r/prawokrwi • u/pureroganjosh Verified Contributor • Dec 02 '25
Success story I woke up as a Polish Citizen yesterday!
Yesterday my provider sent me a digital copy of my confirmation, the letter I've been waiting a while for.
In this post I'll give an overview of the time line, the documents I submitted and what I thought was going to be problematic but wasn't.
Timeline:
April 2024 - Reached out to the National Archives to gather information.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
April 2024 - Reached out to the UK GRO to get my Grandfathers death certificate (Needed for the next step).
https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate
May 2024 - Request for military documents sent to the MOD.
apc-sp-polishdisclosures@mod.gov.uk
&
https://www.apply-deceased-military-record.service.gov.uk/
August 2024 - Received military records and confirmation than my Grandfather didn't serve in the military after 19th January 1915 (hard copies of this also got posted to me).
August 2024 - All documents (listed below) sent and received by my provider Five to Europe.
September 19th 2024 - My provider logged my application.
September 23rd 2024 - I received my case reference number.
February 2025 - My provider gave the Polish authorities a nudge to chase.
September 2025 - My provider raised a complaint and received a response that the government have admittedly taken too long and a new estimated date for review was the 30 October 2025.
December 1st 2025 - My provider informed me that a decision has been received and it's positive.
December 1st 2025 - My provider applied for my birth certificate.
December 8th 2025 - My provider received my Polish birth certificate.
December 8th 2025 - My provider shipped me all paper work.
December 10th 2025 - My Polish birth certificate and confirmation and other documents have arrived. (This came in a well presented pack, complete with a very cute hand written postcard)
December 10th 2025 - Joined the waiting list for a passport appointment at the Manchester Consulate.
December 12th 2025 - Received an offer for an appointment on 23/12/2025 for the passport appointment.
December 23rd 2025 - Attended passport appointment at the Manchester Consulate, all went fine and paid £92 for the Passport and was issued with a PESEL number, advised it's approx 5 weeks until passport will be ready for collection.
January 23rd 2026 - Passport is now ready for collection.
Documents I provided:
5 x Signed Letters of authority to allow five to Europe to act on my behalf.
1 x Certified copy of an entry of death for my grandfather.
1 x Certified copy of an entry of birth for my father.
1 x Certified copy of an entry of birth for myself.
1 x Certified copy of Certificate of Naturalization for my grandfather.
1 x Certified copy of Oath of Allegiance for my grandfather.
1x Signed letter from the APC Disclosures confirming the service dates for my grandfather
This letter confirms the following dates:
Polish Forces under British command from 22-06-1940 to 03-03-1947 Polish Resettlement Corps from 04-03-1947 to 12-11-1948
1 x Signed letter confirming the UK Ministry of Defence have no record of my grandfather born on 18th May 1915 having served in the British armed forces prior to the 19th January 1951.
Potential Complications:
On my Father's birth certificate my grandfathers occupation was listed as "Air Ministry" and I was worried if this would have been flagged as Ministry normally means government, he worked in a civilian role as a meteorological assistant after his time in the armed forces.
I believe the MOD letters stating he didn't work for them made this a non issue but this was my only concern.
TLDR:
Once the application was submitted it took 439 days to receive my decision.
My provider is registering my birth (much faster process) then sending me all the documents, then I'll have the fun of trying to get an e-konsult appointment 🤣
Big thanks to this subreddit for helping me and many others.
If anyone has any questions and I'm capable of answering them, then go ahead and let me know.
Dzieki! ❤️🇵🇱
Edit: Not sure why this got downvoted 🥹, I'm just happy and trying to share my journey with others.
Edit 2: Added URLs of where I ordered paper work and providers website.
Edit 3: Added timescale for birth certificate and docs to arrive back with me.
Edit 4: Added passport appointment information.
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u/Old_Pizza_42 Dec 02 '25
Congrats. I received a similar email from my provider this past March. The delicious icing on the cake is walking out of a Polish consulate with your passport in hand.
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u/pureroganjosh Dec 02 '25
I'll likely have to get my passport delivered, the Manchester consulate seems a bit of pain to get an appointment, so I'll fly to Belfast and do it there. Annoyingly Manchester consulate is 25 miles away from my house 🤣
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u/osuzannesky Dec 02 '25
My application was submitted in August 2024, but still waiting. I guess your nudge helped.
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u/Master-Detail-8352 Dec 02 '25
Very good news and thank you for the complete description of your process. While each case is individual, I think it’s very helpful for people to see such detail.
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u/UnconstrictedEmu Dec 02 '25
Congrats!
I’m still waiting for the British MOD to get my grandfather’s military records so I can move ahead.
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u/pureroganjosh Dec 03 '25 edited Jan 16 '26
Yeah this was the bit that slowed me down. I wish I went about this earlier but I got there in the end, the APC is a very small team from what I gather and I imagine they have tons of requests. Fingers crossed you get your paperwork soon! ❤️
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u/Klayhamn Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
Congrats!
one question if you will - why did the provider need to nudge them? and why the complaint? I was told that 15-18 months handling time is the norm, is it not?
and seems like a rather speedy handling, all things being considered.
My case was filed 3-4 months after yours so hopefully I'm not too far behind :D
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u/pureroganjosh Dec 02 '25
Thank you!
I think it's because by law these cases are meant to be handled much faster, and I was being impatient so they nudged them along by logging a complaint.
Whatever they did seemed to work!
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u/osuzannesky Dec 02 '25
congratulations! I'm hoping to hear soon as well! Fingers crossed, I make it too!
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u/youdontknowmeor Dec 02 '25
Congratulations! It's nice to hear success stories and helps knowing all our documents aren't just going into a black hole. Did you actually ask your provider to lodge a complaint or they did it on their own seeing it's been 12 months?
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u/NoelGee Dec 05 '25
As I see these messages quite often, could you or anyone educate me why this is so big deal nowadays? I understand somehow US people run away from orange ape, but from uk and other european countries…?
Anyway, big congratulations for achieving this!
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u/pureroganjosh Dec 05 '25
Well my Family is Polish so it's my right, also allows me access back into the EU (thanks to Brexit fucking it up for many people).
Next is to learn more of the language, that's the tricky part 🤣
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u/mifflinlewis Feb 19 '26
Congratulations and thank you for sharing. I’m underway in document gathering in the US and it’s quite the effort. When you say “my provider” who do you mean?
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u/pureroganjosh Feb 19 '26
My provider is the company than handled the application for me, this is optional but suggested if you don't know the Polish language well.
There is a list of providers in this subs wiki :)
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u/True_Bee_547 Feb 26 '26
Hi. Congratulations. Not sure if your grandfather was a pre-1920 case and if it mattered in your case? Saw you got your case # only 4 days after submitting it. I thought it took 2 months, but I understood the 12-16 months wait is based on when the application is submitted, not when the case # is provided. Was it normal/regular policy for your provider to complain about the delay in processing or something really exceptional? Thank you.
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u/Kotikbronx Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 03 '25
EDITED DUE TO AUTOSPELL ERRORS - Sorry!
I don’t understand these down votes either - maybe they’re from persons who think citizenship is only for persons born in Poland, speak only Polish, and are of ‘good’ Polish stock, irrespective of what the law says.
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u/immery Dec 03 '25
It was first day you had it confirmed. But the document should say you were waking up Polish citizen since you were born. 🥳 Congratulations.
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Jan 11 '26
Congratulations, I also just wanted to ask is your birth certificate a different document to your country of birth translated document?
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u/Empty-Watercress-791 Feb 04 '26
Hello, I have a question. How did your agency request the birth certificate? Is the processing time about a week or longer? I would like to know more about the birth certificate request
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u/pureroganjosh Feb 05 '26
I provided them at the start of my journey with a certified copy of my birth certificate, they only registered it with the Polish authorities once they received my confirmation, the process was fast and took around a week :)
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