Documents proving Polish descent

For whatever reason you have decided to go through the procedure of confirming your Polish Citizenship and made sure that you are eligible (if not, you can do it at our website for free) you still need documents to prove that you have a right to claim it. We want to guide you and show which of the documents that you may have at home may help you to go through the procedure of confirmation of your Polish Citizenship.

Polish legal system is based on the right of blood (Jus Sanguinis), which means that if at least one of your parents was Polish, it does not matter if you were born in Poland or abroad – you still have a right to claim your Polish citizenship. Therefore, some documents are extremely useful for the procedure and can secure you a positive decision.

The documents we are presenting in this article are so valuable for the procedure because they were issued only to Polish citizens, therefore they confirm the citizenship of your genitors or ancestors. We will not only describe their function, but also provide you with some sample documents, so you can look for them in your family archive.

Polish Passport – Polski Paszport

Polish passport is our number one. This travel document certifies both identity and nationality. On its front cover you should find the following inscription: “Paszport – Rzeczpospolita Polska”, which can be easily translated to “Passport – The Republic of Poland”, in some cases accompanied by the word “Ludowa” if the passport was issued before 1989.

Polish ID Card – Dowód osobisty

The most common document that a citizen of any given country possesses is also a highly valued asset when trying to claim your citizenship. Polish ids will not be different in this matter. Polish pre-WWII id cards stand out in this matter, as they are also passports. On the front cover we can find “dowód osobisty” but on the inside there is also an information it is also a passport.

Reemigration registration card -the “strange passport”

If you come across a document labelled “Karta Rejestracyjna Reemigracyjna” you may be a bit puzzled, but don’t worry, it is a 100% legitimate passport. After the World War I, there were many migrations, as economies were dynamic, so were the borders. These documents were issued to Polish citizens returning to Poland in the consulates abroad and permitted them to re-enter their motherland. But even though they functioned one-way only, they still proved that the traveller is of Polish nationality, which is the most important feature in our case.

There is also a special case of Polish passport that was both ID card and passport, but we will cover that in the next paragraph.

Reemigration registration card

Registration Card – Karta Meldunkowa

Every person had to register their stay in an apartment or house, and the landlord was obliged to keep a record of tenants. Back in the day not everyone could register easily – you had to be a polish Citizen. Therefore, a registration card is also a very useful source of information for the citizenship procedure.

Book of military records – Zeszyt ewidencyjny

Each soldier receives his book of records, where his service is documented. At first glance it is a document loosely connected to citizenship. However, if you think about it to serve in the army, one needs to be a citizen of a given country, therefore it validates nationality and helps us to claim the citizenship.

If you came across any of these documents and none of your ancestors renounced or lost their citizenship you have a great chance to secure your citizenship, if you want our Law Office to help you just follow this link . If you are not sure whether you should apply for Polish citizenship and Polish passport, you should read our article about the advantages of having Polish citizenship (link!) as soon as possible!

Last but not least, apart from proving your Polish origins you will have to prove your relation with other members of your family. To do that, you will have to provide your family’s vital records. This is a special category of documents, that proves your kinship, but cannot alone prove your origin. You can read more about them in this article.

We hope that thanks to this article your procedure will go smooth, and you will be able to enjoy your citizenship in no time!