An extension of the minimum period of uninterrupted residence in Poland to obtain Polish citizenship from three to 10 years is provided for in the draft amendment to the Act on Polish Citizenship submitted to the Sejm by President Karol Nawrocki.
I wonder how this decision will affect immigrants living here, share your thoughts
EDIT: these are proposed changes, my bad.
Changes coming to Citizenship in Poland
byu/loyd133 inpoland
Posted by loyd133
33 Comments
Those numbers are crazy… It will take about 17 years to obtain citizenship…
_reviews population demographic trends_
Yeah this’ll work out well /s
Well, most probably this will be rejected this time as well. The 4th time, I guess?
It’s a shot in your own arm, to be honest.
It will depend on what exactly is counted. You had to live here 5 years in order to apply to the permanent resident card, and then 3+ years to apply for the citizenship. If the 10 years change is about 10 years in total, it means increasing the current timelines by 2 years, which is manageable. If the changes involve a dedicated 10 years permanent residency requirement, it is going to be a deal breaker for almost everyone, I think, and a lot of people will move to other countries.
>” may not provide sufficient time to master the Polish language at B1 level, understand the cultureand fully adapt to the social and legal realities”
I mean, add testing then? Require a B2 certificate, add a harder citizenship test, and let anyone who feels qualified go through it after 3 years.
That’s insane. Currently it’s 8 minimum (realistically 10), and now they wanna make it 15 (realistically 17 or even longer). Say goodbye to your growing economy cause ain’t nobody is coming to Poland after that.
Glad to see my taxes at work /s
Even more glad to see how the State doesn’t give a fuck about our efforts to be part of the society and culture.
He simply resubmitted the same project as PiS did last year, and it’s going to be rejected again.
What is unfortunate is that the media simply repeat the claims they make and give absolutely no explanation to the real procedure…
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As someone who came here from Belarus in 2022, and is on track to get my European residency card, I hope this won’t pass. Without relatives, marriage or humanitarian protection, just your regular working visa, this would extend total time to be able to apply for citizenship to 17 years. (From about 8-10 now, depending on bureaucracy times). That will certainly make me think twice if I wanna stay (and then risk more extensions?), or seek better chances elsewhere in eu.
I am ready for b2 level in Polish and 10 years for living with karta czasowego pobytu. But not 10 years with karta stałego pobytu and 5 years with karta czasowego pobytu.
Lady Luck smiled on them, bringing migrants with a very similar culture who either find work or bring their own businesses with them and pay huge taxes and ZUS. To a country with an aging and decreasing population.
But the talent for screwing everything up is truly genius. And all for the sake of populism.
Ok, I’ve been here since 2017 from the UK. Learned Polish to a high level, got the certificate, got married to a polish citizen, bought a home, paid taxes, had działalność gospodarcza which is tough enough with ZUS in itself these days, and according to friends and family in Poland I take more of an interest in polish culture and history than most people they know. From march next year I’m (7 months from now), I will be eligible to apply for full citizenship according to current rules, and also hope to serve the month long military preparation service to potentially end up fighting for the country in case of attack.
I think I’ll cry if they move the goalposts by another 7 years now.
The reasons I’d like to move to Poland are the same reasons I cannot move to Poland.
IMO this is another PiS stunt before the elections. This will be rejected by the current government and afterwards PiS will say that the current government is pro-immigrant, they want to maintain foreigners getting the citizenship faster etc… Another spin for their idiotic audience, and potentially move to take out votes from Konfederacja voters
It is kind of ironic that PiS didn’t care about it during their 8 years in power ( including 2022-2023 after the invasion of Ukraine already happened). The first big wave of immigration started in 2014-2015 and it is absolutely predictable, that now we will have a bigger and bigger number of applications. They could already make the requirements stricter but it wasn’t on their list.
My hot take is that PiS expected that they could take this electorate of primary Ukrainians and Belarusians. Rather more conservative on average ( even if not religious), loves social programs and benefits. Similarly to PiS electorate.
It changed only after PiS lost election and shifted to very anti-immigrant stance. So now naturalized citizens won’t ever vote for them, so PiS wants to just postpone majority of naturalizations.
P.S. Number of naturalization in Poland is not high, like below 20k per year, however foreigners tend to live in big cities, which will make PiS have even worse results there in the future.
What are the current rules for EU citizens getting Polish citizenship? I have about 5 or 6 years’ residence total, but do i need to have zameldowania that whole time? Have also paid several years worth of tax in Poland and own a property here, could maybe pass a B1 test with some prep
> Węgry — jak wskazano w uzasadnieniu — wymagają np. 8 lat, Włochy, Austria i Hiszpania — 10 lat,
That’s a lie. Italy requires 10 years of any legal residence, not permanent residence. I haven’t checked other countries, but I would assume it’s the same (but please correct me if I’m wrong)
Right now, Poland effectively requires 8 years of legal residence (get a temporary residence permit -> wait 5 years, while working and passing a B1 Polish exam -> get a EU permanent residence permit -> wait 3 years -> apply for citizenship), which is usually stretched to 9+ years due to bureaucratic delays.
It would make sense to start requiring B2 instead of B1 or increase the total path up to 10 years. It’s an absolute madness to increase it up to 15 (which in reality would be stretched to 16-17).
Everybody will be moving to Germany. I moved from Germany to Poland, but I am planning to leave Europe.
It’s okay but in this case the permanent residency status should be strengthened like for instance giving people residency permit even if they leave Poland for long years and also at least some language courses offered with state’s discount…
I may be a different case, having lived on the permanent residence card for over 20 years. But I don’t see much difference between a permanent residence and citizenship. The biggest problem really is that my wife and I have to check 2 sets of visa requirements for vacations. Maybe some people are worried about being conscripted into the army from their home country. Shrug. That’s the only difference.
Big for sport.
For example
Roger Guereiro and Maria Żodzik would not be representing Poland with that. Among many other famous people.
It would disproportionately affect Ukrainian males and Belarusians who can’t extend their passports outside of their countries. A 3- to 10-year difference is significant, considering the typical passport validity is 10 years. The majority of those working in IT and paying hefty taxes to the Polish economy would have to move elsewhere to a better jurisdiction. Otherwise, since I have a decent passport (Canadian), I wasn’t planning on getting the Polish one, in order not to be mobilized (from even outside of Poland) in the (unlikely) case of a war.
Nawrocki śmieć
They should adapt the point-based system, similar to a Canadian one, where you get points for your age (younger folks get more points), job type (complex jobs get more points), job experience, etc, to get the final score, and then the applicants with the highest scores get permanent residency.
Very sad news indeed! As someone who has been contributing a lot to Polish society, and after living here for almost 8 years, moving to another country has been on my mind for a year now.
|Country|Years Required for Citizenship Application|Notes|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Portugal|5 years|Shortest residency period for citizenship in Europe|
|Ireland|3 years|Also possible through marriage|
|Cyprus|3 years (marriage-specific)|Requires 2 years living in Cyprus before applying|
|Poland|10 years|5 years for “long-term EU resident” permit|
|Belgium|10 years|Mandatory naturalization requirement|
|Germany|8 years|Requires renunciation of previous citizenship|
|France|5 years|Citizenship by residence; child born in France rules differ|
|Netherlands|5 years|With valid residence permits|
|Country|Minimum Years to Apply for Citizenship|Typical Minimal Physical Stay Requirement|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Belgium|5 years|About 6 months per year|
|Bulgaria|5 years|Continuous residence with limited absences|
|Cyprus|7-8 years|Majority physical presence during residence|
|Czech Republic|10 years|Residency and substantial presence|
|Denmark|9 years|Legal residence with usual stay|
|Finland|5 years|Most of the time during qualifying years|
|France|5-10 years|Physical presence with limited absences (6 months max)|
|Germany|8 years (can be reduced)|Majority physical stay over residency period|
|Greece|7 years|Legal residence and physical presence|
|Ireland|5 years|Usual residence requirements, no long absences|
|Italy|10 years|Continuous residence with physical presence|
|Luxembourg|5 years|Physical presence mostly required|
|Malta|6 years|Substantial physical presence|
|Netherlands|5 years|Continuous legal residence, physical stay expected|
|Poland|8 years|Legal residence with physical presence requirements|
|Portugal|5-6 years|Reasonable physical presence, limited absences|
|Slovakia|5-10 years|Continuous residence usually required|
|Spain|10 years|Majority presence, limited absences (max 6 months/year)|
what are the benefits of polish citizens in poland over european citizens or other people from outside europe?
just pure curiosity
Fuck this. It’s all about voting rights. I’ve lived here for 7 years, I have a polish wife and kids, I pay taxes here, but the only thing I can do is watch while they make it harder to vote against PiS
In UK citizenship is meaningless. Does it matter in Poland?
I have been with my wife for 20+ years and we are building a house with a view to retiring to Poland next year.. I’ve been studying for my residency exam for a while now.. guess that’s that plan scuppered
like shooting yourself in the foot.
How would this affect citizenship for someone born outside the US to one Polish parent?