Have you ever thought about how double citizenship can impact your traveling? How can you use the fact of having two passports to your benefit?
Do you know that if someone in your family was a Polish citizen, you are likely eligible to confirm your Polish citizenship, become a dual citizen, and apply for a second passport? There are a couple of requirements that you need to fulfill to be eligible for it and if you need help in assessing your eligibility for Polish citizenship by descent, contact us and we will assess it free of charge for you.
Once you are the lucky owner of a Polish passport, below you can find a list of tips and advice that will make your life easier while moving around the EU, between the EU and your country of origin, and while traveling to third party countries.
1. In your own country, use your own country passport
When you are in your country of birth, you need to use your birth country passport. Meaning if you are born in the United States, and you return to your country from abroad, you need to show the American passport while entering the USA. Also in America, you should use your American id that confirms your American citizenship and gives you American citizen rights.
While traveling from the USA to the EU, the little inconvenience is that you need to travel with two passports. For example, if you are going from the States to Europe, you leave the US on your American passport and enter Europe on your Polish passport, then when you return to the US, you leave Europe on your Polish passport and enter the US on the US passport. This way you will avoid being asked for a visa in your country of origin.
Also, when you enter the EU with your Polish passport, you can go to the queue for the EU citizens which will speed up the process and formalities for you at the airport. In other words, you will not be standing in the long and tiring queues. Yes, with a Polish passport you became a citizen of the European Union so while entering any European Union country, use your Polish passport.
2. Once you are in the European Union, use your Polish passport
A Polish passport gives you freedom of traveling within the EU, and Schengen Zone. Once you enter the EU, you are considered a European Union citizen and your Polish passport is your identity document. Once you enter the EU with your Polish passport, you do not have any stay limits, you are not obliged to apply for any sort of visa, and you are free to move around. How cool is that? There are no passport controls on the borders and if you travel by land, sometimes you may not even notice that you are already in another country. Also, while traveling by plane, if you travel within the EU your passport will be checked only as proof of an id and there are no border or passport controls.
What is also worth mentioning is the right to work in any European Union country without a need for a work visa. Once you are a fully-fledged Polish citizen and have a Polish passport, you can work anywhere in the European Union. So even business trips will be much easier and more pleasant for you!
3. Travelling to countries outside the European Union and Schengen Zone
Here the trick is rather simple and depends mainly on the immigration and visa rules of the country you enter or plan to travel to. What that means is that we advise you to check on the official government websites about entry and visa conditions for both of your passports and use the one which is more convenient. For instance, some countries in Asia have a visa-free option for a Polish passport, some will require a visa on arrival, for others you will need to apply for a visa before.
If you need to apply for a formal visa anyway, check which passport has less or easier formalities as visa requirements may vary for different country passport holders. Some countries may require less paperwork if you apply for your visa as a Polish citizen or if you decide to apply as a citizen of any other country e.g. Canada or Australia.
The situation is a bit different if you travel to a country that is still in Europe and is not part of the European Union or Schengen, for instance, United Kingdom, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, and others. Likely it will be more convenient for you to use your Polish passport which is still a European passport. Most European countries, even though they are not part of the EU or Schengen, will have fewer visa requirements or no entry visa at all for Polish passport holders.
Again, the best recommendation is to check the latest visa information on official and governmental websites. This way you can be sure they are updated and relevant.
As you can see, having double citizenship and two passports has lots of benefits and it allows you to use the one which is more convenient for you in the situation.
If you have Polish ancestry and think about applying for Polish citizenship and a Polish passport, think no further. It will allow you to freely travel to the European Union, then freely travel within the European Union. You can reside within the EU with no time limits and work anywhere within the EU without any visa restrictions. All that with Polish citizenship and a Polish passport!
