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 notion of Polish citizenship has no statutory definition. In doctrine it is defined as a certain kind of legal bond between a natural person and a state, which consists in the person’s belonging to that state. It is expressed by the state providing rights for citizens and presenting them with obligations, which exist to indicate the ways of acquiring and retaining citizenship and the related rights or lack thereof.
“Every person in the modern world is a member of two basic communities: the family and the whole society organized into a state. From this belonging derive certain human characteristics, which determine his position in each of these communities and allow to distinguish him from other people” (J.Ignatowicz).
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.
In Poland, citizenship is a legal institution regulated by administrative law, and the latter, from the most general perspective, belongs to the public law branch, unlike, for instance, civil or commercial law, which constitute private law.
If you have Polish ancestry and you wonder if you are eligible to get your Polish citizenship by descent, there is an easy way to do it. You first need to establish if you are eligible to confirm your Polish citizenship by descent and prove that Polish citizenship was held by one of your ancestors, and then to establish it was not lost by any of your family members related by blood all the way to you.
You could say that the difference between citizenship and nationality is an invention of philosophers. In 1941 it caused an extremely important political dispute, impacting the fate of many Poles, who after the outbreak of the Second World War were sent to prisoner-of-war camps in the east.
Citizenship is a legal institution, which means that it is shaped by law. The legal norms that define citizenship are most often referred to as citizenship laws. Laws on citizenship are understood as legal regulations devoted to the issues of having, acquiring and losing citizenship, as well as the procedures and bodies responsible for resolving issues related to Polish citizenship.
During World War II, several hundred thousand Poles were deported into far away Russian territory. Russia occupied the eastern part of Poland and imprisoned many people. After the Sikorski-Majski Agreement was signed in July 1941, many Polish citizens were released from the camps in Siberia. Poles began their journey towards the places where the Polish Army was formed under the command of General Wladyslaw Anders as they could count on Polish soldiers help.
Official foreign documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, citizenship certificates, or military service certificates among others, have a special evidentiary power in proceedings concerning the Polish citizenship confirmation.
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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
