Attaining Polish Citizenship

If you are considering trying to attain Polish citizenship, you may want to study the The Repatriation Act of 9 November 2000. Especially this:

Article 5.1. A person of Polish extraction in the meaning of this act shall be a person declaring Polish nationality and meeting jointly the following conditions: 1) at least one of the person’s parents or grandparents or two great grandparents were of Polish nationality,
2) that person is able to demonstrate links with Polish provenance, in particular by cultivating Polish language, traditions and customs.
2. A person who in the past had already held Polish citizenship or whose at least one parent or grandparent or two great grandparents held Polish citizenship and who meets the condition specified in paragraph 1 point 2 shall also be deemed a person of Polish extraction.
3. The condition stipulated in paragraph 1 point 1 shall be deemed met if at least one parent or grandparent or two great grandparents of the applicant confirmed their belonging to the Polish Nation by, in particular, cultivating Polish traditions and customs.
4. A decision on matters specified in paragraph 1 shall be issued by a consul.

Article 6.1. Documents issued by Polish state or church authorities as well as by the authorities of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the applicant or the applicant’s parents, grandparents or great grandparents may by used as proof of Polish extraction. Such documents include in particular:
1) Polish identity documents,
2) certificates of personal status or their official copies or baptism certificates confirming links with Polish provenance,
3) documents confirming the completion of military service in the Polish Armed Forces containing an entry informing of Polish nationality,
4) documents confirming the fact of deportation or imprisonment containing an entry informing of Polish nationality,
5) identity documents or other official documents containing an entry informing of Polish nationality.
2. Other documents may also be used as proof of Polish extraction and in particular:
1) rehabilitation documents of the deportee containing an entry informing of Polish nationality,
2) documents confirming persecution on grounds of Polish extraction.

1920 is a key year. For example, Henley & Partners state:

You may qualify for citizenship by descent if you can prove that at least one Polish ancestor:

• Was born in Poland (or one of the former Polish territories)
• Resided in Poland after 1920 (with some exceptions)
• Maintained their Polish citizenship until after 1920 and at the time of your birth

... [Y]ou must prove domicile with original Polish-issued documents.

Source: https://www.henleyglobal.com/services/citizenship-descent/poland (“Polish Citizenship by Descent”)

Another key year is 1901:

Polish law provided that a man who takes on an additional citizenship retained his Polish citizen — and hence was an eligible link for a descendant’s application for citizenship by descent, provided he remained subject to military service. In 1951, Polish law changed and lowered the age for which a man remained subject to military service from 60 to 50. Accordingly, any male who was a dual citizen and was born prior to 1901 lost his Polish citizenship if he was no longer of military age — meaning he was older than 50 — as of the date of the new law, January 1951.

That said, you still may be able to claim Polish citizenship, depending on when you were born. A child of a Polish citizen enjoyed citizenship from birth, but his or her status was subject to that of his or her parent. If the parent lost his citizenship while he or she was a minor, so, too, did the minor. BUT if the child attained majority before the parent lost his own, the child — now an adult — remained a citizen; the citizenship he or she had as a minor no longer was subject to the vagaries of his or her parent.

A scenario with which I am familiar fleshes this out a bit. One scenario I know of was that the grandfather of the applicant — born in 1899 — lost his citizenship as of the date of the 1951 law, but his daughter (and the applicant’s mother), who was born in 1930 to a then-Polish citizen, thereby making her a Polish citizen from birth, retained her citizenship, since she was no longer a minor as of the 1951 law. Hence, if she were born in 1934, when her sister was born, she would have been a minor when, in 1951, her father lost his citizenship, at which time she, too, would have lost her citizenship. Significantly, the applicant’s cousins lost their eligibility, because their mother had been born in 1934 and lost her citizenship when their father lost his.

NOTE: A further wrinkle to consider when a woman is in the chain is that, prior to 1951, a woman lost her citizenship when she married a non-Pole. In the scenario I discussed, the applicant’s mother — and a Polish citizen in her own right post-1951 — married a non-Pole two months after the new law went into effect, which meant that the same marriage that would have cost the bride her citizenship prior to January 1951, had no effect on her status — or the applicant’s claim — solely because the wedding occurred under the new legal regime.

I am not a lawyer under Polish law, so this is not a legal opinion. This is based on my understanding of things…

Source: CRARG member, August 2024

Warning: some apparently reputable companies will attempt to have you pay as much as US$5000.00, even if you already have the needed documents!

Read other topics regarding Polish Jewish genealogy.