I’m taking care of my polish citizenship at the NYC consulate, but we all know how difficult these workers at the consulates can be and I’m absolutely lost on which documents I need, how many copies, which must be translated, etc. for my process to begin.
I know I’m not the only one lost here so if you’re also planning on applying for a polish citizenship, let’s gather here and share some information so we’re not all taking multiple trips back and forth to the consulate for little mistakes we make.
In this thread I included what I know is required for submission. I also added some tips and questions of mine at the end. If something in this thread is wrong or I’m missing something, comment and I’ll fix it.
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From what I know is needed so far (coming from a US citizen, 18+, the process being through blood or descent):
-your US birth certificate; the original document or a valid copy obtained only through ordering from a specific website or going back to your birth hospital or the city hall of your birthplace. If there were any alterations made to your birth certificate, that must also be attached to the main page as all pages will be translated.
**THEY DO NOT RETURN YOUR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE, IT WILL STAY IN THEIR RECORDS**
Website provided by the consulate if you would like to request a valid copy of your birth certificate: [VitalChek](https://www.vitalchek.com/v/?ScenarioName=ScenarioWebPlatformRedirect)
-Apostille stamp or seal for your US birth certificate. A sheet of paper that is required by the Polish government to be submitted with your birth certificate for their records. It’s simply proof that the document you are submitting is real. You must go to a notary public to validate the birth certificate with the stamp/seal, OR you can mail your birth certificate and a request form to your state capitol. I recommend you call your state capitol, find the correct department, and request to have the form emailed to you.
**i stress you get it stamped. When the consulate first emailed me with information, they claimed you did not need to get the apostille stamp if you’re a US citizen, but what they really meant is those with their original birth certificate already have the seal proving their certificates validity. It wasn’t until I was picking up a copy of my birth certificate that they informed me Poland requires the stamp/seal and that I must get my copy notarized**
-your birth certificate in polish, translated only by a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły). It’s $45 per page.
I recommend, if you are going to translate your papers in the US, you should email your nearest consulate for an updated list of all sworn translators.
**DO NOT just go to just any translator, even if they claim to be a sworn translator. Double check with your consulate**
[lista tlumaczy przysieglych w PL](https://arch-bip.ms.gov.pl/pl/rejestry-i-ewidencje/tlumacze-przysiegli/lista-tlumaczy-przysieglych/search.html)
-your POLISH family member’s proof of citizenship. “The best documents to provide are Polish IDs, passports, birth or marriage certificates or military documents. Everything that indicates (official documents as enumerated above) that the applicant or his ancestors lived in Poland, had Polish citizenship and did not lose it. Also US arrival date or citizenship petition, naturalization act might be helpful as they indicate that a person came from Poland or had Polish citizenship.” If you don’t have much to work with and choose to use documents such as naturalization act or citizenship petition, you may need to provide additional documents.
-your passport or illegal ID with a picture.
-the application
[form](https://www.gov.pl/attachment/e9317718-004f-468d-ad0f-6b296ca638d3)
**If you don’t know the answer to a question – family names for instance, just write: NIEZNANE or if something isn’t relevant: NIE DOTYCZY because you must fill in all the questions. You additionally are required to to fill out this document in polish; however, exclude all accents, write L instead of Ł, A instead of Ą, when writing in the boxes. All letters must be upper case.**
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**Some tips to share and remember:**
-polish documents don’t need translating
-you don’t receive your official birth certificate back
-passports, even in languages other than polish, do not need translating
-If your family member changed their name, for example, from Stanisław to Stanley, and two different names show on both your birth certificate and the document they will be presenting as their proof of polish blood, you may have issues and it’s best to prove a document of the name change and translation. You want to prove that you are truly related to that person.
-the closer the family member is to you in age, the easier the process will be. If it is a parent with an active status of polish citizenship, you will come across almost no issues. Family members born, I believe before 1918, cannot be used as your proof of polish descent.
-if you have a polish parent or grandparent that’s deceased, but they were born in Poland after 1918 and held an active status on their polish citizenship, their documents can still be used to prove your a polish person by descent. You would have to find a document that proves they’ve never revoked their citizenship.
**Some questions on my end:**
-i think just the birth certificate and the translation should be good for your appointment at the consulate in regards to your birth certificate. An extra copy of the translation might be necessary, but I could be wrong. Someone correct me on that and let me know if I need any copies of any of these documents.
-I’m also not sure if our passports need to be copied or if the consulate does that for you at your appointment.
**Appointments or mailing documents:**
-you can submit all your paperwork at an appointment or you can mail the application form along with required (notarized copies) documents and Money Order all to the nearest consulate.
-I recommend you make an appointment in case you’re worried about making a mistake because you’ll know what is missing right away as compared to waiting for the consulate to message you about what’s missing and then resending the papers.