Google 'polaron polish passports'. They're an Australian based company that do polish passports, translations, etc. At first I felt more inclined to go with them because they would be easier to deal with seeing as though they're in the same state of Australia that I'm in. They also seem to have an international customer base and good testimonials.

After coming across this forum I'm thinking that getting a polish lawyer would be cheaper and just as easy though.

 

This is the Polaron website for anybody who might be interested. They seem quite legitimate and are Australian based which some Australians on here might be more comfortable using. They have a fair bit of info and answers for questions on their site as well.

http://www.polaron.com.au/how-it-works

 

There is not going to be much that is "cheap" about this process.

I used the services of Mr. Lukasz Piotrowski (as have a lot of people apparently). My case was relatively easy (had documents from Polish military, no naturalization after leaving Poland, parent born after 1951, etc). I had to pay for his services regardless of outcome (required half payment prior to beginning the case). No one is going to work for free. There are documents that need to be found, applications to be processed, documents to be translated, and possible appeals of decisions. One also needs sufficient knowledge of Polish law and Polish bureaucracy (if you are confirmed as Polish, you may get a small taste of this when you apply for your passport.) This is not something that comes without some work. And then there is everything that you have to do on your own. You will need to find documents, get them certified/authenticated, and such.

Having the services of an attorney will make things much easier. they will know what they need. You may not if you go alone. When I was applying for my passport, there was a gentleman who was trying to get something accomplished in Poland through the consulate. He was somewhat upset because the documents that he had paid for (authentication of copies maybe) were unusable. That is the type of situation that you want to avoid. This process is expensive and time consuming enough without wasting money and time on things that provide you no benefit.

 

Ive done my research and i have a large amount of documentation. Pretty much everything except for their birth certificates which is something that i'll leave up to whichever agency/lawyer i end up using.

Im well aware of whats needed and required and that its pricey. Theres a difference between what people on here have paid for Poland based lawyers and what POLARON is charging though.

Polaron charge 700 for an elligibility test and then a further estimated $3300-3700 Australian dollars which doesnt include fees for notarizations and stuff. Thats a lot of money.

 

Hey there,

I saw your post, and I couldn't stand intervene in order to tell you about my (success) story with Polish Citizenship.

I live in Israel, and I got to know about a law office called -
CK PARTNERS & LAW OFFICE (http://www.cklawoffice.eu), which is based on Warsaw.
There are two lovely gentlemen over there, Mr. Wisiniewski & Mr. Cybula, who dealt with my case.

The correspondence with them was quick and sufficient, mainly by e-mail messages, which were held on a weekly basis, with high-frequency answering method.
They guided me respectfully and patiently all through the process, and made the neccesarry solutions for all the relevant issues. Never left someting unsolved, always made efforts to do their best so a positive decision will be achieved.

Eventhough we had several difficulties, these guys knew how to challenge that wisely and overcame them. We eventually received thanks to them a positive decision from Polish authorities, which means full resotration of our Polish heritage.
These guys even came especially to Israel all the way from Poland so we can personally thank them for their excellent and lovely job.
No words can describe these law firm, and the good manners they had while treating their clients. It really was a pleasure.

I highly reccomend you, and each one of you here in the forum, to use CK's services.

 

I don't have the success stories of the others, but I can say that both law firms mentioned offered me a detailed free assessment. Not sure why you would want to pay when the recommendations have been so strong. However, they both thought my case was not good - now that seems to have changed. Though Michal Wiesniewski from CK piqued my interest with another email recently to say all was NOT lost, he hasn't got back to me to say why, so now I'm back on the mad hunt and have found this new law about reinstatement of citizenship.
Can anyone else offer an opinion: My grandmother left Poland (now Belorus) in 1930 for South Africa and married my grandfather (Lithuanian) in 1934. According to the lousy sexist 1920 law, she would've lost her Polish citizenship by marrying my grandfather. I can find absolutely no sign that they became naturalised South Africans. My grandmother's South African ID document is dated 1976. I don't want to go through the pain and expense but my query to the Polish Embassy in South African met with a response saying: go ahead and submit a request for reinstatement of citizenship. Not sure if that's positive or whether they just don't care how much money I spend.

 

Today I finally picked up my Polish passport from the Consulate. This journey is finally finished (Well, almost. Now for the kids). Links to my story are below. Once again, I want to thank everyone here for all their assistance. I will continue to give back to this forum, a great resource of useful information.

All the best,

Don

 

Congratulations! Great news.

 

Congratulations! It sounds like quite a victory.

Thanks so much to everyone on this thread for sharing information & experiences. In such complicated matters, it is so helpful to hear from other people who have been through the process. Good luck to everyone else seeking citizenship.

 

texkourgan -
Thanks for your appreciation

BTW, are you staying in Germany thanks to a Polish passport?

 

Sadly, I am not in possession of a European passport and have no rights to one at this point. My family is just too all American

I have a freelance work visa that recently got extended to 2 years. I am hoping my next meeting will result in a coveted 5 year visa. In the meantime, it's to the Ausländerbehörde every so often for me.

 

Hi All

In regards to the form to request a birth certificate, how is it supposed to be filled in? Also, the confirmation of citizenship form? There are 3 birth certificates I want to be able to obtain But am not sure how the forms are supposed to be filled in. I had to kind of drop things since my mother died. But now I want to get back into the swing of things and get going again.
Two of the 3 certificates, chances are I may have to go through the archives in Warsaw to obtain them. If I do, what is the proper format to provide the information I know in order for them to find the certificates? Especially either on the forms or as extra information. Thanks. I would like to get what information I can before I resort to using a 'stand in' in regards to a lawyer. This way, I can try to cut down the cost.

 

I just printed off the forms provided on the Polish consulate of Australia website. I filled them in as best i could, sent them in and got my grandfathers birth cert from 1918 two weeks later.

Not bad considering everything was thought to be lost in the war! I wouldnt worry about going to the archives. My sister took a day off during her Euro trip to do that for me and ended up finding nothing. Just leave it up to the embassy.

 

This forum is a great source of information. I had been wanting to obtain polish citizenship for a long time and carefully followed advice given here. Finally I was able to obtain the passport!
My history is probably not that unusual. I have a polish grandfather who emigrated from Poland to the US during WWII. In the 60s he decided America wasn't the place to live so he moved to Israel. Stayed here ever since, got married, had children. 
A friend of mine whose both parents are polish informed me I could be eligible for polish citizenship and recommended me to contact Mark Lisman of Lisman & Partners (http://lismanpartners.com). After some research on easyexpat I contacted Mark and soon after we began research for necessary documents. Next, the paperwork, which was fully taken care of by the company's team. 
Fast forward couple months - I have a polish passport in my hand. I have to admit - Mark's help was invaluable. His professionalism and knowledge truly made the whole process pleasurable and easy. 

 

Well, I finally took a chance and sent in a form for confirmation of citizenship based on my mother. The guy was saying that with my grandfather family background being German and with him apparently having worked for the German Post Office during the war that makes things a bit complicated in regards for my case. But he was saying that with the documents that I was able to provide, he thinks there is hope. He will let me know within the week what my chances are and what other paperwork may be needed.

 

Dear all,

I would like to thank all the contributors for finding such a goldmine of information.

I believe I may have a case for Polish citizenship through my paternal grandparents, and would appreciate the forum's opinions.

My grandfather was born in 1912 in Poland to a Polish Jewish family, my grandmother also in the same town in 1919. They lived in Poland up until WWII, when they were caught up in the Holocaust. Subsequently (they met after the war and married in 1946) they were displaced to Germany from 1945-47, and then moved to USA in 1947. My grandfather had my father in 1953, and naturalized in 1958. He didn't serve in the US army. I was then born in the 1980s.

Thus, according to these facts, I am a Polish citizen, correct? There are a few problems, though. The first is that there are no documents in the family to prove anything, due to the Holocaust. The second problem is my grandfather lied on all subsequent documents after the Holocaust, and claimed he was of German nationality and born in Germany. (I believe he did this to get higher reparations from the German govt.). Thus, the jewish displaced persons ID card, passenger manifest, and naturalization documents of my grandparents all state that they are German, born in Germany. Of course, he has told his family that he was actually born in Poland (we know which town).

I know I will have to pay an agency to perform research for me to prove Polishness (i.e. birth certificate and other documents that prove residence), but was wondering as to your thoughts. Will it be necessary to prove that he was NOT a German citizen, also? Could he have naturalized as a German in as short a time as 2 years?

Also, will dates discrepancies matter? My grandfather's date of birth was actually 1912, but in all immigration related documents it was listed as 1909. I suspect he did this rather unscrupulously in order to get social security 3 years earlier than he should have. Thoughts appreciated

 

Hey guys, I'm really confused and wondering if someone can help me out.

My mom is Polish, dad is Canadian. She immigrated in 1986 and I was born in Canada. I qualify for citizenship through my mom, I understand that I have to complete the confirmation of citizenship procedure.

However, Canada is not part of the Hague Convention, so verifying documents is a bit of a different process. Can someone explain to me which documents (also how many of each) I need to get verified and what the process is? I keep hearing something different and it's really frustrating.

I planning on going to Poland directly to get the citizenship done, but before I go I want to make sure I have everything needed.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Hello,

I'm writing this on behalf of my better half so with that being said if you use phrases like "learn to use search" or "this has already been asked" i won't be offended but if you choose to answer my question i will politely, and directly thank you. That i promise you.

Now, on to the reason for my posting. My girlfriend would like to renew her passport (which has long since expired) and since I recently gained my own EU citizenship (i'm a croat if thats not immediately obvious) i'm very keen on helping her out. The plain facts are as follows:

-She has her old paszport (the one that says polska rzeczpospolita ludowa) and i can't seem to find an expiry date on it.
- She came in 1991 so she definitely lived there for quite some time
- She was born in Gdansk (i mention this in case there's any voivodeship suggestions that relate to passport renewal for gdansk)
- She has her odpis skrócony aktu urodzenia (the original)
- She knows her PESEL (i think this is super important so authorities can validate who she is?)

In my mind, since her paszport is old, she'd likely need a certified copy of her current passport, and a translated copy of her current passport to prove her identity. But, i feel like i'm missing something here, does anyone think she'll need to do the confirmation of citizenship proceedings or can she pass go and collect $200 (monopoly reference).

Thanks in advance for your advice. Moderators thank you as well in advance for reviewing my post and please do let me know if this is not the correct section of the forum, or if i'd have better luck in a different section of the forum.

-M

 

It has been quiet here for awhile. Since the information of old cases was valuable to me in this process I figured I should add some information of my own case.

I started the confirmation process in mid March and submitted via a lawyer (Law Office Krzysztof Banek) in Poland. First response back from Warsaw was mid May via letter to the lawyer - with a request for more information on great grandparents history (I am applying with docs from my Grandmother). It was two months from submittal to a first response - not bad and at least i know the case is being looked at by the case worker. It seems a lot quicker these days then some of the estimates from a couple of years ago when folks did not hear back for many months (or year).

Will respond back with the information and will update here when hear more.

 

It sounds like you should technically be able to have a claim but the burden is on you to prove it... and I would expect due to the lying and false documents it is going to be an ordeal trying. Dates do matter and need to be explained. Old claims of citizenship will need to be fixed on the documents OR likely real Polish documents will need to be shown to dispute the false information. I would start slow and be in no rush - see if a search in Poland can find his birth certificate as a start - do you know what town he was born in? Get a search record of no military service as well. Are you able to start a citizenship record search in Germany to get a record of no citizenship from them. Get that marriage certificate from your grandparents marriage and see what it says in regards to their citizenship.

You likely will need a lawyer who knows the system and can lobby for you with the Polish government. I would start talking with one now and see what they say - I bet communication in Polish and German will be needed... another option may be to show the family was in Poland when the Second Polish Republic was formed?

Another option would be to use your grandmothers bloodline if she was Polish. She'll have been able to pass on her citizenship to you if your dad was born after 1951. That may be easier...