advance

 

A preface for going forward should be that you're actually able to be confirmed as a Polish citizen. It says you live in Kazakhstan and are Kazakhstani. Are you of relatively recent Polish descent too?? If not, that would be why you were rejected, and going to a court of appeals would be a complete waste of your time.

 

Some clarifications: it's application to confirm polish citizenship as one my parents was born in poland and then moved to kazakhstan in 1941. Rejected due to a fact that not returned to poland in accordance with 1958 agreement between ussr and poland

 

That's interesting. I am not familiar with that agreement, and I don't believe it's been cited on this forum. I would strongly recommend using a lawyer (adwokat) for this. Keep in mind, there's usually a relatively short amount of time you have before you "forfeit" your right to counter and go to court of appeals. Make sure you don't pass that time. Good luck and keep us informed.