Red Tape Hot Box on citizenship requirements
There was a time in the 16th century when our country was considered one of the most tolerant nations in Europe. People of different nationalities and from various religious backgrounds, persecuted in their countries of origin, would come here in search of refuge and prosperity.
Nowadays, however, the word "tolerant" is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath as Poland. Very few refugees seek a safe haven here; more often those who come are entrepreneurs with money to invest; they want to open new businesses, learn about our language and culture - and even settle here permanently. But in this last case, there are certain legal obstacles to overcome, such as the near impossibility of outsiders becoming Polish citizens.
I recently received an interesting letter from two of our readers - the Lebanese owner of the restaurant "Le Cedre" and his Polish wife. The restaurateur had applied to his voivod to obtain Polish citizenship, for which he is legally qualified. After 12 weeks, he received a positive response from the authorities; the only drawback was the demand that he renounce his Lebanese nationality. Naturally, he has no desire to lose his Lebanese passport, so he refused. In any case, the government apparently has no right to make such a demand, since Polish law states that a person can have dual citizenship.
But there is an interesting twist to the story; the authorities advised our restaurateur that, if he wanted to keep his Lebanese passport, he should first surrender it and thus qualify to be granted a Polish passport, and then reapply to get his Lebanese passport back. Even stranger is the fact that if he were to renounce his Lebanese citizenship, his wife and children would still retain their dual nationality, for which they were eligible thanks to him, while he would have only Polish citizenship.
Which leaves me wondering why a process that is so straightforward elsewhere is made so complicated here. Perhaps it's simply that the government agency responsible for approving citizenship requests just loves paperwork.
Red tape bugging you? Tell Mateusz about it at mdembinski@wbj.pl.
Nowadays, however, the word "tolerant" is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath as Poland. Very few refugees seek a safe haven here; more often those who come are entrepreneurs with money to invest; they want to open new businesses, learn about our language and culture - and even settle here permanently. But in this last case, there are certain legal obstacles to overcome, such as the near impossibility of outsiders becoming Polish citizens.
I recently received an interesting letter from two of our readers - the Lebanese owner of the restaurant "Le Cedre" and his Polish wife. The restaurateur had applied to his voivod to obtain Polish citizenship, for which he is legally qualified. After 12 weeks, he received a positive response from the authorities; the only drawback was the demand that he renounce his Lebanese nationality. Naturally, he has no desire to lose his Lebanese passport, so he refused. In any case, the government apparently has no right to make such a demand, since Polish law states that a person can have dual citizenship.
But there is an interesting twist to the story; the authorities advised our restaurateur that, if he wanted to keep his Lebanese passport, he should first surrender it and thus qualify to be granted a Polish passport, and then reapply to get his Lebanese passport back. Even stranger is the fact that if he were to renounce his Lebanese citizenship, his wife and children would still retain their dual nationality, for which they were eligible thanks to him, while he would have only Polish citizenship.
Which leaves me wondering why a process that is so straightforward elsewhere is made so complicated here. Perhaps it's simply that the government agency responsible for approving citizenship requests just loves paperwork.
Red tape bugging you? Tell Mateusz about it at mdembinski@wbj.pl.
