Granting Polish citizenship by the President of the Republic of Poland

WHO IS AFFECTED BY THE APPLICATION?

Applies to people who want to obtain Polish citizenship by granting it by the President of the Republic of Poland.

2. CONDITIONS THAT I HAVE TO FULFILL:

• The President of the Republic of Poland grants Polish citizenship or refuses to grant it in the form of a decision.

• The decisions of the President of the Republic of Poland in matters of citizenship are discretionary, do not require justification and are not subject to appeal.

• In matters of granting Polish citizenship, the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure shall not apply, with the exception of the provisions concerning the delivery of correspondence.

• You submit your application for Polish citizenship in person or by correspondence with an officially certified signature through the local voivode or Polish consul.

• If you are staying in Poland on the basis of a visa or in visa-free travel, you can submit an application only through the Polish consul competent for your place of permanent residence.

• The validity of your residence card, passport or travel document may not be less than 6 months at the time of submitting the application. You must have a valid passport or travel document and a valid residence card throughout the entire period of examining the application at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.

• The data contained in Polish marital status records, residence card and foreign passport should be uniform. Data appearing in Polish civil status records must be uniform.

• Documents drawn up in a foreign language are submitted together with their translation into Polish prepared or certified by a Polish sworn translator or a Polish consul. The list of sworn translators is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

• If you do not speak Polish at a communicative level, you are required to appear in order to submit the application together with a Polish sworn translator.

• An application for granting Polish citizenship only to a minor child must be signed by both parents. A child who has reached 16 years of age must consent to be granted Polish citizenship.

• The submitted documents will not be returned.

• If you have a Pole's Card, you are obliged to return it upon receipt of the document confirming the acquisition of Polish citizenship. The Pole's Card expires by operation of law on the day of issuing the document confirming the acquisition of Polish citizenship.
  

WHAT DOCUMENTS DO I HAVE TO SUBMIT?

 
You submit copies of civil status records issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish civil registry records as original, and other documents in the form of certified copies.

When applying for Polish citizenship, you submit:

• An application addressed to the President of the Republic of Poland, made legibly in Polish, on an officially specified form (1 item)

• Biometric photo,

• An abbreviated or full copy of your birth certificate issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish civil registry records, containing your first and last names, date and place of birth, father's name and mother's name and maiden name;

• An abbreviated or full copy of your marriage certificate - not older than 3 months - issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish registry books, provided that you are or were married. If the marriage is terminated as a result of divorce, you must enclose a copy of the marriage certificate mentioning the divorce; if the marriage ended as a result of the spouse's death, then you present a copy of the marriage certificate containing a reference to this fact;

• The page of your valid foreign passport with personal details, travel document or ID card confirming your identity and citizenship;

• Your valid residence card or certificate of registration of EU citizen residence

• A decision allowing your stay in Poland;

• A certified copy of your spouse's valid foreign passport page with personal details, travel document or ID card confirming the spouse's identity and citizenship;

• Written declaration of your spouse on the consent to provide a copy of the spouse's valid identity document for the purposes of the procedure for granting you Polish citizenship;

• Documents confirming your current sources of income, e.g. a current certificate of employment and earnings, employment contracts, mandate contracts, contracts for specific work, a certificate from the commune office on owning a farm with its size in conversion hectares, documents confirming running a business, etc. ;

• Documents confirming your professional achievements, e.g. academic and professional degrees and titles, creative works, journalism, awards, completed projects, etc .;

• Documents confirming your political and social activities;

• Documents of your parents and further ascendants, provided that they had / have Polish citizenship or are / were persons of Polish nationality;

• Documents proving that you had Polish citizenship in the past, lost it and the date of acquiring foreign citizenship;

• Additional documents that you want to attach to the application (e.g. letters of recommendation, opinions, etc.).

Note!
If you provide certain data and information in the application for granting Polish citizenship, you must also provide documents that confirm these data and information. There is only no obligation to document your address of residence, information about the knowledge of the Polish language and whether you applied for Polish citizenship in the past.

If you exercise parental authority over a minor child you want to cover with your application, you additionally attach:

• Child's biometric photo;

• An abridged or full copy of your child's birth certificate issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish civil registry records, containing the child's name and surname, date and place of birth, father's name and mother's name and maiden name;

• The page of the child's valid foreign passport with his personal data;

• A valid child's residence card, if the child lives permanently in Poland;

• A decision allowing the child to stay in Poland, provided that the child lives permanently in the Republic of Poland;

• Additional documents about the child that you want to attach to the application (e.g. opinions, school reports, diplomas, etc.);

• The other parent's declaration of consent to grant the child Polish citizenship. The declaration is accepted by:

- the voivode competent for the parent's place of residence, i.e. the voivode who issued the parent with a valid residence card or certificate of registration of EU citizen residence - if the parent lives in Poland,
- Polish consul - if the parent lives abroad permanently or stays in Poland on the basis of a visa or visa-free travel, or if the parent is subject to legalization proceedings

• A declaration of a child over 16 on consent to be granted Polish citizenship submitted in person

Recognition as a Polish citizen

Who is the application for?

Applies to people who want to acquire Polish citizenship by recognition by the Masovian Voivode and meet the conditions set out in art. 30 of the Polish Citizenship Act, e.g. they have a permanent residence permit in the territory of the Republic of Poland.

Conditions that I must meet:

• Pursuant to Art. 30 sec. 1 of the applicable Act of April 2, 2009 on Polish citizenship, a Polish citizen is considered:

1) a foreigner residing continuously in the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 3 years on the basis of a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's European Union residence permit or the right of permanent residence, who has a stable and regular source of income in the Republic of Poland and the legal title to occupy a dwelling ;
2) a foreigner residing continuously in the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 2 years on the basis of a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's European Union residence permit or the right of permanent residence, who:
a) has been married for at least 3 years to a Polish citizen or
b) does not have any nationality;
3) a foreigner residing continuously on the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 2 years on the basis of a permanent residence permit, which he obtained in connection with the refugee status granted in the Republic of Poland;
4) a minor foreigner residing on the territory of the Republic of Poland on the basis of a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's European Union residence permit or the right of permanent residence, one of the parents is a Polish citizen, and the other parent, who does not have Polish citizenship, consented to this recognition ;
5) a minor foreigner residing in the territory of the Republic of Poland on the basis of a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's European Union residence permit or the right of permanent residence, whose at least one parent has been restored Polish citizenship, and the other parent, who does not have Polish citizenship, has consented for that recognition;
6) a foreigner residing continuously and legally on the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 10 years, who jointly meets the following conditions:
a) has a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's European Union residence permit or the right of permanent residence,
b) has a stable and regular source of income in the Republic of Poland and the legal title to occupy a dwelling;
7) a foreigner residing continuously on the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least one year on the basis of a permanent residence permit, which he obtained in connection with his Polish origin or with the Pole's Card.

• The validity of your passport or travel document and residence card may not be less than 3 months at the time of application.

• The data contained in Polish marital status records, residence card and foreign passport should be uniform. Data appearing in Polish civil status records must be uniform.

• When completing the application for recognition as a Polish citizen, you use the personal data that appear in the copies of marital status records issued by the Polish Registry Office.

• Documents drawn up in a foreign language are submitted together with their translation into Polish prepared or certified by a Polish sworn translator or a Polish consul. The list of sworn translators is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

• Detailed information on Polish language exams is available on the website http://c certatpolski.pl/.

• In the course of the proceedings, the authority is entitled to request that you submit additional documents or information necessary for a thorough explanation of the facts.

• The submitted documents will not be returned.

• If you have a Pole's Card, you are obliged to return it upon receipt of the document confirming the acquisition of Polish citizenship. On the day of issuing the document confirming the acquisition of Polish citizenship, the Polish Card held expires by operation of law.
  

What documents do I need to submit?

You submit copies of civil status records issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish civil registry records as original, and other documents in the form of certified copies. Authentication of the copy is made by a Polish notary (i.e. a notary within the meaning of Polish regulations on notaries), a Polish consul outside the Republic of Poland

When applying for recognition as a Polish citizen, you submit:

• An application made in Polish on an officially specified form (1 pc.)

• Biometric photo, i.e. a color photo (1 pc.) With dimensions 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm, made in the last 6 months on a plain light background

• An abbreviated or full copy of your birth certificate issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish civil registry records, containing your first and last names, date and place of birth, father's name and mother's name and maiden name;

• An abbreviated or full copy of your marriage certificate - not older than 3 months - issued by the Polish Registry Office on the basis of Polish registry books, provided that you are or were married. If the marriage is terminated as a result of divorce, you must enclose a copy of the marriage certificate mentioning the divorce; if the marriage ended as a result of the spouse's death, then you present a copy of the marriage certificate containing a reference to this fact;

• All (ie with blank pages) your valid foreign passport or travel document;

• Your valid permanent residence card issued by the Lower Silesian Voivode

IMPORTANT! - if you have a residence card issued by another voivode, then before submitting the application for recognition as a Polish citizen, be sure to exchange it for a residence card issued by the Lower Silesian Voivode

• Decision allowing your permanent residence in Poland, settlement or long-term EU resident's stay;

• Your official certificate of knowledge of the Polish language, i.e. a school leaving certificate in Poland (e.g. primary school, junior high school, high school, technical school or a bachelor's or master's diploma with a supplement which proves that the language of instruction was Polish), school leaving certificate abroad, with the Polish language of instruction, or a certificate issued by the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language at the language proficiency level of at least B1. Any certificates and attestations issued by other institutions are not accepted;

• A statement on the dates of your departures from Poland and returns as well as on places of stay abroad in the periods specified in art. 30 (1) of the Act (model declaration in the attachment);

• A certified copy of your spouse's valid foreign passport page with personal details, travel document or ID card confirming the spouse's identity and citizenship;

• Your spouse's written declaration of consent to provide a copy of your spouse's valid identity document for the purposes of the procedure for recognizing you as a Polish citizen;

• Proof of payment of stamp duty for the decision on recognition as a Polish citizen (PLN 219);

• Documents confirming your stable and regular sources of income in Poland (e.g. a certificate of employment with the amount of remuneration together with your employment contract and PIT settlement for the previous year; in the case of contracts concluded in a short period of time - RMUA report with contracts and PIT settlement for last year; certificate from the commune office on the ownership of a farm with its size in conversion hectares; in the case of running a business, accounting documents showing that the business activity brings income, including PIT settlement for the previous year, etc.);

• A document confirming that you have a legal title to occupy a flat, i.e. a flat rental agreement, an ownership deed or a lending agreement (in the case of a flat lending agreement, you also enclose a notarial deed regarding the rented flat; the lending agreement is concluded between the ascendants, descendants, siblings);

• The decision to issue you with the Pole's Card, if you are / were the holder of this document.

4. What fees do I have to pay?

• PLN 219 for a decision on recognition as a Polish citizen;

• PLN 17 for a power of attorney, if you act through an attorney and your spouse, ascendant, descendant or siblings are not your attorney.

• Interested? Contact at 508 082 176 The kinship should be confirmed by the documents attached to the application.