The latest act that entered into force in 2011 significantly amended and improved some other Polish citizenship issues but in the most important issue for the most people of Polish origin residing continuously abroad, i.e. the confirmation of the possession of Polish citizenship by origin, did not bring any new solutions.
Some remarks on this issue are as follows:
The previous act laid down that no Polish citizen could concurrently be a citizen of another country. New provisions reversed this rule: a Polish citizen may hold at the same time Polish citizenship and citizenship of another country, but such person has the same rights and obligations in respect to the Republic of Poland as the person who has only Polish citizenship. Moreover, a Polish citizen cannot rely with a legal effect vis-à-vis the authorities of the Republic of Poland on a simultaneously held citizenship of another country and on the rights and obligations resulting thereof.
As for acquiring Polish citizenship this new act continues the ius sanguinis principle: a child acquires Polish citizenship by birth to parents, at least one of whom is a holder of Polish citizenship. The new law supplemented the right of the soil with some new elements: a child acquires Polish citizenship by virtue of law, if he/she was born or found in the territory of the Republic of Poland, and both parents are unknown, or they have no citizenship.
The new act provides for a broad spectrum of ways of acquiring Polish citizenship by way of an administrative act. As in the previous act Polish citizenship is granted by the President of the Republic of Poland. Granting Polish citizenship takes place at the request of a foreigner. The application for granting Polish citizenship shall be submitted to the President via a Head of Province (Wojewoda) or Polish Consul.
The new act widely provides for acquiring Polish citizenship by recognition as a Polish citizen. The previous act laid down that only a person holding unspecified citizenship or no citizenship may be recognized as a Polish citizen, if such person resides continuously in Poland for at least 5 years pursuant to an establishment permit, an EC residence permit for a long-term resident, or a permanent residence permit, whereas the new act implements a broad array of ways of recognizing citizenship: residing in the territory of the Republic of Poland for minimum and continuous periods, having a stable and regular income, a legal title to the occupied living premises, a refugee status, confirmed knowledge the Polish language etc. An administrative authority that proceeds applications for recognition as a Polish citizen is a head of province.
A completely new institution of acquiring Polish citizenship that was previously unknown to Polish law is the restoration of citizenship. This is addressed to those persons who lost their citizenship, e.g. by entering military service in a foreign country or by accepting a public office in a foreign country. The new act provides that the foreigners who in the past had Polish citizenship, but lost them before 1 January 1999, can apply for the restoration of Polish citizenship. It is vital that the acquisition of Polish citizenship shall happen on the day in which the decision on restoring Polish citizenship has become final. This means that the applicant’s children shall also acquire citizenship, but only when they were minor on the day of its granting. It is also noteworthy that prior to the restoration of citizenship, an administrative authority proceeding the application is obliged to state that the applicant lost citizenship. In practice, this disqualifies any proceedings for confirming Polish citizenship in the future. Particular attention should be drawn to this fact as in some cases (probably in most cases) it is much better for the applicant to obtain an administrative authority’s decision on confirmation of Polish citizenship as, in this case, the applicant’s family acquires Polish citizenship by virtue of law.
A foreigner shall submit an application for restoration of Polish citizenship together with all documents to the competent minister for internal affairs. A foreigner residing outside the Polish territory shall submit an application for restoration of Polish citizenship via the consul competent as for the foreigner’s place of residence or his/her agent in Poland. Polish citizenship is restored by the competent minister for internal affairs by decision. The new act also amends procedures for confirmation or loss of Polish citizenship. The relevant application is filed by the person concerned, but proceedings may be initiated ex-officio (this issue aroused much controversy in the previous act). A very important novum – unfortunately, not positive – is the obligation to prove the applicant’s parents’ and grandparents’ personal data. In practice, this considerably obstructs proceedings as it requires the foreigner to conduct extremely time-consuming and painstaking searches for documents and to restore them.
As a conclusion, the act implemented a seemingly very attractive way of acquiring citizenship by its restoration. However, a great weakness of this way is to prevent the applicant’s family from acquiring citizenship in the future. This is a significant inconvenience, having regard in particular to the fact that persons who virtually choose this way would be much more interested in confirming citizenship (this way does not restrict the way of acquiring citizenship by children – even adult ones). Pursuant to the applicable law this way of confirming citizenship itself is an incomparably tougher process, but it does not lose its most essential features and advantages.