A while back Jennifer asked a question in the comments section. She wanted to know how to get an ID card in Poland. If I understood her situation correctly, Jennifer\u2019s parents are Polish, she was born in the US and has already completed the process of getting her Polish citizenship confirmed and recognized. And she wanted to know what she should next. Jennifer is Polish, simply because her parents are Polish. She could have been born anywhere, the place doesn’t matter as long as one of your parents is a Polish citizen and has never attempted to give up his\/her citizenship.<\/p>\n
Now, before I answer, I must warn you. These types of rules and regulations change frequently, so before doing anything, ALWAYS consult with the appropriate government authorities. In other words \u2013 call the nearest Polish consulate and ask.<\/p>\n
The whole process is very familiar to me, because I went through it just last year. And as in Jennifer\u2019s case, it always begins with confirming that you are really Polish. If one or both of your parents are\/were Polish, even if you were born abroad, you have the right to be a Polish citizen.<\/p>\n
I am assuming that right now Jennifer has a lovely official document with the following header: \u201cPotwierdzenie Obywatelstwa Polskiego<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (or something similar, because they do vary depending on which office prepared them) issued by Mazowiecki Urz\u0105d Wojew\u00f3dzki<\/a><\/strong> in Warsaw. If you were born in Poland, the document will be issued by the regional\/provincial governor (wojewoda<\/a><\/strong>) of the province where your last registered domicile used to be located. If you were born abroad, you get your paper directly from Warsaw (via the consulate). You can’t proceed without completing this step, so let\u2019s call it step zero, because everything else depends on it.<\/p>\n Now, two things may or may not have happened.<\/p>\n Edited to add:<\/strong><\/span> If the consulate did not tell you anything about a PESEL number, call them and ask to fill out a PESEL application ASAP. If you were born in Poland after 1975, you should have been assigned a PESEL number automatically, and it sits somewhere on file in Poland. In that case, the consulate should be able to help you find out what your PESEL number is.<\/p>\n After that, it\u2019s all easy-peasy.<\/p>\n With the PESEL<\/strong> number and the paper about your citizenship, the consulate can issue you paszport tymczasowy<\/a><\/strong> (temporary passport) while you wait for a normal Polish passport. That is important, because as a Polish citizen you are required to enter and leave Poland using a Polish passport.<\/p>\n If you want dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/a><\/strong> (Polish ID card), you will unfortunately need to come to Poland to apply for it here in person.<\/p>\n To get dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong>, you will need a copy of your Polish akt urodzenia<\/strong> (birth certificate), two photos and your paszport tymczasowy<\/strong> (temporary Polish passport). Registered domicile (meldunek, zameldowanie<\/a><\/strong>) in Poland is not required. They will simply write \u201cbrak<\/strong>\u201d (none) in the field asking for your permanent Polish address. If you don’t have that permanent Polish address, you can apply for dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong> at any Urz\u0105d Miejski<\/a><\/strong> (City Hall), but it\u2019s most convenient to do it in the same city that keeps your Polish akt urodzenia<\/strong> (Polish birth certificate) on file, because otherwise they will be sending stuff around to verify that you are really you.<\/p>\n Getting dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong> takes about 30 days. And voila, you have a Polish ID card!<\/p>\n There is no such thing as an \u201cEU ID card\u201d. Some EU countries, like the UK, don\u2019t even have mandatory ID cards. This is something that each country decides on its own.<\/p>\n Right now, Polish dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong> allows you to travel passport-free within the Schengen zone in Europe. In theory, at least – I was denied boarding once when traveling from Sweden to Spain with my dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong>. The woman at the check-in desk thought that since Swedes need passports to travel within the Schengen zone (government issued ID cards are not mandatory in Sweden), the same must apply to other EU nationalities as well.<\/p>\n While outside the Schengen Zone, your passport is your normal form of ID. While in Poland, your dow\u00f3d osobisty<\/strong> is your normal form of ID. Some businesses (especially those that are still stuck in the past) may even give you an evil eye if you hand them a passport when they ask for \u201cdow\u00f3d<\/strong>.\u201d It happened to me at my old bank a couple of times. And that\u2019s why I have a new bank now.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know, or don\u2019t really remember, how much each step in this process costs. For steps from 0 to 2, different consulates charge different fees, especially if foreign document translations into Polish are involved. Some people who were born abroad, and who don\u2019t speak Polish, choose to hire a lawyer to help them with the paperwork. I hired a Polish lawyer simply because it was more convenient that way. It was also faster. Some consulates end up sitting on completed paperwork for months on end (as it happened in my case).<\/p>\n Jennifer, if you want to know more, feel free to ask any and all questions you might have regarding this issue. I hope that this step-by-step outline can help not only you, but also others who are in the same situation.<\/p>\n Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A while back Jennifer asked a question in the comments section. She wanted to know how to get an ID card in Poland. If I understood her situation correctly, Jennifer\u2019s parents are Polish, she was born in the US and has already completed the process of getting her Polish citizenship confirmed and recognized. And she…<\/p>\n\n
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