Time to learn Polish!
I got a letter from the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Vancouver, regarding retaining Polish citizenship. So - I need to do a lot of document hunting, according to what I have from the Polish Consulate-General. And that’s not even the beginning of it - I need to have them translated into Polish. So, basically, it’s going to be one big pain in the ass. I need the following to get my Polish citizenship:
- a letter (request for confirmation of Polish Citizenship),
- a carefully completed application form (it’s the second page of the packet of information that the Consulate sent me - and in Polish),
- a history of the family line since leaving Poland (one’s Polish roots) or one’s own, in the event of sole immigration,
- a signed resume,
- 2 photographs (passport-style), signed on the back,
- one’s personal documents or parental documents issued by the Polish authorities (passport, ID card, certificate of birth, school records), in their original form, so as to be approved by the Consulate,
- a document, or a certificate of foreign citizenship (date should be included), or a document stating that another citizenship was not acquired
- birth certificate (long form)
- a declaration (signed and dated) in which the individual concerned shall answer the following questions:
- have you ever acquired foreign citizenship (if so please specify the date and citizenship)
- have you ever approached Polish authorities with a request released from Polish citizenship - (if so please specify when, where and with what result)
And of course, all these documents need to be completed in Polish, translated into Polish, prepared in Polish and they also have to be presented in their original format. This means that I am going to have to find a lot of documents, request them, learn Polish, make a translated version and do a lot of grunt work to get them into perfect connection of my Polish roots. I already know that the roots exist and who in my family was Polish, I just need to find a way to prove it. Any ideas anyone?
Tags: General
March 19th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
i would get someone who knows polish to help you write them…..also i think theres a sites were you can pay fees and they will translate stuff for you
hope it helps…..although it proberbly wont >_> im full of useless information >_>
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April 2nd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I know this process in Canada. It is actually not that bad. Much depends on your family line. Are you claiming based on your parents (one or both being Polish) or grandparents?
PS What many often forget about is the “long form” birth certificate. This is NOT the birth certificate that you carry around with you, issued by the Province. This is the birth certficate that is before that. Ie the document signed by the parents and the overseeing health professional. When applying for Polish citizenship (where parents are Polish), this document is key as it proves the connection to you by both parents, unlike the standard Province issue birth certificate. I only mention this as many people think that their normal birth certificate is enough and, after getting a pile of docs prepared and translated, they find out they have to go back and request this from the Province. Good to get this out of the way first.
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
PS
becca above mentioned that there are some sites that will do translation for a fee. While this is true, when dealing with Polish authorities, only certain translations are ever acceptable. Even if you go to a professional translator in Canada, it is not enough. The Polish government will only accept translations by translators holding certain licenses that give them the authority to translate “official” documents. Many get documents translated by pros only to find that they have to have the Polish consulate or embassy check the document for accuracy (essentially) “re-translate” and they end up double. When dealing with matters such as this, I would suggest having documents translated at your nearest Polish consulate/embassy. They do offer these services. You pay about the same as with a pro but you have the guaranteed advantage that the translation will be done properly and more importantly, accepted by Polish authorities.
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
“and they end up double”
I meant you end up paying double.
Btw, the type of translation that you need, in Polish is “tłumaczenie przysięgłe”
June 24th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Regarding Polish citizenship, I am now in the waiting process after all the paperwork is done. One thing that helped alot was creating a family tree. Althought it was not required, Everyone in the Polish office agreed it was valuable. I created it in excel and put all dates of signficant events.
Regarding and offcial translator in Poland the rate is about 35 pln. I think that is about 10 CAD per page. This is the rate they are told by the government to charge. The key thing is it has to have an offical stamp on it from the translator. Normal things like the story of your life or CV need not be offical but your birth certificate etc of course needs to be offical.
Polish paper work is not that hard, its normal, Think about if you wanted to apply for Canadian or USA citizen. It would take forever and would have to be in English.
ps I put a link to my polish grammar site if you think its time to learn Polish.
Its free. http://www.polishgrammar.com