How did the Polish ancestors of British citizens land in the United Kingdom?
In the United Kingdom there is a big population of British Poles, British citizens of Polish descent. Many of their ancestors settled down in the UK after World War II. There were Polish soldiers, servicemen, and women, who fought alongside allied forces, Polish military personnel, Polish survivors of German concentration and POW camps. After WWII ended, many of them did not want to or could not return to Poland, due to the fact that Poland became a communist country and Soviet repressions of Poles. As there were soldiers and former members of the Home Army, they were often at risk to be oppressed and be executed by the Soviets.
Initially, a large Polish community cantered around near military camps, where military personnel had been stationed during the war. Later on, once they felt more comfortable and used to British civil life, they spread out across the country.
Great Britain offered shelter and a new home to Polish families and Polish soldiers fighting during the war under the British Command. After a couple of years of living in the UK, most of them took British citizenship by naturalization but that did not cause loss of Polish citizenship. Polish citizenship, unless renounced intentionally, was kept by them and passed to their descendants, children and grandchildren, who now can go through the process of Polish citizenship confirmation and get a Polish passport.
British citizens with Polish descent living in the UK
Nowadays, lots of descendants of Polish soldiers, military personnel, and war refugees live in the UK. They are grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Polish war heroes, who can obtain Polish citizenship after their Polish ancestors and this way guarantee themselves free access to the European Union.
There are several archives and institutions in the UK which keep records about Polish soldiers and pilots such as The Ministry of The Defence. They often have books of soldiers, confirming military service history, details such as date and place of birth, family members details. Records confirming military service in the Polish Resettlement Corps often confirm Polish citizenship of your ancestor and are a great source of additional information in case additional research is needed in Poland. If you have them already, you can send them to us at contact@fivetoeurope.com for a review. After seeing them, we will be able to confirm if you are eligible for Polish citizenship by descent and advice what else (if anything) will be needed in addition to support your Polish citizenship claim.
Why is it worth confirming Polish citizenship for British citizens?
With the Brexit vote, the United Kingdom withdrew its membership from the European Union. British citizens who still wish to work, study, or travel in the EU will 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.
Therefore, if you are a British citizen with Polish ancestry, it is very convenient for you to confirm your Polish citizenship and apply for a Polish passport, which equals the passport of the European Union. This way, you can secure yourself and your family members, children and grandchildren an easy access to the European job market and visa free travels. In the future, if you or anyone from your family, decides to move abroad, Polish citizenship will also be helpful. With a Polish passport you can reside anywhere within the European Union and buy property which has much less formalities. You can hold dual citizenship, British and Polish citizenship and depending on the situation, you can use whichever passport is more convenient.
A Polish passport will allow you to stay in the European Union for more than 90 days without a need for you to leave the Schengen zone. If you would like to spend your retirement in one of the European Union countries, it is worth considering applying for your Polish citizenship confirmation and getting a Polish passport as a result of it.
Process of confirming Polish citizenship for a British citizen with Polish ancestry – what do you need to know?
Contact us for a free consultation of your situation, and we will closely check your case and your Polish ancestor’s details. We will analyse your family immigration history and check your eligibility for a Polish citizenship application. Depending on whether you have enough Polish documents or not, we will conduct research across archives in Poland and the UK to search for documents oriented towards Polish citizenship confirmation.
How to get in touch with Polish Citizenship Experts:
Get a free consultation and confirmation of your eligibility for Polish citizenship by descent. You can fill in our Contact Form on our website, send us an email at contact@fivetoeurope.com or give us a call phone / WhatsApp / Signal + 48 509 374 209
