I can't remember the last time I've written a review on something and I know I've definitely never written a positive review in my entire life, but when it comes to my experience with the Polish Consulate in Toronto, I just had to. To give hope to others aspiring to confirm their possession of Polish citizenship and reach the end goal of obtaining a Polish passport like I did.
Let me start off by saying that my case was relatively simple. My mother is Polish and I have all of our original documents.
As a research analyst, I learned everything I could about this process before deciding to give it my best shot. This process seemed very daunting when I was reading the Polish citizenship message boards. Some said that it took them 10 years to receive confirmation. Others said that the whole process cost them $10,000. Others said that they had to hire lawyers to take care of everything because it was too much for them to handle. I decided to pass on hiring a lawyer and did everything on my own.
I started collecting documents in June 2016 and went for my appointment to apply for confirmation of Polish citizenship at the Consulate on November 7, 2016. I also registered my Austrian birth certificate at the consulate during that same trip. Yes, it took 5 whole months for me to gather everything together. I needed to order a new original birth certificate from Landstraße, I had to find a certified translator sworn in Poland to translate my German documents into Polish, my uncle in Vienna had to mail me some of my mother's original documents, I had to order my parents' original divorce papers from my city's courthouse, and I had to collect my original Canadian Citizenship Certificate from my father through my brother because my father and I don't speak. Needlesstosay, these things (mainly registered mail) take time. The consulate told me that it would take about 2-3 months for me to receive my confirmation and be issued a Polish birth certificate.
Unfortunately, I do not speak Polish (yet). My mother, the employees at the consulate, and a woman at the Polish community of my hometown helped me fill out the 12 page form. I definitely know what nazwisko means now. The form expects you to know a lot of information about yourself, your parents, and your grandparents including their birthdays, their birth places, and their family, education, and employment history.
I had to go to the consulate 3 more times after that initial appointment. The first time was on February 3, 2017 to apply for my PESEL number and start my passport application. You can only apply for your PESEL number once your Polish citizenship has been confirmed (this took about 3 months -- just like they said it would) and you have been issued a Polish birth certificate (this took about 2 months -- just like they said it would). The second time was on February 17, 2017 to give them my fingerprints and complete my passport application since my PESEL number was assigned to me a few days before that. My final visit was on April 3, 2017 (today) to finally pick up my passport (note that my passport had already arrived by March 23, 2017 but I was too busy with school around that time to pick it up any sooner). Every single employee I met at the consulate was patient and kind throughout the entire process.
This entire process cost me only $511.86. This included all consular fees, translation costs, shipping, etc. While I realize that $511.86 is not exactly a small sum, several visas (which aren't valid for 10 years) can cost more than double of that.
My 3 tips:
1. Make sure that you actually meet the requirements to obtain citizenship so you don't waste time and money. Read your local consulate's website to find out what they require from you and don't hesitate to call them if you need clarification on anything. 2. Be organized. 3. Don't give up.
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this process as I consider myself a professional at this point.
