Polish citizenship | Polish passport

What should we do if we are descendants of Polish emigrants who settled in Australia and we want to obtain the Polish citizenship and get a Polish passport? First of all, we have to confirm our Polish citizenship. So, we have to find proofs of our Polish ancestry. We would need to check what documents are required to start the procedure (requirements) or ask a professional law office that specializes in a Polish citizenship confirmation procedure to help us with that matter. We must bear in mind that procedure carried out by the embassy involves some costs, and professional assistance can save our time and is not so much expensive. What is more – with professional help we can spend less time needed to complete the Polish citizenship confirmation procedure.

Polish citizenship – administrative courts

Many people ignore that our case could receive a negative decision and then a procedure in Polish administrative courts would be needed. It is not true if somebody tells us that there is no need for legal assistance in the Polish citizenship procedure – only certified legal advisor could represent us in courts (of course, we can do it ourselves before Polish court – but to proceed we really need to know the Polish law, language and procedural details). Sometimes, even in simple cases we can receive negative decisions, because we forget about some minor details. In such case, legal assistance would be really important.

If we finally get the confirmation of Polish citizenship, we can apply for a Polish passport. To start it, we have to prepare Polish versions of some required documents (vital records). Then, we can only wait for our Polish passport – which will open doors to the whole European Union and will give us many benefits.

Polish passports issued since June 29 2009 have been provided with fingerprint data as the second biometric feature after the facial image. The documents are personalized by the Document Personalization Center of the Ministry of Interior and Administration.

According to the Council Regulation (EC) No. 2252/2004, biometric passports issued in all Schengen countries on June 292009 and thereafter must contain fingerprints to supplement the facial image.

And there is one more issue: we have to be very careful if we start the Polish citizenship confirmation procedure. For example – some companies advertise, that they have “99% success rate” with dealing with such cases. It does not mean that they are good – it just means that they deal only with the easiest cases possible. Because the most challenging cases ends in administrative courts good lawyers can attempt to fight also in cases that are risky (of course, it is necessary to inform clients about their true chances) – but for many people Polish citizenship and Polish passport are worth it.

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