Polish citizenship

Polish citizenship and general conditions

At first, we will explain Poland in this article. Poland is a European country with an area of about 313,000 square kilometers in Eastern Europe. It leads from the north to the Baltic Sea, from the south to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and from the west to Germany. The Poland population is currently about 38 million. Most Polish people are native (94%), which means that only 6% of the Polish population is immigrant minorities and foreign nationals. Its official language is Polish, and its capital is Warsaw.
Presidential elections are held in this country once every five years. The presidency and the cabinet have the ruling power, and the constitution is Poland’s supreme law. This country does not accept dual citizenship.

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Topics reviewed in this article:

• Polish citizenship and its validity
• Methods of obtaining Polish citizenship
• Polish citizenship by work
• Polish citizenship by study
• Polish citizenship by investment
• Polish citizenship by birth
• Polish citizenship by marriage
• Polish citizenship by asylum

Polish citizenship and its validity

We will discuss the Polish passport and its validity in this part of the article. Any country’s passport validity determines the extent to which its citizens can travel to other countries without a visa. The Poland passport index is the seventh, which is among countries such as Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Malaysia. The Polish passport score is 161, which means that you can travel to 161 countries without a visa. Also, Poland citizens can travel or even live freely and without any restrictions in all European and Schengen countries, and enjoy citizenship privileges throughout the European Union. However, the point is that Poland is not well-known and popular like Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, etc. You must also know that this government does not accept dual.

Methods of obtaining Polish citizenship

There are several ways to apply for Polish citizenship, but each has its conditions. The critical fact is that you cannot obtain residency and citizenship in this country by the study. Therefore, people can receive residency and eventually citizenship of this country if they can find work after graduation and enter its job market. You can obtain Polish citizenship by work and marriage. People may think that other methods, such as investing and registering a company, the birth of a child, or asylum, can lead to Polish citizenship and residency. We will discuss each of them in the following.

Polish citizenship by work

People can sometimes obtain Polish citizenship by work. EU citizens, other than Ireland and Sweden, need a work permit to work in Poland. They must register with the Polish Labor Office and obtain a work permit. Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian citizens can work in Poland without a permit but must have a Polish work visa. If an employer wants to hire someone from outside the EU, they must have written permission from Voivoda. When Polish employers intend to offer work permits and job offers under Polish law, they always prefer European citizens to non-Europeans. However, they can offer a job to a non-European person too. In this case, people must obtain a Polish work visa, after which these people will receive a one-year work residence. They can extend this residence, and after three years, the applicants can obtain permanent residence, and the applicants can get Polish citizenship after five to six years.

Polish citizenship by study

Studying in Poland alone will not lead to Polish residency and citizenship. However, if people find a job related to their field of study after graduation, they can first convert their student residence into work residence, then permanent residence, and after that receive Polish citizenship. As mentioned, you can apply for permanent residence if you work for about three years, and after five to six years, you can apply for Polish citizenship.

Polish citizenship by investment

You can obtain Polish residency and citizenship by various investment methods like buying a property, buying commercial and non-residential properties, such as shops, restaurants, and so on in the form of an economic justification plan (business plan), purchasing bonds, or registering a company. We will explain the most common investment type (company registration) by which you can obtain Polish residency and citizenship.

The applicants can register a branch of a non-Polish company and start a business in Poland, which requires the establishment of an authorized representative in Poland. People at this stage do not need new management or investment and will only have the office rent and accounting costs. Establishing a representative office is very simple, and people only need to register in the representative foreign companies’ offices, which are supported by the Polish Minister of Economy.

Business activities in Poland are carried out as follows.

• Limited liability company
• Public joint-stock company
• Private joint-stock company

The applicant has to invest at least 5,000 zlotys (equivalent to approximately 1,400 euros) in a limited liability company, 100,000 zlotys (equivalent to approximately 27,000 euros) in a public joint-stock company, and 50,000 zlotys (equivalent to about 14,000 euros) in a private joint-stock company in a specific business plan.

Business activities in any of the above categories can be carried out according to the law. Only in some cases, the rules approve a particular type of this category. For example, insurance companies, banks, and pension fund companies can operate through joint-stock companies.

A foreigner who wants to invest in Poland in one of the above categories does not need to be physically present in this country. One can register a company online and choose a person who is, for example, that company’s manager, to do its legal work in Poland. If the elected manager is a foreigner, one must meet the residence conditions in Poland and apply for a work permit. In immigration by investment in Poland, foreigners will initially receive a one-year residency, and two months before the end, individuals can apply for a residency extension. After three expansions, individuals will obtain permanent residence in Poland, and after two years of permanent residency, which is after five years, applicants can also apply for Polish citizenship.

Polish citizenship by birth

One of the ways to obtain Polish citizenship is by birth, which also has special conditions. The soil system means that if a child is born in any country’s territory, that child will receive that country’s citizenship and passport even if one has parents who are another country’s citizens. Countries like the United States, Brazil, and Canada are subject to the territorial system. More than 90% of the countries follow the blood system, in which the child born in another country can only acquire its parents’ citizenship. Poland is also subject to the blood system, and a child’s birth in the Poland territory cannot grant Polish citizenship. Therefore, a child born in Poland is granted Polish citizenship if one of its parents is a Polish citizen.

Some people are granted polish citizenship under Polish law:

• As mentioned above, children born to parents, at least one of whom is a Polish citizen, are granted Polish citizenship. In this case, it does not matter if the child was born inside or outside Poland.
• Non-Polish children born in Poland from unknown or stateless citizens are granted Polish citizenship.
• Foreign children who are below 16 and adopted by a Polish parent are also granted Polish citizenship.
• According to the Poland Constitution of the Republic Article 18, the Polish President has the right to grant Polish citizenship to a foreigner at one’s request.

Polish citizenship by marriage

Foreigners must meet certain conditions to obtain Polish citizenship by marriage. The applicants must provide certain documents and evidence for one’s marriage to a Polish person to the Polish embassy and prove that the other party is a Polish citizen and has a suitable income that can support the non-Polish person’s living expenses. After the visa officer proves this, the applicant receives a two-year residence permit, allows one to stay in Poland for two years. After about three years of marriage, and if they have the mentioned conditions, such as having enough financial assets to cover their living expenses, they can apply for Polish citizenship.

Polish citizenship by asylum

In this part of the article, we discuss obtaining Polish citizenship by asylum. Those who intend to immigrate by asylum should note that this country is currently strongly opposed to the asylum seekers’ entry and do not attract refugees from other countries. However, the asylum seekers have up to eight days after entering this country to fill out their application form and submit it to the relevant authorities to receive a two-month residence permit. Then they can submit their case to the court for consideration and receive Polish residency and obtain Polish citizenship if the Polish government agrees with their status after five years of living in this country. On the other hand, one of the disadvantages of asylum in Poland and the main reasons for the government’s opposition to the entry of refugees is that in recent years a tremendous flood of refugees from other countries, including Syria and Turkey, have migrated to this country. Therefore, the Muslim refugee population has risen, which is in sharp conflict with the Polish policies.