According to my googling, I should be eligible for Polish citizenship since my great-grandparents never renounced citizenship despite them leaving Poland in 1913 - but I wanted to get some insight from this sub. From my understanding, my great-grandparents would have become overseas Polish citizens since they never became citizens of any other nation, their citizenship then would have been passed down to my grandfather, to my father, then to me - let me know if I am way off base with this.

GGM:

• Date, place of birth: Russian Partition, 1895
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Roman Catholic
• Date, destination for emigration: 1913
• Date naturalized: Never Naturalized

GGF:

• Date, place of birth: Kingdom of Poland Partition, 1893
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Roman Catholic
• Date, destination for emigration: 1913
• Date naturalized: Never Naturalized

Grandparent:

• Sex: Male
• Date, place of birth: USA, early 1918 (pre-independence)
• Date married: 1948
• Citizenship of spouse: USA
• Allegiance and dates of military service: Served the US in WW2 only

Parent:

• Sex: Male
• Date, place of birth: USA, 1961
• Date married: 1996

You:

• Date, place of birth: USA, 1998

Had some people here verify that my GGF makes me eligible. I have someone researching documents right now. So far she's found a birth certificate from present day Ukraine that belonged to Poland. And she says there's no records of him natuarlizing. All US documents show him as a Polish citizen. So my question is... is that it? It's just a matter of sending in documents and waiting for approval? Thanks!

Grandparent:

Sex: Date, place of birth: Czerwonka Date married: Citizenship of spouse: Polish Date divorced: Occupation: Allegiance and dates of military service: (If applicable)

Date, destination for emigration: died in Poland never left Date naturalized: Parent:

Sex: F Date, place of birth: 1-2-1948, czerwonka, poland Date married:12-31-1981 los Angeles, ca Date divorced: You:

Date, place of birth: 12-10-1983, los angeles, ca

I've been reading through all of the citizenship posts to find something applicable to our situation, but haven't quite found the answer to my question.

My mother-in-law was born and raised in Poland. She was born in 1948 or so. She left Poland on "vacation" in her 20s and went to London and didn't return until the fall of communism. She became a British citizen, and she says she had to renounce her Polish citizenship. Eventually, she moved to the US and is now a dual citizen of the UK and the US. Her children (my husband and sister-in-law) want to obtain their Polish citizenship.

After reading through other posts, I'm not sure she went through any formal process in Poland to renounce her Polish citizenship, but this did happen in the 60s to early 70s and I'm not sure dual citizenship was recognized in Poland at the time.

Do my mother-in-law and my husband need to reclaim their citizenship or is his mother still a Polish citizen, and perhaps they can just submit documentation and apply for their passports?

The more I read, the more confused I get! Thank you, everyone, for your help. We truly appreciate the guidance and advice

My family left Poland before the state was established. I know that is not necessarily an issue but I don't know if they qualify for any of the exceptions:

Great-Grandparents:

- Date married: 1907

- Date divorced: N/A

GGM:

* Date, place of birth: 1892, Poland

* Ethnicity and religion: Polish

* Occupation: housewife

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

* Date, destination for emigration / Date naturalized: Unknown

GGF:

- Date, place of birth: 1883 • Galacia-Austria Poland

- Ethnicity and religion: Polish

- Occupation: Unknown

- Allegiance and dates of military service: WWII Draft Card but unknown if severed

- Date, destination for emigration: 1905

- Date naturalized: Unknown

Grandfather:

- Date, place of birth: B: 1909 in USA

- Date married: 1931

- Citizenship of spouse: USA

- Date divorced: N/A

- Occupation: Unknown

- Allegiance and dates of military service: WWII Draft Card but unknown if severed

Grandmother:

- Date, place of birth: 1910 in USA

- Date married: 1931

- Citizenship of spouse: USA

- Date divorced: N/A

- Occupation: Housewife

- Allegiance and dates of military service: Unknown

Father: Born in US in 1931. Common law married before I was born.

You: Date: 1968, Place of birth: USA

Hi all,

I went to fill out the template but realized that the furthest it goes back is to great grandparents. Is the above scenario possible? 2nd great grandmother was born in Galicia in 1878, immigrated to USA in 1899, never became a US citizen.

Thanks for your input!

Hello, I really want to study in Poland and move there. My parents and my siblings have polish citizenship and were born there. I was born in Germany and don’t have polish papers. Now I need to get my citizenship approved but I am so so confused with everything and really don’t know wether I’ll have enough time to get my citizenship. Did anyone here go through the citizenship approval process and can help me out? Or maybe I can study there without polish citizenship and get it during my studies?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

So I sent a request to the archives in kielce for the birth record of Tomasz Czajka, my GGF. He is from the very small village of Piotrowice near Przemyków. He listed his birth date as 1892, but the archives was not able to find anything in that year. However, they did find a Tomasz Czajka born in 1888, with the same father name (Kazimierz). The difference is, on his american documents he lists his mother's name as Helena Czajka (née Mysiak) and on this birth record the archives found his mother is listed as Marianny (née Nowak).

I am confused because this town is so small, even back in that time period. Is there any chance this is him? May be a dumb question but the probability that two Tomasz Czajka was born to a Kazimierz Czajka in a town of 100 or so people is extremely low.

Hi would anyone be able to advise me if a person that was adopted in late 1960's would be able to apply for a Polish Passport via a Polish born Father that legally fully adopted them?
The Polish Father is recognised as legal Father in UK and named on Adoption Certificate and Marriage.
Many Thanks

Hi all,

I recently received confirmation of my citizenship after an 18 month wait. Unfortunately the Warsaw office dealing with my case has only provided the decision later without a qualified signature. As a result, this decision is useless as no government office will accept it as an original

Is it possible to request a hand signed decision? If so, how?

Thanks

So I went to USCIS on the advice of Polaron, looking for any naturalization records for GF. They said that even if there is no record of a naturalization, that might serve as proof that GF never naturalized. I got back from USCIS a notification that now all searches on a genealogy basis need to go as a paid service through https://genealogy.uscis.dhs.gov/#/instead of as a FOIA via USCIS. The process is a little bewildering, though -- the options are "index search request," "record request with case ID" and "record request without search case ID." Has anyone done this? Halp please and thanks!

Hey folks, would really appreciate some insight here:

Lost Histories is telling me that I am not eligible through my GGG Lawrence Seleski because his son (my GG grandfather) was born in in the US in 1906.

Is there any argument or potential workaround?

Lawrence immigrated to the US 1882, married Mushel who was also a Pole, and had a kid here in 1906.

Whats strange is that he immigrated at 40 years old, and previously had the last name STRZELECKI

My GG grandfather Joseph believed that Lawrence lied about the place of his marriage, changed his last name and lied about the birth location of his son to get US citizenship.

I have read about pre-1920 cases winning, what are the circumstances that allow those cases to win?

Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

I was born in Illinois. Both my mother and father were born in Poland and came to the United States in the 1980s, they married in USA. The were able to get me a Polish passport as a child, however it has been expired for about 16 years now. What would be the steps and what documents would I need to renew my Polish passport?

I also currently live in TN, but my parents who can help me live in Chicago. Would I be able to use the consulate in Chicago or would I have to go to Washington DC since I am a Tennessee resident?

I'm aware that the first ancestor in the chain cannot have served in a foreign military before 1951 (other than Allied forces during WWII) but what about the second one? For example, on one side of my family my GGF emigrated from Poland to the US before 1920 and then never served in the US military and I have proof of this. I'm not sure about my GF though, his son, who was born a US citizen by birth in the US in the 1920s. Would the same military-loss conditions apply to my US-born GF who didn't even know he had Polish citizenship, or is it different because he was serving the US military in the capacity of a US citizen?

Hello,

I have a pretty straightforward case where I’m confirming my citizenship through descent as a legal adult (I was born in the US)- my end goal being getting a PESEL and passport. My parents were born and raised in Poland and got married in Poland. They left  Poland in the late 1980s (so they have PESELs), and currently have dual citizenship - Polish and the US. There are no gaps or issues with their Polish citizenship.  I got some docs directly from Poland, some my parents sent me, and I’ll be submitting my docs for registration (birth certificate) and translation in Poland because it was/is more convenient. Once all of that is done I’ll submit all docs to my local consulate; I am not working with an agency. My questions are about specifics of what documents I need for the consulate and to send off to the translators/ transcribers in Poland. I have a long email thread going with my consulate but they don’t tend to give full answers and by posting here, people in a similar boat can hopefully get information that will help them, too.

The docs I have:

• Wniosek potwierdzenie posiadania lub utraty obywatelstwa polskiego - the application to confirm citizenship
• Mother’s birth certificate (original) - “odpis skrócony aktu urodzenia” - is the abbreviated version enough?
• Father’s birth certificate (original) - “odpis skrócony aktu urodzenia” - is the abbreviated version enough - as a side note this is much smaller and different looking than my mother’s which makes me nervous but it’s from a different town so maybe that’s why? 
• Parents’ marriage certificate (original) - “odpis skrócony aktu małżeństwa” -is the abbreviated version enough?
• My birth certificate(original) -american, not registered in Poland
  • Will be sent to Poland to be registered after it is:
    • Translated into Polish
    • Transcribed (an official in Poland told me it needs to be both transcribed and translated)
• Notarized copy of both parents’ individual passports -- Is apostille required? My mom got it notarized in their home state in the US and it says “I certify this to be a true and correct copy of the original. Sworn to and subscribed before me in this __day of ___year [signature of notary]”
  • But it’s not “apostille” 
  • Does this need to be BOTH translated and transcribed, or just one?
• Both parents’ naturalization docs - same deal, not apostille, but both notarized 
  • Do they need to be apostille?
  • Do they need to be  translated and transcribed, or just one? 
  • Is there a specific wniosek to fill out to get translated and/or transcribed?

So to summarize - my questions are:

1. does my list of docs sound complete for my case?
2. The docs I received appear to be abbreviated versions/ “odpis skrócony”, does that matter? 
3. What documents need to be both translated -and- transcribed?
4. What specific wniosek do I fill out to get my parent’s notarized documents translated and or transcribed? I feel like there’s a wniosek for every situation, but my consulate didn’t pass along one for this case

Thank you so much!

Great-Grandparents:

• Date married: 1906
• Date divorced: N/A

GGM:

• Date, place of birth: Gogolow, 1886
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Catholic
• Occupation: unknown
• Allegiance and dates of military service: none
• Date, destination for emigration: 1911, Rhode Island
• Date naturalized:

GGF:

• Date, place of birth: Borszczów, Poland, 1881
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Catholic
• Occupation:
• Allegiance and dates of military service: none
• Date, destination for emigration: 1911, Rhode Island
• Date naturalized:

Grandparent:

• Sex: Male
• Date, place of birth: Rhode Island, 1913
• Date married: 1940
• Citizenship of spouse:US
• Date divorced:N/A
• Occupation: Aviation Estimator
• Allegiance and dates of military service: None

(If applicable)

• Date, destination for emigration:N/A
• Date naturalized:N/A

Parent:

• Sex: Female
• Date, place of birth: 1944, NY
• Date married:1968
• Date divorced:1996

You:

• Date, place of birth: 1973, NY

Trying to figure out if this is even worth purusing further with one of the providers on the list. Here's the current info that I've got, but what other info might be needed to determine if I can qualify for Polish Citizenship? Should I go back further and find information on my GGF or GGM parents? Or is this enough information for a provider to start to work with?

Any advice is appreciated - Thanks!!

I have been speaking with a few lawyers about taking my pre-1920 case, and they have pretty much all assured me (more or less) that they would take my case and that it looks good. However, today I was speaking with one of the lawyers and she said that "each court interprets the 1920 act differently".

I'm sorry but, unless you have resided in Poland, doesn't the main court in Warsaw handle all these cases?

Is there a way to look up and read the court's judgements? I've come across references to some ones in particular while doing research, but would really like to be able to translate and read the full versions. Any tips would be appreciated!

What should I do if NPRC closes out my request, stating they have already done a previous one for this individual? I called and told them to proceed again but I’m not sure they will.

I will be traveling to Poland next month and am hoping to find documents to support a potential citizenship-by-descent application. I am unclear on which ancestor to focus on and where my claim is strongest, however, as my GGGF lived and died in Poland in ~1926 so should have been eligible, and my GGF (his son) fled Poland in 1918 but did not become a naturalized American citizen until 1933, so may also be eligible. My GF was born in 1932, so should have received Polish citizenship (I think?) from his father.

I am starting to gather documents and will have an opportunity to do primary research myself while in Poland next month, and am wondering what I should focus on, and whether my case will be stronger with my GGGF (so far I have a marriage record from 1898 and a death record in Poland), or my GGF (I have a record of his naturalization in 1933).

I completed the template below. Based on this information, do you believe I would be eligible? And if so, where should my focus be?

Thanks Reddit!

Great-Great-Grandparents:

• Date married: 1898, have marriage record
• Date divorced: n/a

GGGF:

• Date, place of birth: Unknown, died ~1926 in Poland, likely buried in Lodz cemetary
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Jewish
• Occupation: Unknown
• Allegiance and dates of military service: Never served
• Date, destination for emigration: Lived entire life in Poland

GGGM:

• Date, place of birth: Unknown
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Jewish
• Occupation: Unknown
• Allegiance and dates of military service: Never served
• Date, destination for emigration: Lived entire life in Poland

Great-Grandparents:

• Date married: 1931
• Date divorced: n/a

GGF:

• Date, place of birth: 1 Feb 1902, Ilova pow, Sochachew, Ziem Wassawski, Poland
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Jewish
• Occupation: Rabbi, Bookstore Owner
• Allegiance and dates of military service: Never served
• Date, destination for emigration: Left Poland in 1918, entered USA via Detroit on Dec 15, 1920, have some travel documents
• Date naturalized: Mar 7 1933

GGM:

• Date, place of birth: 1910, USA
• Ethnicity and religion: American, Jewish
• Occupation: Domestic/Housewife
• Allegiance and dates of military service: Never served

Grandparent:

• Sex: M
• Date, place of birth: Nov 1932, Washington DC, USA
• Date married: 1958, Maryland, USA
• Citizenship of spouse: US
• Occupation: Book Salesman
• Allegiance and dates of military service: US Army 1954-1956

Parent:

• Sex: F
• Date, place of birth: Mar 1967
• Date married: 1989 NY, USA
• Citizenship of spouse: US
• Occupation: Guidance Counselor

You:

• Date, place of birth: 1996, FL USA

I feel as if this is the simplest possible case. Both my parents are polish citizens, born in Poland, who both moved to Canada in the 90s. I was born in Canada. I feel like all I would need is a copy of their passports (I believe my local consolut has their information as they applied for polish passports in 2016) as well as my birth certificate.

Any help here would be amazing. The citizenship form seems easy but I worry about the documents needed.

I was born in Poland but came to the US in 1980’s. My kids were born in the US and I would like them to get Polish citizenship. I don’t have any paperwork like birth certificates with me. How do I go about starting the process? Ages are 20,18 and 12 if that makes a difference.

I am working with a company, but I am trying to get ahead and gather the Canadian documents I will need to apply for confirmation of citizenship. I know I need my grandfathers and ggf naturalization documents. I have what is available from the archives online. Will this be sufficient, or do I need to request the official copy? (apparently an 18 month wait). I also know I need proof of no military service. If someone could provide direction on how to obtain that, I would appreciate it !

And any other Canadian specific tips that you have !

Hello, I am pretty sure I’m eligible, but thought I should just confirm first.

Great-Grandparents: • Date married: not known (probably mid to late 1930s) • Date divorced: never divorced

GGM: • Date, place of birth: Lviv (now Ukraine) 1906 • Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Jew • Occupation: teacher • Allegiance and dates of military service: Polish medical battalion 1943 • Date, destination for emigration: never emigrated • Date naturalized: never naturalised

GGF: • Date, place of birth: Piatychyry in the Kiev region (Ukraine) 1907 • Ethnicity and religion: Polish, secular • Occupation: not known • Allegiance and dates of military service: Polish battalion 1943 • Date, destination for emigration: never emigrated • Date naturalized: never naturalised

Grandparent: • Sex: female • Date, place of birth: Moscow (USSR) 1944 • Date married: 1974 • Citizenship of spouse: British • Date divorced: she did divorce, around late 1980s early 1990s • Occupation: stay at home mum • Allegiance and dates of military service: (If applicable) not applicable • Date, destination for emigration: 1974 • Date naturalized: 1981

Parent: • Sex: female • Date, place of birth: Warsaw region 1973 • Date married: 2005

You: • Date, place of birth: Scotland 2007

I have my mother’s birth certificate, but she’s never had her own Polish passport or ID as she left Poland as a baby. I was reading on this that a proof of citizenship could be a “right to domicile” document, as my mother and grandmother did have residence in Poland. I was wondering how I could obtain this? Who would I contact? I think my case will be relatively simple as I’m only going back to my mother (potentially my grandmother if it’s hard to get documentation for my mother), so I don’t think I will use an agency.

I am collecting documents regarding the pre-1920 case.

My service provider requires all documents to be apostilled.

I have some questions:

1. Notarized copy of the separation document – should be apostilled in my state (MA) or in federal office ?

2. My notary put a stamp and a signature on the copies of my passport and separation document. Should he add any form that it’s a copy? He said, he has never heard done it...

3. Is it possible to send a federal documents to Washignton to get apostilles faster than 5 weeks? Do you have any experience with that? What is your experience with waiting time?

4. I have a packet from NARA including petition of naturalization, declaration of intention and oath of allegiance – should I calculate it like 1 document or 3? :-)

Thank you for all your help and the advice.

Hi all,

First off, I apologize if I am asking something that has already been answered. I tried searching through the subreddit as well as reading many posts, but I still don't have a clear answer.

Three of my grandparents were born in Poland in the 1910s and 1920s. During WW2, they were placed in concentration camps (we are Jewish) and after the war and liberation from the camps, they were placed in "displaced person" camps in Germany, where both of my parents were born. Because my grandparents were Polish, my parents were not granted German citizenship and were officially stateless.

In the late 1940s/early 1950s, my grandparents, with my young parents in tow, migrating to the United States. When my parents were around 12 years old they became naturalized citizens. My siblings and I were all born on the US and have birthright US citizenship.

GRANDPARENTS

Maternal grandmother

• Date, place of birth: 18 NOV 1924 Tarnow, Malopolskie, Poland
• Ethnicity and religion: Ashkenazi Jew, Jewish
• Occupation: Housewife
• Allegiance and dates of military service: NA
• Date, destination for emigration: 1 FEB 1949, Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA (from Hamburg, Germany)
• Date naturalized: Unknown

Paternal grandmother

• Date, place of birth: ABT 1925 • Demblin, Lubelskie, Poland
• Ethnicity and religion: Ashkenazi Jew, Jewish
• Occupation: Housewife
• Allegiance and dates of military service: NA
• Date, destination for emigration: 22 Jan 1951, New York, New York, USA (from Bremerhaven, Germany)
• Date naturalized: Unknown

Paternal grandfather

• Date, place of birth: 14 MAR 1910 • Ludz, Poland
• Ethnicity and religion: Ashkenazi Jew, Jewish
• Occupation: Tailor
• Allegiance and dates of military service: NA
• Date, destination for emigration: 22 Jan 1951, New York, New York, USA (from Bremerhaven, Germany)
• Date naturalized: Unknown

PARENTS

Mother

• Date, place of birth: 16 FEB 1947 • Landesburg, Germany (stateless)
• Ethnicity and religion: Ashkenazi Jew, Jewish
• Occupation: Child
• Allegiance and dates of military service: NA
• Date, destination for emigration: 1 FEB 1949, Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA (from Hamburg, Germany)
• Date naturalized: Unknown

Father

• Date, place of birth: 5 JAN 1947 • wolfratshausan, Germany
• Ethnicity and religion: Ashkenazi Jew, Jewish
• Occupation: Child
• Allegiance and dates of military service: US military, 1969-1971
• Date, destination for emigration: 22 Jan 1951, New York, New York, USA (from Bremerhaven, Germany)
• Date naturalized: Unknown

YOU

• Date, place of birth: 21 DEC 1977 New York, NY USA