Polish citizenship by descent, also known as ‘citizenship by jus sanguinis’, is a process through which a person can obtain Polish citizenship based on their Polish ancestry and lineage.
If you have Polish ancestry, there is a chance you are eligible to obtain Polish citizenship by descent and get a Polish passport. If you wonder if you should do that, below you can find additional information that should convince you!
In the United Kingdom there is a big population of British Poles, British citizens of Polish descent. Many of their ancestors settled down in UK after World War II. There were Polish soldiers, servicemen and women, who thought alongside allied forces, Polish military personnel, Polish survivors of German concentration and POW camps.
Polish citizenship law opens a door for those with Polish ancestry, to get Polish citizenship and Polish passport. However, one needs to prove he is of Polish descent, confirm kinship towards his or her Polish ancestor and prove that Polish citizenship was not lost by any of his family members.
Polish citizenship and along with-it Polish passport open access to Europe and its job market. As a Polish citizen, you not only get a chance to reside wherever you want in Europe, but also travel freely with no visa restrictions. What is more important, you can apply for a job without being worried about any job visa or work permit.
If you know that at least one of your ancestors was born in Poland or its former territories, and resided there after 1920, likely she or he was a Polish citizen and so you are. We just need to prove and confirm that citizenship was not lost by any of your ancestors linking you to the last one who left Poland and that it was passed to you.
Polish citizenship considered as a legal institution has never been defined directly in Polish legislation. Nevertheless, representatives of legal science remain unanimous that citizenship means a legal bond connecting an individual with the state, which is referred to as the legal status or legal situation of the individual.
The Polish passport is an official document authorizing the crossing of borders and residence abroad and certifying Polish citizenship, as well as the identity of the person indicated in it in terms of the data the document contains.
Restoration of Polish citizenship is essentially a new legal institution that appeared in the Polish legal order only with the newest, currently binding act on Polish citizenship of 2 April 2009, which came into force on 15 August 2012. Therefore, we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of that form of acquiring Polish citizenship!
The acquisition of Polish citizenship by confirmation may be adversely affected by several factors, such as the impossibility of proving the Polish citizenship of an ancestor, non-fulfillment of the conditions for the acquisition of Polish citizenship by any of the persons in the line of inheritance of citizenship or loss of citizenship by any of those persons.
Grant of Polish citizenship, commonly called naturalization, is one of the ways of acquiring Polish citizenship by a foreigner. According to Article 18 of the current Act on Polish Citizenship, the President of the Republic of Poland may grant Polish citizenship to any foreigner upon an individual’s request.
Recognition as a Polish citizen is a completely different institution from naturalization and constitutes a separate way of obtaining Polish citizenship.
In a dictionary of the Polish language, the word ‘citizenship’ is translated as a state affiliation connected with certain rights and duties defined by the law of a given state, whereas the word ‘citizen’ is specified as a member of the society of that state having certain rights and duties defined by law. This encyclopedic definition of citizenship approximates the meaning of the term in the colloquial sense.
According to a Polish Constitution nowadays the only way to lose Polish citizenship is to officially renounce it. The state and the state authorities do not have the right to deprive anyone of Polish citizenship, although in the past the situation was different and there was such a possibility.
Why is it worth confirming your Polish citizenship? What are the privileges of becoming a Polish citizen? How can you benefit from becoming a Polish citizen? Here we have a list of the most interesting facts about Polish citizenship.
The question about how long it takes to acquire Polish citizenship by descent is asked pretty often by our clients. Obviously, everyone would like to plan ahead and get a straightforward answer. In some other cases our clients have things already planned in Europe, such as they are starting a job or university, or they need to sort out some legal things in Poland.
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We have vast experience, education and most of all knowledge about Polish citizenship law and regulations so we can assure you, you will be in good and professional hands.
Barbara Cebula
Polish Citizenship Specialist
