Granting citizenship by the President of the Republic of Poland

Polish citizenship is granted by the President of the Republic of Poland. In his decision, the president is not limited by any conditions that should be met by a foreigner in order to be granted Polish citizenship. This means that the President may grant Polish citizenship to any foreigner, regardless of - for example - how long they have been to Poland.

Note! The President of the Republic of Poland grants Polish citizenship or refuses to grant it in the form of a decision that does not require justification and is not subject to appeal. In matters of granting Polish citizenship, the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure shall not apply, except for the provisions relating to the delivery of correspondence.

PROCEDURE

Granting Polish citizenship takes place at the request of the foreigner. The application for granting Polish citizenship (with certain restrictions, as described below) is filed by persons legally residing in Poland to the President through the voivode competent for the place of residence of the person concerned. If the foreigner is staying abroad, the application should be submitted through the competent consul.

Note! If the foreigner is staying in Poland on the basis of a visa or in visa-free travel, they may submit the application only through the Polish consul competent for the place of permanent residence.

The application is submitted in person or by mail. Documents issued in a foreign language should be submitted together with their translation into Polish prepared by a sworn translator or by a consul of the Republic of Poland.

The application for granting Polish citizenship with additional information about the procedure is available here.

It’s worth knowing! The procedure of granting citizenship by the President may take a long time, as it does not have to be considered immediately (the provisions of CAP are not applicable here), as in the case of the procedure of recognition as a Polish citizen. The person applying for citizenship is obliged to justify their application and must present a significant reason why Polish citizenship should be granted to them.