From this article, you will learn what polish citizenship by descent is, how to formally confirm it, and what documents will prove that you and your ancestors had Polish citizenship. Enjoy reading!
Let’s start with a brief history. In 1920, Chaim lived in Łódź. He was a tailor, like many others in his neighborhood, and like other Jewish residents of the city, he suddenly found himself in a new country. After the collapse of empires and the end of World War I, Poland returned to the map, and its citizens became people who, just a few years earlier, had been subject to completely different legal systems. For Chaim, citizenship was not a choice – it was a consequence of his place of residence and the applicable laws.
In the following years, the situation in Europe became increasingly unstable. Some of Chaim’s family emigrated to the United States before the war, others left in the 1930s. He himself left Poland just before the outbreak of the war. Like many Polish Jews, he did not renounce his citizenship and was unaware that in the future someone would investigate his legal status from a hundred years ago. The most important thing was safety and the opportunity to start a new life.
For his descendants, born in New York or Chicago, Poland was for a long time merely a point in their family genealogy. It is only recently that the question has arisen as to whether emigration and subsequent events actually broke the legal bond with the Polish state. The answer requires referring to the citizenship laws of the interwar period, analyzing the place of residence in 1920, and checking whether it was lost under the law at that time.
In many cases, it turns out that this bond was never formally broken. Confirmation of Polish citizenship by descendants living around the world today is therefore not a restoration of lost status, but a determination of whether citizenship has been passed on to next generations in accordance with the principle of continuity.
This process is based not on emotions, but on facts – documents and legal realities, sometimes even dating back a hundred years.
What is polish citizenship by descent?
Polish citizenship by descent is, from a legal point of view, nothing more than a procedure for confirming Polish citizenship. This procedure is provided by the 2009 Act on Polish Citizenship. It does not mean “granting” Polish citizenship, but rather formally confirming that a given person has it. In legal terms, we say that such a decision confirming citizenship is declaratory – it does not create anything new, but only confirms that a given fact (in this case, citizenship) exists.
Therefore, Polish citizenship by descent does not arise today – it continues to exist. The key facts that influence this happened much earlier.
In 1920, the first Polish citizenship law came into force. Under this law, all those who lived in the territory of the Polish State, as well as those who were born in the territory of the Polish State, were granted Polish citizenship, provided they did not have citizenship of another country. Along the way, Poland had successive citizenship laws in 1951, 1962, and 2009. Each of these laws had its own rules for acquiring and losing citizenship.
It is through the perspective of these laws that family history is examined. It is checked whether an ancestor was a Polish citizen and whether at any stage the law interrupted the continuity of citizenship of subsequent ancestors.
If citizenship survived all these changes, it was automatically passed on to the next generations—even if no one knew about it for decades. In such a situation, if you are able to document the citizenship of your ancestors, you will receive official confirmation that you are a Polish citizen.
What is ius sanguinis?
The right of blood is the principle on which Polish citizenship has been based from the very beginning. It means that in order to obtain Polish citizenship, it is important whether your parents were Polish citizens. If at the time of your birth, at least one of your parents was a Polish citizen, then citizenship was automatically passed on to you.
This is how it worked a hundred years ago, and this is how it works today. In practice, this means that Polish citizenship can be passed down through generations, even if the family has been living outside Poland for a long time.
See how Polish regulations on jus sanguinis have changed over the past century. This may be helpful for you to initially analyze whether you can have Polish citizenship.
The law in force at the time of your birth is decisive. For example, if you were born in 1970, the law of 1962 was in force. Take a look at how it works:
| Act | provision | Content of the provision |
| Act of April 2, 2009 on Polish citizenship | Article 14(1)
| A minor acquires Polish citizenship by birth if at least one of the parents is a Polish citizen |
| Act of February 15, 1962 on Polish citizenship | Article 6(1) | A child of parents, one of whom is a Polish citizen and the other a citizen of another country, acquires Polish citizenship by birth. |
| Act of January 8, 1951 on Polish citizenship
| Article 6(1) Article 8(1)
| – A child acquires Polish citizenship when both parents are Polish citizens or – A child born in Poland, one of whose parents is a Polish citizen and the other a citizen of another country, acquires Polish citizenship |
| Act of January 20, 1920 on Polish citizenship | Article 5 | Legitimate children acquire the citizenship of their father by birth, while illegitimate children acquire the citizenship of their mother. |
Documents required to prove polish citizenship by descent
Confirmation of Polish citizenship by descent requires administrative proceedings to be conducted by the Voivode. These proceedings end with the Voivode issuing an administrative decision confirming or refusing to confirm Polish citizenship.
So what do you need to do to obtain a positive decision confirming your citizenship?
You need to collect and submit to the Voivode documents confirming that you and your ancestors had Polish citizenship. Your application for confirmation of citizenship should include your details and the details of your ancestors up to the second degree i.e., your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. It should also include all the information and documents necessary to determine whether you have Polish citizenship.
What kind of documents will these be? Any documents concerning your ancestors and yourself that prove that you are Polish citizens (and the Voivode is to confirm this with his decision). Most often these are:
- Polish passports
- Polish identity cards
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificates
- Death certificates
- Military service books and other documents relating to military service (e.g., recruitment cards, discharge documents)
- Certificates of no criminal record
- Extracts from the general population register
- Registration cards
- Extracts from church records recording events such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths
- Voter lists
- Ship passenger lists
- Insurance documents
- Medical records
- School certificates
- Re-emigration registration cards (issued after World War I to Poles returning from emigration).
First, look for these documents in your family archives. Ask your living family members about them. If you are unable to gather all the necessary documents in this way, you can request them from the relevant authorities, e.g., the municipal office responsible for your ancestor’s last place of residence in Poland, the relevant registry office, archives, or the Institute of National Remembrance. You can also search for information in church records.
Please note that the only official language in Poland is Polish. This means that all documents you attach to your application should be in Polish, or translated into Polish by a sworn translator or consul. The official list of Polish sworn translators is available here.
What will happen if you are convinced that your ancestors had Polish citizenship, but you are unable to gather the documentation to confirm this? If you can demonstrate that obtaining all this information and documentation is significantly difficult, and you are able to show at least a significant part of the documentation, then the Voivode may officially request, among others, the state archives to supplement the missing documentation.
However, please note that this is an exception. The rule in these proceedings is to attach documents proving your citizenship and that of your ancestors to the application submitted to the Voivode. This is a direct result of the regulations currently in force (specifically, Article 56 of the current Polish Citizenship Act).
Challenges in obtaining polish citizenship by descent
Obtaining Polish citizenship on the basis of ancestry is rarely a simple formality. Of course, it will be very easy if, for example, you are the child of Polish citizens and were born abroad.
However, if you are claiming Polish citizenship on the basis of your grandparents or great-grandparents, the matter may be more difficult. The biggest challenge is often time – cases often go back a hundred years, and every gap in family history needs to be filled with documents. Archives are spread out, some files may have been destroyed, others are located outside Poland (e.g., on the territory of today’s Ukraine or Lithuania).
Errors in documents are also a problem: different dates, different versions of names, inconsistencies in records.
The second challenge is changing regulations. The ancestor’s citizenship must be “transferred” through successive Polish citizenship laws: from 1920, 1951, 1962, and 2009, checking that it was not lost at any stage. For example, under the 1920 citizenship law, Polish citizenship could be lost by entering military service in a foreign country without the consent of the relevant state authorities or by acquiring foreign citizenship. If, for example, your grandfather lost his citizenship before your father was born, then your father did not acquire Polish citizenship, which means that you do not have it either.
Where should I submit my application for confirmation of polish citizenship and how long does the procedure take?
You should submit your application for confirmation of Polish citizenship to the Voivode competent for your place of residence or last place of residence in Poland. If you have never lived in Poland, the Mazovian Voivode will be competent in your case.
If you live outside Poland, you can submit your application through the Polish consul competent for your place of residence. The consul will forward your application together with the complete documentation to the relevant voivode.
How long does this procedure take? The basic deadline is 6 months from the date your application is received by the competent voivode. Unfortunately, in practice, even in simple cases, these deadlines are significantly extended. Voivodes explain this by the increase in the number of applications for confirmation of Polish citizenship in recent years, with an insufficient number of staff to handle these cases. If the case is complicated and requires the voivode to gather evidence (i.e., search for documents that you were unable to obtain yourself), then indeed, an extension of the proceedings may be justified. In other cases, this is not necessarily so. In such a situation, if you want your case to be processed quickly and you are confident about your documentation, you may consider filing a complaint with the administrative court against the voivode’s inaction/delay.
What happens if my application for polish citizenship by descent is denied?
If you receive a decision refusing to confirm your Polish citizenship, you can appeal against it. It is always worth doing so if you are confident about your documentation and believe that the Voivode may have made a mistake. You should submit your appeal to the Minister responsible for internal affairs, via the Voivode, within 14 days of receiving the negative decision.
However, it may happen that the Voivode refuses to confirm your Polish citizenship because at some point you or your ancestors lost it and there is clear evidence of this. This is not a hopeless situation. For such persons, there is a procedure known as “restoration of Polish citizenship.” This is a separate administrative procedure, which ends with a decision. Applications in such cases are submitted to the minister responsible for internal affairs.
Polish citizenship by descent – Jewish community
The procedure for confirming Polish citizenship for descendants of Polish Jews is neither separate nor special. Exactly the same rules, regulations, and criteria apply as in the case of all other applicants. Officials in these proceedings do not examine ethnic origin or religion, but only the legal status of ancestors and the continuity of citizenship over the years.
In practice, however, it is the Jewish community that very often appears in such proceedings. Before World War II, Jews constituted a significant part of the citizens of the Second Polish Republic – according to available sources, there were about 3 million of them. At the same time, the interwar period was a time of intense emigration for them. Many Jewish emigrants left Poland as Polish citizens. Some of them never formally lost their citizenship. This, in turn, may mean that their descendants, even those who have been living outside Poland for several generations, may have Polish citizenship and it is worth considering initiating the procedure to confirm it.
Frequently asked questions
Who may obtain polish citizenship by descent?
Polish citizenship by ancestry may be obtained by a person whose parent, grandparent, or more distant ancestor was a Polish citizen, and whose citizenship was retained and passed on to the next generations. The place of birth, current citizenship, or country of residence are irrelevant—the only deciding factor is the continuity of citizenship confirmed by documents.
Do I qualify for polish citizenship by descent?
You are eligible if you can prove that at least one of your ancestors was a Polish citizen and that this citizenship was not lost in accordance with the regulations in force at the time. Each case requires individual analysis of documents and family history – Polish origin alone is not sufficient.
How do you prove Polish ancestry for citizenship?
Polish citizenship is proven by documents. You should prove your lineage from your ancestor and that he or she was a Polish citizen and did not lose this status. This can be done using civil status records, identity documents, passports, military documents, registration records, and archival documents, among other things. Citizenship is confirmed on the basis of legal facts, not ethnic origin alone.
How many generations back can you claim polish citizenship?
There is no statutory limit on generations. Polish citizenship through ancestors is retained as long as continuity of citizenship in the family line can be demonstrated. The key factor is not how many generations back we go, but whether your ancestor was a Polish citizen and whether their citizenship was not lost.
How to apply for polish citizenship step by step?
First, gather your documents and your ancestors’ documents that prove your citizenship. If any documents are in a language other than Polish, have them translated by a certified translator or consul. Then submit your application: in Poland, to the relevant Voivode, and outside Poland, you can submit your application to the consul. Wait for the decision confirming your citizenship. If your application is rejected, you can appeal to the Minister responsible for internal affairs.
Do I have to apply in person ?
No, you do not need to appear in person at the office. You can also submit your application by mail or electronically. You can also use a legal representative operating in Poland, who will submit the documents on your behalf, correspond with the office, and receive the decision. In practice, this means that the entire procedure can be carried out from abroad, without a personal visit to the Polish office.
Is knowledge of the polish language necessary to obtain confirmation of Polish citizenship?
No, knowledge of Polish is not required in proceedings for confirmation of Polish citizenship. This procedure consists of determining whether citizenship was acquired and retained by ancestors, rather than assessing the applicant’s integration, culture, or language skills.
How much does it cost to confirm polish citizenship?
The official cost of confirming Polish citizenship in administrative proceedings is a stamp duty currently amounting to PLN 277. If you act through a representative, there will be an additional official cost of PLN 17 for submitting the power of attorney document.
Additional costs may be involved if:
- you submit your application through a consulate – there is an additional fee of EUR 80
- you need certified translations of the documents attached to your application
- you use the services of a representative – the cost of their remuneration
Julia Dolińska
attorney-at-law
Photo by Bianca Fazacas