Has anyone pursued Polish citizenship? I may be eligible because one of my grandfathers came from Poland to the US in 1921. For those that have done this or decided against it I was hoping to get some advice.
Online there are lots of websites for companies that say they help with the process but I don’t know how to choose one if I decide to do it. And could there be drawbacks such as suddenly being subject to taxation (for example I think the US levies an income tax on its citizens no matter where they live or earn income).
I can’t speak specifically for Poland (other than to say that Poland doesn’t tax non-residents), but I do know people who have done it for other countries. The process is painless once you acquire the necessary birth, marriage, and (if applicable) death certificates, but the processing time once submitted can be lengthy. And you’d need to remember both passports when traveling to the EU. Not to state the obvious, but the application itself is in Polish.
I also can’t speak specifically to Poland (I have dual citizenship with another EU country.)
I agree with what ski said….get all the documents in order…birth and death certificates, record of naturalization, marriage certificates, etc.
Do you live in or near a city with a Polish consulate? They would be the best ones determine if you are eligible for citizenship and then to guide you thru the process.
It can be difficult, especially if trying to get documents in another country when one lives in the US.
For the US, many county clerk offices have birth, death and marriage records going back a long time. Churches sometimes have this info as well BUT they might not be considered ‘official’, just depends on their recordkeeping. The rub is you often can’t get records so far back in time online, and have to literally show up in person…which I did and the county clerk office printed out what I needed then and there.
For overseas, it’s the same type of thing…you have to find out which city/county/state office would have the type of documents you need. The consulate staff can help with this, but even then, I was often ordering documents on websites in another language. Google translate works, but it can be still be challenging/painstaking. Some websites also wouldn’t take a credit card for payment, I had to wire transfer money, which is always a hassle at my credit union.
Yeah, that could be the hard part if you don’t have the documents already. Record-keeping, particularly birth records, was shoddy in spots and records that did exist weren’t centralized. And with WW2, some records that did exist could have been destroyed.
If you’re lucky enough to have a family history of places, the town hall or the parish church may have copies of records.
My mother was born in Danzig which was German before WWI, was a free city between the world wars, and has been Gdansk in Poland since the end of WWII. She, my late aunt and oma and opa arrived in NYC in 1939, thank you HAIS. My original birth certificate lists Danzig as her place of birth as does her death certificate. I thought about applying in 2017 and again since last week, but I decided to wait for now, per the thread I started about coping skills. Keep us posted!
This. I have all the documents to claim Czech citizenship, but my dad no longer has the language facility to help me with the app. Looks like I’ll have to pay to get it completed properly in Czech, and I haven’t gotten up the gumption yet to do so. Also, any dual citizenship for me causes paperwork headache for our Army son who must report such changes as they affect his security clearances. I found this out the hard way when I announced that I’d finally gotten my Canadian citizenship papers and he went nuts on me.
Anyway, good luck to the OP. Perhaps they speak/know the Polish language?
I looked into this briefly a few years ago. I’m pretty sure a parent would have to get their Polish citizenship first but don’t quote me on that. You can go through the Polish embassy and try it that way but the application needs to be completed in Polish. There are several companies out there that will help but I’d be cautious because you are giving a lot of personal info and records to someone else.
There are several Polish Facebook groups that do discuss this process and which companies are the better ones to use. From what I’ve heard it can take a few years from start to finish.
Last year when many of the Ellis Island and other arrival sites finally published their digitized records, I was surprised to see how detailed they were. Some- not all- include hometown of the new immigrant. Others just record where they got on the boat. But the records are easily searched if you need the name of the actual birthplace. And if grandpa came from Warsaw (not his hometown) check the records for any known relatives… siblings may be listed from the original birthplace.
My city has an incredible resource with volunteers that assist translating ancestry documents - but German. Could there be Polish-American groups in other cities (or on FB) that might also do this?
If your grandparent was Catholic, his records may be available at the church in their town. Baptism records are often more easily found than a birth certificate and since the practice was to baptize within weeks of birth, many countries will accept them.
Funny, I am looking into this now. My niece started an in depth family tree years ago and she had lots of documents. As stated Ellis Island records can be helpful. Once I get somethings together I live in Chicago with a Polish consulate and might check out their resources.
I very briefly looked into this for Italy a while ago on a lark.
Apparently for Italian citizenship by descent, it was not applicable if your relative renounced Italian citizenship for another country. It gets complicated, at least for Italy, for naturalized US citizens before 1992 (according to Italian law).
Just something to look into for Poland. Good luck!
I second the suggestion to go to the Polish consulate near you and get information on the steps you need to get Polish citizenship. Also, check online for Polish ancestry/genealogy groups. These folks often have information on dual citizenship and how to locate the documents you will need as well as information on lawyers who can help you. My brother started to pursue getting dual citizenship with Croatia. It was a very tedious process and he ended up hiring a lawyer to help him.Dealing with the bureaucracy in former Soviet-bloc countries is difficult, especially if your connection goes back more than one generation.
Yes, I also looked into Italian citizenship. There is a path if one’s parent was born to Italian citizens. In my case, my mom was the third child and my grandpareent had become naturalized US citizens before she was born. That was the dead end for me.
I’m looking into Irish citizenship by descent, I am eligible. It seems pretty straightforward but I do need to get my grandmother’s birth & death certificate. It should cost about $500 total, it looks like the consultants start at $1000. I don’t think I need a consultant since there’s no language barrier. My husband is eligible for Spain by descent, and we actually have been talking about a retirement move to Spain…he was just there for a month in September.
I contacted a company that does Polish genealogical research and also files applications for Polish citizenship. From what I know of my family history they agree I would qualify for citizenship but unfortunately it isn’t going to happen. We don’t have any documents from my grandfather such as residency papers or a passport, and he lived in an area of the country where the company said essentially all records were destroyed in WWII. So it’s become a moot point for us, best of luck to others pursuing EU citizenship.
It’s not the same thing- but I needed a form after an elderly relative died for a particular insurance claim. No original birth certificate, no subsequent birth certificate. I called the company and finally got to the right person-- there is an actual form for “Records destroyed during WW II” (which was the case). I verbally attested to what this person had stated as their date and place of birth, they sent me the affidavit form which I signed and sent back and that was it.
Millions of documents were destroyed during the war-- don’t assume that an affidavit from a surviving relative will be insufficient until you ask.
