If you have Polish ancestry, you may want to consider applying for Polish citizenship by descent and subsequently obtain a Polish passport. To get a Polish citizenship certificate, you first need to go through the Polish citizenship confirmation process. You may wonder how easy it is. Well, the answer may be controversial, because it really depends on your circumstances, on your family history and events that took place in their life.
How to start the process of Polish citizenship confirmation
First, You need to assess your eligibility for Polish citizenship by descent. Depending how far within your ancestry you need to go, you need to prove that first of all, your ancestor was a Polish citizen and that Polish citizenship was not lost by him or her and any of his or her descendants all the way to you. If you are going back to your grandparents, or great-grandparents, it is important to establish if they left Poland after 1920, when they naturalized in a foreign country, if they held public positions before 1951 or in case of men, if they served in a foreign army.
My parent has a valid Polish passport
If you have a Polish parent, with a valid passport, your case should be rather straightforward. You still need to present your official birth record to confirm kinship, register it in Poland within the Civil Registry Office and lodge your citizenship application with the respective Voivodeship Office directly in Poland or via the Polish Consulate. Please note you need to fill in the application in Polish and prepare a list of official documents in the form of official duplicates or/and certified copies.
I am Polish citizen and I would like to get a Polish citizenship for my child
Polish citizenship is passed via the right of blood, so if your child was born when you were a Polish citizen, he or she is a Polish citizen as well. You will need to go through the process of Polish citizenship confirmation and register your child’s birth in Poland. If your child is a minor, both parents need to sign the forms to lodge the child’s application for Polish citizenship confirmation and birth registration in Poland. If you register your child’s birth certificate within 12 months from your child’s birth, in the next step you can apply for your child’s Polish passport.
What if I need to go a couple of generations down the ancestry line to confirm my Polish citizenship?
You can go as many generations down as you wish, but you need to prove that your ancestor after whom you wish to claim Polish citizenship left Poland after 1920 and produce officially issued Polish documents proving he or she was Polish. It is also required to prove that Polish citizenship was not lost due to any events that happened in his or her life such as military service in a foreign army before 1951, holding public position before 1951 or marriage with a foreign national before 1951 in case of a woman that in some cases caused loss of Polish citizenship.
What if I don’t have any documents confirming my Polish ancestry
If you have information about your ancestors’ date and place of birth, parents’ names, date and place of marriage, place they lived in Poland, this should be a good enough base to conduct research within archives in Poland. Lots of information is available online, but for the purpose of lodging a Polish citizenship application, you need to have officially issued documents, or certified copies of records confirming they were Polish. A Polish birth certificate is not enough to prove someone was Polish and you need to additionally support it with other documents proving citizenship or residency in Poland.
How to confirm if I am eligible for Polish citizenship by descent
In such cases, you can contact us. Our Polish Citizenship Experts. We assess and consult cases free of charge, advise on the best possible option and next steps. Based on the details and information you have, we will confirm if you are eligible for Polish citizenship by descent. In case you don’t have any Polish documents, we will be able to offer you research in Poland to obtain required records to support your claim. We have a team of qualified Polish citizenship experts that can support you with research towards Polish citizenship and assist with Polish citizenship confirmation and vital records registration in Poland.
Consult your case with us free of charge:
Based on your case, we will prepare a list of questions that will allow us to initially assess your situation, confirm your eligibility for Polish citizenship by descent, and advise on the best next steps for you. Each family history is different; therefore the case is different and requires an individual approach.
It is important to note that the process and requirements for the whole process can vary depending on individual circumstances and the specific laws and regulations that were in force.
Check if you qualify and contact us for a free assessment of the case. 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
