How British citizens with Polish roots can get EU citizenship and Polish passport

How did Brexit impact British citizens in the European Union?

With the Brexit vote, the United Kingdom withdrew their membership from the European Union. British citizens who still wish to work, study. or travel in the EU, need to follow a different process. That means they would need to legally register as a resident or in some cases, apply for a visa or work permit.

British citizens of Polish descent can confirm their Polish citizenship and apply for a Polish passport which is a passport of European Union

If you are a British citizen, you may wonder how to keep European Union citizenship after Brexit and have easy access to the EU job market, freedom of travel across the Schengen Zone. If you have Polish roots, your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were born in Poland, there is a chance you too have acquired Polish citizenship and you are eligible to confirm Polish citizenship. This way you can get a Polish passport which is also a passport of the European Union and get rights of the EU citizen for yourself and your family members.

What is the process of confirming Polish citizenship via descent for British people with Polish ancestry?

The Act on Polish Citizenship of 2 April 2009 makes it possible to obtain confirmation of Polish citizenship by decision. In order to obtain such a document confirming your Polish citizenship, you have to file an application and prove that you have acquired Polish citizenship. You also need to prove you have not lost Polish citizenship by the time of filing the application.

How can you verify whether you have acquired Polish citizenship?

When determining whether you currently possess Polish citizenship, you need to refer not only to the current Polish Citizenship Act but also to the number of legal regulations which are no longer in force but were applicable to your Polish ancestors depending on their date of birth. These Acts are relevant for the assessment of whether they acquired or/and lost Polish citizenship. The Polish Citizenship Acts are as following:

  • the Act on Polish Citizenship of 20 January 1920,
  • the Act on Polish Citizenship of 8 January 1951,
  • the Act on Polish Citizenship of 16 February 1962.

Polish citizenship of your ancestor will need to be checked against the Act, which was in force when he or she was born and it needs to be proved, Polish citizenship was not lost on the way by any of your Polish ancestors directly linked to you.

What do you need to do to proceed with the Polish citizenship application?

You need to determine after which of your Polish ancestors you can confirm your Polish citizenship, e.g. your paternal grandfather. Later on, you have to verify if further descendants of that person (your other ascendants) also held Polish citizenship, e.g. your father who was the son of a Polish grandfather. You have to prove that the possession of Polish citizenship was continuous among your ascendants in a straight line linking you to a person about whom you know that she or he had Polish citizenship.

How can you make the Polish citizenship process and application easy and hassle free?

If you contact us, we will assess your family history and each family member against each Act on Polish citizenship. We will ask a number of questions about your family members linking you to your Polish ancestor of our interest. This way we will be able to confirm if you are eligible to confirm Polish citizenship.

You can contact us for FREE eligibility assessment the following ways:

  1. Filling out our Contact Form
  2. Phone  +48 509 374 209
  3. WhatsApp: +48 509 374 209
  4. E-mail: contact@fivetoeurope.com
Barbara Cebula

Barbara Cebula

Polish Citizenship Specialist at Five to Europe. Supports clients throughout the process of Polish citizenship confirmation, managing citizenship applications from the beginning till the very end and conducts ancestry research to support Polish citizenship claim.

How to get Polish citizenship by descent through Five to Europe, a Polish based company?

26 March 2024

Polish citizenship follows the “right of blood” rule which means that a Polish parent passes it to his or her child at birth. If you have Polish ancestry, you know that someone from your family came from Poland or what used to be Polish territory, likely you are eligible for Polish citizenship by descent. It is also necessary to prove that your Polish ancestor left Poland after 1920, or provide an official and legal document issued by the Polish Government after 1920.

Becoming a Polish citizen by right of blood

12 March 2024

Polish citizenship is passed by “the right of blood”. If one of the parents holds Polish citizenship (or is a person of Polish descent), it is passed to the child irrespective of whether the child was born in Poland or abroad.
It also applies to people born in countries with the “right of soil” e.g. USA. If you were born in the USA to at least one Polish parent (or a parent of Polish descent – to your Polish grandparents), you can claim Polish citizenship despite the fact you acquired US citizenship at your birth.

How to get passport of Poland based on descent?

7 February 2024

Obtaining a Polish passport based on descent involves a process known as “confirmation of Polish citizenship.” If you have Polish ancestry and can prove your descent from Polish citizens, you may be eligible to apply for confirmation of citizenship, which can then lead to obtaining a Polish passport.