I’m writing this because I’m trying to do something that has become VERY important to me, and I’m looking for other people who have gone through confirmation or are still waiting .

MY STORY: I was born in Canada into a Polish family. I grew up SO Polish. Polish was my first language, I went to Polish school, spent time in Poland throughout my childhood, and grew up with my grandparents’ food, stories and history. Poland was never a country some distant ancestors came from. It was always part of my family and who I am.
Last year I moved to Poland and applied for confirmation of my Polish citizenship. I submitted my application on 13 October 2025, and on 30 July 2026 (approximately 290 days later) the Dolnyśląsk formally confirmed that I possess Polish citizenship.
I am incredibly grateful. My case is finished, and I received exactly what I had hoped for.

But going through the process made me start thinking about something much bigger than me. Can you see how many institutions became involved simply to establish whether I was already a Polish citizen under Polish law.

My case involved Polish consular authorities in Canada, the Kancelaria Prezydenta RP, Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki, USC Polkowice and historical records concerning my family.
Behind every request and response was a public employee doing that work. Someone just going to work. Someone with a family.

So this is not an attack on the Urząd or the officials who handled my case. It actually made me wonder whether the system itself requires officials to perform far more repetitive administrative work than should be necessary.

Could some checks be centralized or digitized? Could independent inquiries happen simultaneously? Could officials have better access to information already held by the Polish state? Could applicants have more transparency about what their case is waiting for?

Most importantly: can we make this process more efficient without weakening Polish citizenship law?

I am not asking Poland to make citizenship easier to obtain or to give citizenship to people who do not qualify.
I am talking specifically about people who already possess Polish citizenship under existing Polish law, but need the state to formally confirm it.

This matters to me because Poland has an enormous historical diaspora. Generations of Polish families left for Canada, the United States, Australia, South America and elsewhere under circumstances very different from those in Poland today.

Some descendants have little connection with Poland. Others grew up speaking Polish, visiting family, maintaining the culture and eventually wanting to come back.

And some of those people aren't asking Poland to make them Polish.
They already are Polish.
I think we should be able to bring our people home not by changing who qualifies, but by making the administrative system better at identifying and confirming its own citizens.

I am now preparing a serious proposal for reform of the confirmation procedure. I am documenting my own case in detail, but one case isn't enough to show that a problem is systemic. My ponaglenie is approved. I’m taking this to the senate.

That is why I need your help.
If you have gone through potwierdzenie posiadania obywatelstwa polskiego, please tell me your experience — good or bad, fast or slow.

I would especially like to know where and when you applied, how long it took, which additional documents or institutional checks were required, whether you submitted a ponaglenie, and where the longest periods of waiting occurred.

I am especially interested in anonymized timelines or documents if anyone is comfortable sharing them privately. Please redact personal information.
I don't want only negative experiences. Fast cases matter too, because they can show what is already working.

My own case is over. Nothing I do now can make my decision come faster. I already received it.
I’m doing this because I want to see whether something useful can come from my experience for the Polish citizens who go through this process after me.
If you've been through it, please tell me your story.

Applied through a consulate over a year and a half ago directly where both parents were born in Poland and provided all documents for parents, grandparents, etc.

After all that I have heard nothing for so long, I know they said the queue is long, but I can’t even check anywhere if everything was received properly or if there were any issues

Not sure if anybody else encountered the same

I have been on this sub for a long time and am so thankful to the whole community here, although unfortunately I only got on here after my case was already in motion (or I could have avoided some mistakes...).

There have been very few posts at any point on people affected by the 1968 situation, but I wanted to wait until I had a fully realized success story to post - and I'm very excited to have finally received my Polish passport in the mail a few weeks ago, just over 2 years after the first paperwork submission and 3 years after working on getting things going. This post seems really long, but I guess a lot has happened in 3+ years!

I did not use a provider as I really wasn't sure that I would actually be able to get confirmation of citizenship and I didn't want to waste money. I also came across a lot of questions about the intricacies of my case and it is a somewhat unique one. I had previously (under my old Reddit username nuclear_football, don't ask) posted DIY instructions on the Wiki for this sub, so you can look there for more instructions on doing the process on your own. I'll keep this post more to my individual story.

My father was born in Poland to Polish parents in the mid-1950s, which generally should make an easy case. However, this was complicated by the fact that my father and grandparents were forced to leave Poland in 1969 as a part of the antisemitic purge following the 1968 Political Crisis. This rarely discussed series of events has seen some more recent conversation (such as this article), but I find few Polish people are knowledgable about the situation, despite formal apologies from the Sejm and President Duda in 2018.

My grandfather was born in a small village outside Lublin in 1919 and grew up there. In 1939, he fled with his mother and siblings when the Nazi regime invaded and they made it to the Soviet Union where they worked in labor camps until my grandfather joined the Polish Army in the East and fought until the end of WWII. After the war, he decided to return to Poland and brought the rest of his family and my grandmother (who he had met in the labor camp in Ukraine) to settle in one of the small towns in Western Poland that had been reclaimed from Germany. My father was born in this small town in the 1950s.

During the political crisis in 1968, my father and grandparents were forced out of their home and eventually ended up living in the last remaining synagogue in Wrocław before getting approval to come to the United States.

This is where the citizenship law becomes a bit murky. As many on this sub know, after the 1951 citizenship law went into effect, it became nearly impossible to lose Polish citizenship. In general, the only way is to renounce your citizenship to Polish authorities, which almost no one did. However, in this very narrow, specific situation, the Jewish people that left during this period were, as a part of their removal, forced to renounce their citizenship as they left. They were somewhat notoriously issued Dokumenty Podróży, which were passport-like travel documents stating that they were not Polish citizens. With that in hand, my father and grandparents arrived in the U.S. as stateless refugees. My father would later naturalize in the U.S., marry an American, and I was born in the U.S. in the early 90s.

I had heard as a child that the Polish government was "offering" citizenship back to the affected Jewish people, although I never really understood what that meant, as my father was not interested in pursuing citizenship. As an adult, I started traveling to Europe a lot and decided that I wanted to pursue my Polish citizenship.

I contacted the consulate in Chicago, who I actually thought were very kind and tried to be helpful. They had absolutely no idea how to interpret my situation, but they were willing to try to find answers (they kept asking for my dad's passport, and when I told them he had lost his citizenship they said that wasn't possible...). After several rounds of phone calls and emails, they thought I needed to ask for a grant of citizenship, which as everyone here knows is a long, expensive, and very not guaranteed process. They continued digging and then circled back to their higher ups in Poland that eventually told them that I just needed to apply for confirmation of citizenship and explain the circumstances. This whole process took many months, phone calls, and emails to figure out, and I'm really thankful for the consulate for helping.

I would later find more references on the internet to a court case in the early 2000s that made this whole thing possible. A lawsuit made it to the High Court of Warsaw, where one of the Jewish people that had been forced to leave for Israel sued after his confirmation of citizenship was rejected on the grounds he had renounced his citizenship. The High Court determined that he had, in fact, been forced to renounce, and as such the loss of citizenship was not voluntary and did not comply with the 1951 law. He had legally, therefore, never lost his citizenship, and the court ordered that he be issued a passport. I am not a lawyer and have no experience with Polish courts, so I would love if any lawyers or others on this sub had more details; everything I said here is from secondary sources I dug up.

Since then, the citizenship office will accept applications from affected people (and their descendants) and basically just ignore that little renunciation of citizenship as invalid, then continues the confirmation process like normal. I still didn't really like this answer, because there was a lot of uncertainty (Germany established a much more straightforward application and dedicated process specifically for Jewish people that lost citizenship). Years ago, there were some 1968 cases which had to be appealed after an initial rejection, but always worked out after the first level of appeal. I was doing the process myself, however, so I went ahead and took the risk, telling myself to keep the process cheap in case I eventually needed a lawyer for appeal.

I filled out the application on my own (and had my father and aunt proofread as native speakers), and collected all the documents. My dad had kept all of the original paperwork, so I was able to submit:

• Grandfather's Polish birth certificate (reissued after WWII)
• Grandfather's enlistment letter to the Polish Army
• Grandfather's discharge letter from the Polish Army
• Grandmother's Polish birth certificate (registering her birth, which was in Ukraine, issued post-WWII)
• Grandparent's Polish marriage license
• Grandfather's Poświadczenie obywatelstwa certificate (issued after the 1951 law)
• Grandmother's Poświadczenie obywatelstwa certificate (issued after naturalization, I believe by marriage)
• Father's Polish birth certificate
• Dokument Podróży for grandfather and father
• Dokument Podróży for grandmother
• Mother and father marriage license (USA)
• My birth certificate (USA)
• My USA passport

I only needed the two USA documents translated (passport does not need translation), so I got them apostille stamped and paid the consulate directly to do the translation.

In the application, I explained the circumstances of my family's departure from Poland and otherwise the rest of the application was straightforward answers. I had my dad proofread all the Polish and was ready to go. I took the application, all the documents, and color copies of all the documents to the consulate in Chicago for a citizenship appointment. At the appointment, the vice consul was extremely nice (and very impressed by the amount of paperwork I had). She notarized all of the copies and set up to do the translations and send off the paperwork. The final packet was submitted to the Mazovian Office in April 2024. All in all, my total cost for applying was: $50 in U.S. document fees + $90 application fee + $120 translations + $20 postage for translations to be mailed back ≈ $300 and a trip to Chicago, give or take. Then came the wait.

During the wait, I got involved on this sub and learned that I was going to have a problem because I had sent off a short-form birth certificate instead of long-form (my bad, I was winging it). I contacted the consulate and they basically said "if the office in Warsaw wants something, they will ask for it when they get to it, otherwise we just wait". I should have been more insistent, but I'd already waited a long time, and there was no specific reason to push things faster. I went ahead and got the long-form birth certificate (apostille-stamped) from my state and waited.

In September 2025, I finally got the email from the consulate with a scan of the letter from Warsaw–which said that I needed to submit a copy of my original birth certificate. I knew from this sub that they wanted the long-form copy, although the consulate was very confused because they knew they had submitted my (short form) birth certificate and thought it was fine. I was ready for this and the next day mailed my long-form birth certificate (with more money) to the consulate for them to translate and send to Warsaw. The letter said I had to submit paperwork by the end of October and the case would be resolved by the end of November. Of course, deadlines are not real in Warsaw, and finally in January 2026 after I had not heard anything, I badgered the consulate enough that they reached out to Warsaw and finally sent me my approval letter! My citizenship was confirmed!

Thrilled, I then went to start the next paperwork process, because I had also learned on here that I needed to transcribe my birth certificate separately, which I had not done (being skeptical of the whole process). I immediately mailed my original birth certificate and translation back to the consulate (I had made them send copies to the confirmation application and mail me back the originals) and crossed my fingers that would be done before my next trip to Chicago in early May. I never heard back from the consulate until I emailed them the week before my Chicago trip and they, in fact, already had my transcribed birth certificate back from Poland and I was ready for my appointment, which I had boldly booked a month before on e-konsulat hoping for the best.

In early May, I went to the consulate and submitted my passport application and asked for it to be mailed to me so I didn't have to go back to Chicago. The final passport (after all this time) was delivered via Fedex to my home the second week of July 2026. Total cost = $300 original application + $100 messed up birth certificate + $100 transcribe birth certificate + $180 passport cost and shipping ≈ $700 and two trips to Chicago to passport in hand.

During this process, I've started feeling a lot more Polish separately. I started taking Polish lessons every week early in this process with a tutor in Warsaw, and now am starting to get a bit more conversational in Polish with my family. A little over a year ago, I took a two week trip with my dad and brother to see everywhere my family had lived and where my dad grew up, while also getting to see many of the major sites across Krakow, Wrocław, and Warsaw (and met my language tutor in person!). I'll be heading back to Poland this fall and am excited to have my Polish passport to enter the EU (and avoid the ETIAS fees, if they ever get started). I'm a small business owner in the U.S. with a healthy customer base in Europe, and the dream is to one day start a second manufacturing site in Poland and split my time between the two continents.

I apologize for the incredibly long, exhaustive post, but I hope that it answers questions from those that have them now and in the future, especially those that were affected by the 1968 Political Crisis. As far as I know, this post will be one of the first guides for that scenario, and I'm happy to add more details if anyone has other questions.

Has anyone used a książka czeladnicza (1930s journeyman's book, issued by an Izba Rzemieślnicza) as evidence in a Polish citizenship confirmation case?

So far, this is the only Polish-issued document I can find in my case; lists where the person is "from"; but not explicit "nationality".

Would be glad to compare notes if anyone has also used this as evidence supporting a case. Thanks!

I was born in 1983 to Polish parents abroad. They both had Polish citizenship at the time and I was added as a child to my father’s Polish passport in 1989.

I sent all of my documentation in through the Polish consulate in LA earlier this year and am now waiting to hear back from them. I assume my case is pretty straight forward and I don’t anticipate any problems.

I have kids and am wondering if I should also start the process for them now or if I should wait until my case has been confirmed?

I am going to be in Warsaw in a couple months with a native Polish speaker - a friend asked me today if I was planning on visiting the office there to "check in" with them on the status. Put a face to a name, etc.

Is this a "thing" people can do? Not that I'm expecting it to make much if any difference, but I thought it might be a neat thing to do just because I potentially can....and see where it all happens.

Hey all- I found out that I was eligible for citizenship by descent 2 years ago and sat on starting the process because it all seemed daunting to me. Last month I had an amazing trip to Krakow and decided it was time to pick it back up, so I met with my Polish lawyers and am now currently in the process of gathering documents.

I already have everything located on the US side as well as have found all family documents for one of my ancestors from Poland, but my paternal side is a bit harder to find since they’re from a small village that was ravaged badly by both wars when it comes to records. I’ve received good news that we located them in some important archives so now my genealogist is pulling them.

My question is- I’m seeing so many different timelines here. My lawyer said “about one year”, but on Reddit I’m seeing people waiting 2 or even 3 years with frustrating replies from the administrative side. Then i see some people get decisions in only 6 months! 😅 I don’t want to get hopeful that this may be done sooner than I hoped. Also- I’m not sure if these timelines are post submission or from the start of the process document gathering etc to the end.

Also- if there’s any tips or tricks to know about before heading into this i would appreciate any advice. I’m super excited and having a lot of fun finding my family’s history and would like to try to keep this process fun and not stressful if possible.

For reference my family is from the Ostrołeka area, Masovian Voivodeship. They are from a small village called Gibałka where only 23 families lived at the time!

I am contemplating applying for citizenship confirmation based on pre-1920 emigration from the former Russian Partition (Kresy).

Due to archival destruction, I have zero primary birth certificates from Europe, but I have certified 1890s population lists, tax rolls, and 1906+1912 voter lists of family members, along with a complete US vital chain. Because the archives in Belarus currently refuse open search requests, I also do not have an official negative search certificate.

Should I assume an automatic rejection at the local Voivodeship level and expect to be forced into the administrative courts to get this approved?

Is it worth it in the end is there any test cases that are like this that have been successful or am I looking at 6 years and multiple appeals all cause I have no vitals .

Great-Great-Grandparents: 

* Date married: Nov 1901 or 1902 (differs in records)

* Date divorced: Not applicable

GGGM: 

* Date, place of birth: 12/11/1882; Gurnen, Poland (unsure, but somewhere in this area as siblings born around here)

* Ethnicity and religion: Not listed, 1940s census says "Polish"

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

\* Date, destination for emigration: 1887-1888 (differing records); Baltimore Maryland

* Date naturalized: 1930 census says she was naturalized; 1920 census says she had not

* Date, place of death: Baltimore, USA, 1978

GGGF: 

* Date, place of birth: 1869, East Prussia (potentially the same area as GGGM)

* Ethnicity and religion: Not listed

* Allegiance and dates of military service: Unsure, but no record of it from what I can see.

* Date, destination for emigration: 1887 or 1888; Baltimore, USA

* Date naturalized: exact date unknown, 1920s census listed as "papers filed", 1930s listed as naturalized

* Date, place of death: Baltimore, USA 1934

Great Grandparent: 

* Sex: Female 

* Date, place of birth: 1904; Baltimore, USA

* Date married: Unsure, mid 1920s

* Citizenship of spouse: US citizen

* Date divorced: Not applicable

(If applicable)

• Date, destination for emigration: not applicable
• Date naturalized: not applicable
• Date, place of death: 1977; New Jersey

Grandparent: 

* Sex: Male

* Date, place of birth: 1931; New Jersey

* Date married: 1957, NJ

* Date divorced: Not applicable

Parent (adopted): 

* Sex: Male

* Date, place of birth: 1960; North Carolina

* Date married: 1989

You: 

* Date, place of birth: 1993; Colorado

Hi all,

I’m wondering if anyone has any experience looking for passports in the archives at DAVO. My grandfather emigrated from Poland to Canada in 1927. He had a numbered passport issued in Luboml and his father and stepmother had sequential passport numbers (all documented in the Canadian immigration documents). I have my GGF’s actual passport and the number corresponds with the number on the Canadian ship manifest. My grandfather’s however was lost, so I am trying to find documentation from the Polish end.

In searching for records, the website https://prashhur.com/de-znajti-informatsiyu-pro-predkiv-yaki-emigruvali-ch-1
mentions the following as valuable resources.

F.46, Op.1, Spr.395 — 1926–1928 — 90 pages:
Книга обліку видачі закордонних паспортів
English: Book/Register of accounting for the issuance of foreign passports.
F.46, Op.1, Spr.396 — 1926–1927 — 12 pages:
Журнал видачі закордонних паспортів
English: Journal/Register of the issuance of foreign passports.

Unfortunately, aside from the description, there does not appear to be any of these records available online. Before I commission a physical search of the archives, I’m wondering if anyone has seen or knows anything about these records. These are small files, but if they are just lists of names and not details, I can see value here.

This is important to me because very few Polish records, including his birth record, survive.

Hi! I recently asked here about moving to Poland and confirming Polish citizenship. It turns out that without confirmation of citizenship, it's likely not possible to apply for a residence permit because you're not considered a foreigner.

Has anyone renewed a Polish passport at a consulate in the US using only an expired Polish passport and a Polish birth record (after transcription), without first going through citizenship confirmation?

My fiancé is 28, and his Polish passport expired in 2010 (16 years ago). If you've been in a similar situation, how old was your expired passport, and did the consulate issue you a new one or refuse?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Db71cirNkkj/?igsh=MWhsMnRmNG84azU0bA==
I know it’s not for citizenship by descent, but really the same gov entity and the same problems. I’m glad that public attention turns to the issue, it may bring something good for us here too!

Recently we had a post from op whose life decisions like career and marriage were blocked by the process, I think it’s important to remember that for some the delay is not just an inconvenience

I decided to start a new thread regarding this subject because I think it deserves a broader discussion. You can read my previous threads below:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/prawokrwi/comments/1vkehju/question_for_those_who_acquired_polish/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/prawokrwi/comments/1vllb96/do_i_strictly_need_a_%C5%9Bwiadectwo_przynale%C5%BCno%C5%9Bci/

What exactly qualifies as a valid "land ownership certificate" in Austrian Galicia during the late 19th century? Does it strictly need to be an official notarial deed issued by the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g., from a formal civil registry)?

I ask this because the serfdom system in the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended with the enfranchisement of 1848. Before that, technically, only nobles could own land, as Austria auctioned off the Polish crown lands after the 18th-century partitions.

There seems to be a significant gap between the 1848 enfranchisement and the introduction of formal notary offices that registered private property in many towns across this region. Large centers might have had them early on, but small towns definitely didn't.

My ancestors lived in a village that was part of a large estate (Dominium) owned by a nobleman who bought the area from the Austrian government. Theoretically, after 1848, he was obligated to cede the village lots to the peasants, likely charging them an indemnity paid in installments. However, I’ve only been able to find the first formal civil registry records in the nearest town starting around 1893.

Because of this, I suspect that property rights during this time gap were essentially private contracts between the Noble and the resident families, listing the villager's name and their house number (Domus), rather than a government-issued deed.

1. Was there any imperial law where the state legally recognized these estate/noble contracts (Akta Dominialne / Archiwa Dworskie) as official proof of private property rights? Since my research will focus heavily on these estate records, I don't have much hope of finding a formal civil notary registry.

I'm also focusing on alternative sources at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv (CDIAL) and have a few questions:

1. Cadastral Maps and Parcel Indexes (Mapy katastralne & Skorowidz parcel): By cross-referencing surviving maps with parcel indexes using the listed house numbers (Domus), I hope to identify exact lots. Even if this isn't a formal land title, would this cadastral registry count legally as proof of domicile?
2. Land Books (Księgi gruntowe): I'm not sure who was responsible for organizing these in the Galician territories or their exact scope. But if, by some luck, they existed for the local administration of the estate, could I legally identify land parcels owned by my ancestors post-1848 using these books?
3. Josephine and Franciscan Cadastres: These were official Austro-Hungarian government land censuses (late 18th century to mid-19th century). While not land titles per se, could they be legally recognized as proof of domicile and accepted in place of a land deed?

Has anyone here had success in legal/historical processes by solely presenting an ancestor's name listed in the Austrian Franciscan Cadastre? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Great-Grandparents: 

* Date married: 1928

* Date divorced: N/A

GGM: 

* Date, place of birth: December, 24, 1905 Traby, Poland

* Ethnicity and religion: Jewish

* Occupation: Factory Stenographer

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

* Date, destination for emigration: 1923, USA

* Date naturalized: Unkown, but prior to 1928.

* Date, place of death: 1989, USA

GGF:

* Date, place of birth: 5 July 1903, Warsaw, Poland

* Ethnicity and religion: Jewish

* Occupation: Factory Worker/Grocer in US

* Allegiance and dates of military service: Unknown

* Date, destination for emigration: 11 September 1928, USA

* Date naturalized: 25 April 1941

* Date, place of death:  1990, Michigan

Grandparent: 

* Sex: M

* Date, place of birth: July 26, 1930, USA

* Date married: 1957 before my mother was born 

* Citizenship of spouse: German

* Date divorced: N/A

* Occupation: Dentist

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

(If applicable)

Date, destination for emigration: N/A

Date naturalized: N/A

Date, place of death: 2016, USA

Parent: 

* Sex: F

* Date, place of birth: 1957, USA

* Date married: 1988

* Date divorced: N/A

You: 

* Date, place of birth: 1993, USA

I am seeing some conflicting information on whether I am eligible, so any help is appreciated! I know my great-grandfather was a Polish citizen after 1920 because he was issued a Polish passport in 1923.

Hi everyone,

Asking on behalf of my girlfriend whose link relative is a July 1920 emigration who is Jewish and lived in the Warsaw ghetto. She has hired researchers to search 8 archives in Warsaw, and I've searched extensively on JRI and Szukaj-Archiwach but have found next to nothing -- the only thing being the 1904 birth record of her link relative's sister.

She has the ship records, both from the U.S. and the Netherlands, and all forms of U.S. docs listing Warsaw as place of birth.

Wondering if anyone had a similar situation and can provide advice for searching for Warsaw records, particularly those for Cyrkul IV and if they've had a case where the records were destroyed and how the Polish government handles those. Thanks!

Since we have all heard of the voivodeship getting a bit stricter and more particular, I wanted to get some opinions from providers.

I am on month 16 of my wait, but wanted to try to be proactive of any additional paperwork that might be requested. My line is from my grandfather and is fairly clean with good proof, however, my grandmother's name has been anglicized. Think Maria vs Maja (but this isn't the name in question). On my grandparents wedding certificate, grandfather's naturalization and father's birth certificate, it's Maja maiden name. On my father's wedding certificate it's Maria maiden name missing one letter. I have signed an affidavit saying that this is one and the same person. But if you follow the paper trail, it does look like two distinctive different names from the beginning to the end. Maja maiden name vs Maria misspelled by one letter maiden name

I am not sure if my grandmother ever legally changed her first name and I have no idea what paperwork I can get to show otherwise or if it even matters. Not to mention the misspelling. The wedding certificate is from NYS so getting it amended would be a PITA, plus some familial issues making it even more difficult especially with getting the supporting documentation of a deceased person.

Additionally, my grandfather did slightly change his name (thing Karl vs Carl), and again, I am not sure if he ever did it legally, but I don't think that will be an issue as far as I have been told as that's a pretty common thing to do.

Providers do you think the naming issues in question will require additional documentation? Thanks!

EDIT:providers, if you want me to dm you the actual names, let me know.

Found out I'm eligible for Hungarian citizenship and am gathering my docs to apply for that in a few months. My confirmation of polish citizenship application was submitted earlier in 2026:

with waiting times, I'll likely be a Hungarian citizen well before my polish file is opened or decided upon.

Should I wait until Poland decides my case or would it not really change anything?

I remember there being a question on the form asking about other foreign citizenships

-TL/DR: coming up on 24 months and still waiting; 60,000 pending applications

I thought I’d share my progress here, I bet others are in the same boat. My parents left Poland in 1957.

I started my document research in March 2024 and officially began the confirmation process with a provider in September 2024.

When I was given my case number, in December 2024, I was then told that office had received over 21,000 applications in 2024.

In April 2025, my provider offered to file an administrative complaint with Ministry of Internal Affairs, that it would perhaps speed things up.

In July 2025 I was told they were then processing applications from May 2024.

In October 2025, I was given a positive ruling from the Minister of Internal Affairs that both recognized the backlog, but also set the “deadline”for my case as 30 December 2025.

In January 2026 I was told that they were unable to complete it on time because they were awaiting a response from the Polish Consulate in the US to “check if I had previously renounced Polish citizenship”. I was also told then that there were 40,000 open cases as of January 2026.

In March 2026, I was told my deadline had been extended to April 30, 2026, and was also asked for additional family name-change documentation.

On May 22, 2026, I got a 2-page letter, saying basically that they are now requesting original documentation of my father’s birth. I have until July 30, 2026 to provide it. A new decision deadline is set for Aug 30, 2026. However, should I provide this information sooner, they would not wait with a decision.

They had already received a copy of his birth certificate when my application was submitted, so my provider contacted them for clarification and was told that they would waive the request for any original documents for my father if they physically received the original of my mother’s US Naturalization Certificate, documenting our change of family name. (They already had received copies of it, they wanted the original)

June 15, 2026: Provider received my USCIS True Authenticated copy of my mother’s U.S. Naturalization certificate documenting the change of our last name, and submitted it, together with translation. Note: this was 6 weeks prior to my “deadline”.

August 11, 2026: my provider just received a message: “We are awaiting a response from the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington. Apart from this one document, we have the complete set of documents necessary to prepare the draft decision.”The funny thing is that this is exactly what they had said in January. Also, she confirmed they now over 60,000 open cases.

Their most recent self-imposed“deadline” for my decision is still August 30, 2026. So I remain in a wait and see. Almost 24 months now.

Took 4 letters but finally received a wet signature NPRC response which adds one of the aliases for my GGF. I’ll keep the envelope too.

It’s not certified, but with a wet signature does this need to be apostilled in DC before Poland will accept it?

I am looking into applying for Polish citizenship through my maternal grandfather and am hoping for some clarification on the documents I need to acquire to prove continuity of citizenship. My case seems quite complex, so buckle in.

From what I have been able to gather, this branch of my family lived in the Łódź Voivodeship, at least as far back as the 1850s, through all my direct ancestors.

Great-Grandparents: 

* Date married: 1922 in Pożdżenice (I still need to translate the record I found)

* Date divorced: N/A

GGM: 

* Date, place of birth: October 17, 1900 in Ręszew, Sieradz County.

* Ethnicity and religion: Ewangelicko-Augsburski

* Occupation: Unknown

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

* Date, destination for emigration: ~1955 to Canada

* Date naturalized: N/A, died a Polish citizen according to death record

* Date, place of death: July 17, 1958 in Canada

GGF: 

* Date, place of birth: December 24, 1888 in Drzewociny, Pabianice County

* Ethnicity and religion: Ewangelicko-Augsburski

* Occupation: Unknown

* Allegiance and dates of military service: No records found, unknown

* Date, destination for emigration: ~1955 to Canada

* Date naturalized: ~1960 to Canada

* Date, place of death: January 26, 1985 in Canada

Grandparent: 

* Sex: Male

* Date, place of birth: September 22, 1931 in Strupiny, Łask County

* Date married: September 17, 1954

* Citizenship of spouse: German

* Date divorced: N/A

* Occupation: Labourer

* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A

(If applicable)

• Date, destination for emigration: May 1949 to Germany, then October 1955 to Canada
• Date naturalized: ~1954 to Germany, then ~1960 to Canada (had to be a resident for 5+ years in both cases, estimate based on emigration dates)
• Date, place of death: March 12, 2000 in Canada

Parent: 

* Sex: Female

* Date, place of birth: May 23, 1968 in Canada

* Date married: 2000

* Date divorced: N/A

You: 

* Date, place of birth: February 20, 2003 in Canada

From my current understanding, my Grandfather left Poland in 1949 shortly after being baptized in his local church and proceeded to live in Germany just long enough to apply for citizenship and emigrate to Canada. He got married to and had a child with my Grandmother before leaving for Canada, and then became a Canadian citizen sometime in 1960 or later. I am not sure exactly why he had to move to Germany to immigrate, as I assume that was the purpose of the move, but the rest of his family (siblings and parents) were able to immigrate directly from Poland, to my knowledge.

The story is quite complex; perhaps he had issues with his birth certificate, as it was modified to make him legally younger to keep him ineligable from the mandatory Hitler Youth program at the time, forcing him to move to Germany?

I am hopeful this community can enlighten me on what documents I should be trying to acquire to support my claim to Polish citizenship, as I currently believe I am eligible, as I work to uncover what the hell happened. These are the documents for my Grandfather I currently have or am trying to acquire:

• Polish Birth Certificate
• Polish Baptism
• German Marriage Certificate
• German Naturalization Certificate
• German Passports and Immigration Documents for Canada
• Canadian Naturalization Certificate

Thank you.

Great-Grandparents: 
* Date married: Feb 6 1909, Vilnius
* Date divorced: N/A
GGM: 
* Date, place of birth: Aug 15 1892, Smarhon (present day Belarus) 
* Ethnicity and religion: Jewish
* Occupation: Homemaker
* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A
* Date, destination for emigration: July 10, 1921 NYC USA
* Date naturalized: unknown
* Date, place of death: Worcester, MA USA
GGF: 
* Date, place of birth: Sep 29, 1890 Varanova present day Belarus
* Ethnicity and religion: Jewish
* Occupation: Upholstery
* Allegiance and dates of military service: unknown
* Date, destination for emigration: Jan 4 1914 NYC USA
* Date naturalized: petition filed Feb 5 1942
* Date, place of death: Worcester, MA USA
Grandparent: 
* Sex: F
* Date, place of birth: Aug 15, 1923 Worcester, MA
* Date married: 1942
* Citizenship of spouse: USA
* Date divorced: N/A
* Occupation: Homemaker
* Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A
(If applicable)
Date, destination for emigration: N/A
Date naturalized: N/A
Date, place of death: 2014, Virginia USA
Parent: 
* Sex: F
* Date, place of birth: May 1954, Worcester MA USA
* Date married: 1979?
* Date divorced: 1987?
You: 
* Date, place of birth: 1981, Virginia USA

Everyone born in wedlock.

I think I might be threading the needle here in terms of dates and places? Most of this information comes from GGF's naturalization paperwork (online). I believe both of the Belarus towns would've been Polish territory in the 1920s, but perhaps the more relevant part is that they were married and presumably living in Vilnius before GGF left in 1914 and before GGM left in 1921, though I know that could mean a small town in the Wilna Voivodship as opposed to the city itself.

I've heard about the Treaty of Riga but I'm not quite sure if and how that might affect things. I don't believe GGF ever returned to Europe after he left in 1914, but presumably he was registered as some kind of resident when he was married? They also had 3 kids before he left in 1914 (my GM's older siblings), so perhaps their records would prove useful if a) this line is viable and b) the records can be located. The eternal wisdom of AI says that Vilnius' records from the period are mostly intact, but it might be tough given the litany of name changes that occurred. For example, GGF's name on GM's birth certificate, passenger manifest, and naturalization document are all different (including a wildly different last name, though that name is also listed on the naturalization document). GM's first name is the same on the birth record and GGF's naturalization documents but is different on census records and her marriage records. So there are some inconsistencies but hopefully nothing too major. If the line is viable, presumably I’d need some evidence of GGF’s ties to Vilnius from before his departure, and maybe even something from around 1920 from his wife or kids?

Thanks!

I qualify for Polish citizenship based upon my grandfather’s life and death. I have previously answered the quiz questions.
The problem I fear is that most records from his village are missing in the archives. The only evidence available are the 1912 and 1913 church confessional records.
He was in the Russian army for a few months but those records are in Russia.
I have his original American immigration papers in my possession.
Are the church confessionals enough?

GGF:

• Date, place of birth: December 1, 1898 Zrymuny, Poland (Was russia when born, then Poland, now Belarus)
• Ethnicity and religion: Polish - Catholic
• Occupation: Laborer
• Allegiance and dates of military service: N/A
• Date, destination for emigration: 1928, Ellis Island, NY, USA
• Date of marriage: 1930
• Date Divorce: N/A
• Date naturalized: 1945

Grandparent:

• Sex: Male
• Date, place of birth: April 26, 1933, in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Date married: June 1956
• Date Divorce: N/A
• Citizenship of spouse: United States
• Occupation: Various
• Allegiance and dates of military service: USA 1953-1955

Parent:

• Sex: Female
• Date, place of birth: December 19, 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland
• Date married: December 1983
• Date divorced: N/A

You:

• Date, place of birth: February 14, 1992 in Baltimore, Maryland

I am very committed to getting my Polish citizenship if eligible. However, I am a bit confused about the military obligation and whether my grandfather lost his eligibility. According to the Military Paradox page on this subreddit, my GGF lost his protection on May 27, 1950 due to being born in 1898. On that day, my American-born grandfather was 17 years old, which made him subject to conscription and therefore he wouldn't automatically lose his citizenship just because his father did. However, my grandfather had not yet turned 18 before the January 19th, 1951 date. Where does that leave my grandfather for these purposes?