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 issued by the Voivodeship Office, in case you never lived in Poland, Masovian Voivodeship Office in Warsaw. 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 by the ‘right of blood’ from your Polish ancestor. 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you need to refer not only to the current Polish Citizenship Act but also to the number of legal regulations which are no longer in force but were applicable to your Polish ancestors depending on their date of birth.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 mother or father, your paternal or maternal grandfather or grandmother or their parents. 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 are not sure if the evidence you have is enough to support your Polish citizenship claim, please contact us for a free consultation. We will assess your situation and advice on the best next steps for you. We can manage the entire process for you and on your behalf from Poland.
