Relocating to Poland/Europe - Resident Status

[cappucino boy 29]

Hi,

In the near future my wife and me were thinking of the future with the very possible choice of settling in Europe, eventually. I was wondering about me staying or gaining citizenship in Europe. My wife was/is a citizen of Poland and the EU, her oat ceremony for naturalization will be next week on Feb 12th, 2014 in Los Angeles, so she will have dual citizenship because Poland allows it. I was wondering if anyone had experience or advice in transitioning to Europe and staying as a U.S. citizen and what it would take for me to become part of the EU. As I'm not fluent in Polish, Poland citizenship would be difficult until I was but what about other english speaking countries? Would it be possible to live in one of those countries for the time it takes to become a permanent EU resident? Any thoughts would be helpful, our plan is to live there in Europe, that's one reason my wife became a citizen so we could legally leave for very long periods but come back when we need to because I will still have family here.

Thanks in advance

[christeen 966]

I don't know specifics about residency permits for Poland... But there is no generic "EU" residency. You must be a resident of a country (each one has its own rules and paperwork) and by doing so, your residency in an EU member country gives you the rights to travel,visa free, search of employment in other member countries, driving privileges with EU member state licence etc... So your wife perhaps needs to do some research on spouse residency requirements...

[cappucino boy 29]

Christeen,

Thank you for the response, it would certainly be easier for me to become a citizen of an English speaking country as opposed to my wife's home country Poland or another country where I'm not fluent. FYI my German s much better than my Polish which is almost non-existant. Knowing the answer would help us determine where we would decide to put down roots. We may just have to take our chances and pick where that is going to be and I'll end up learning a new langage anyway. I'm OLD and my brain doesn work that well anymore so learning a new language will be somewhat difficult but I'm still going to do because I don't want to be one of those people who settle in a country and expect them to speak my language in thier country.

I don't know specifics about residency permits for Poland... But there is no generic "EU" residency. You must be a resident of a country (each one has its own rules and paperwork) and by doing so, your residency in an EU member country gives you the rights to travel,visa free, search of employment in other member countries, driving privileges with EU member state licence etc... So your wife perhaps needs to do some research on spouse residency requirements...

Edited February 7, 2014 by cappucino boy

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Christeen,

Thank you for the response, it would certainly be easier for me to become a citizen of an English speaking country as opposed to my wife's home country Poland or another country where I'm not fluent. FYI my German s much better than my Polish which is almost non-existant. Knowing the answer would help us determine where we would decide to put down roots. We may just have to take our chances and pick where that is going to be and I'll end up learning a new langage anyway. I'm OLD and my brain doesn work that well anymore so learning a new language will be somewhat difficult but I'm still going to do because I don't want to be one of those people who settle in a country and expect them to speak my language in thier country.

Gaining citizenship in a EU country can be relatively simple or grueling, depending on the country and your specific situation. As for residency, given the EU affiliation of your wife, it would be a little earier, but I recall there were some specific rules for Polish people in some countries.

Also, residency does not always automatically means right to work, those are two separate (can be done in parallel) processes in some countries.

I'd suggest a trial run of a few months in the chosen destination, and not on vacation; not the same thing. Just the same as foreign spouses have adjustment issues when coming to the US, same applies to Americans abroad. Language is the least of the issues IMHO, having lived in 12+ countries in Europe and LatinAmerica (and speaking 5 1/2 languages, Polish is really difficult I'm finding. ..)

[kzielu 1,154]

About Polish being difficult - I was always impressed by Warsaw Embassy consuls how grammatically correct their polish was. Accent wasn't perfect, but most of the sentences were very correct.

Anyway - OP - in company I used to work for in Warsaw, there are at least several Americans that moved to Poland to be with their wives - I still work in this company, just in US so if you're interested - I can find out what does it take to move permanently and get work permission. Not a straightforward thing but certainly doable...

[cappucino boy 29]

Hi Gosia and Tito,

Thank you for the very useful information, I'm kind of excited even thinking about the potential to moving and being somewhere different after living here in the U.S. almost all of my life. Since my father was in the military we spent a good portion of my younger years moving around which had us over-seas for a short time. I got the travel bug one year after traveling to Germany to see a friend and since then I love traveling ever since. Wow you speak 5 1/2 different languages? It's hard with just my one, my wife has started me learning Polish and it's been really difficult. It's a very hard lanuage to understand. I had learned the basics for french and german and still remember words and short sentences and found it much easier to learn it.

I'm not sure what our timeline is or will be but I need to consider it because I'm not sure if my wife would consider staying here in the U.S. for all eternity. Her mother is still in Poland, Sandomierz and is getting older so eventually I know my wife will want to make sure that she has good care. If we have enough money I'd like to try and buy some place in Europe that has a temperate climate in the winter. I've yet to be in Poland during the winter, (I have spent winter in Germany) and being from southern C.A. I probably would have a hard time during the time.

Thank you again for responding, if you have any other advice, comments, experiences, (sounds like you have alot), I'd love to hear about them.

Bernie

Gaining citizenship in a EU country can be relatively simple or grueling, depending on the country and your specific situation. As for residency, given the EU affiliation of your wife, it would be a little earier, but I recall there were some specific rules for Polish people in some countries.

Also, residency does not always automatically means right to work, those are two separate (can be done in parallel) processes in some countries.

I'd suggest a trial run of a few months in the chosen destination, and not on vacation; not the same thing. Just the same as foreign spouses have adjustment issues when coming to the US, same applies to Americans abroad. Language is the least of the issues IMHO, having lived in 12+ countries in Europe and LatinAmerica (and speaking 5 1/2 languages, Polish is really difficult I'm finding. ..)

[cappucino boy 29]

Kzielu,

I'd love to find out what you know, or any information, experiences, etc that you may have at your disposal. I'd like to do as much searching and gathering as possible to figure out our options. I'm more of the informational searcher-gatherer in my wife's and my relationship. She's more of the shopper-spender/stuff gatherer in our relationship.

Thank you in advance.

Bernie

About Polish being difficult - I was always impressed by Warsaw Embassy consuls how grammatically correct their polish was. Accent wasn't perfect, but most of the sentences were very correct.

Anyway - OP - in company I used to work for in Warsaw, there are at least several Americans that moved to Poland to be with their wives - I still work in this company, just in US so if you're interested - I can find out what does it take to move permanently and get work permission. Not a straightforward thing but certainly doable...

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Hi Gosia and Tito,

Thank you for the very useful information, I'm kind of excited even thinking about the potential to moving and being somewhere different after living here in the U.S. almost all of my life. Since my father was in the military we spent a good portion of my younger years moving around which had us over-seas for a short time. I got the travel bug one year after traveling to Germany to see a friend and since then I love traveling ever since. Wow you speak 5 1/2 different languages? It's hard with just my one, my wife has started me learning Polish and it's been really difficult. It's a very hard lanuage to understand. I had learned the basics for french and german and still remember words and short sentences and found it much easier to learn it.

I'm not sure what our timeline is or will be but I need to consider it because I'm not sure if my wife would consider staying here in the U.S. for all eternity. Her mother is still in Poland, Sandomierz and is getting older so eventually I know my wife will want to make sure that she has good care. If we have enough money I'd like to try and buy some place in Europe that has a temperate climate in the winter. I've yet to be in Poland during the winter, (I have spent winter in Germany) and being from southern C.A. I probably would have a hard time during the time.

Thank you again for responding, if you have any other advice, comments, experiences, (sounds like you have alot), I'd love to hear about them.

Bernie

Well, our plan is to move to SouthAmerica in some years, around retirement.

Been there a couple of times in the past 2 years; and have 2-3 possible places already selected; need to eplore another 2-3. The main reason: It's warm and nice, year round.

Fairly easy to travel to the US and Europe if need exists; cost of living is absolutely amazing; no big brother if you know what I mean, extremely friendliness of the people; and so much to see.

As I said, you want to do a trial run before you actually move; that was the purpose of our trips to SouthAmerica. I've lived there so I know I have no problem.

Curious enough, one comment mife said was that it was very similar to Poland, sans the cold weather and the language.

Last time, last December, she already was going to the groceries and malls on her own. She likes a lot that you can bargain the price of about everything.

Also, South America is very alike Europe in habits, manners, education style, etc; so she felt right at home every time we went out with local people.

Of course, there is family to consider as in your case, hence the ease of traveling to the US and Europe.

Finally, I've already have documentation to live and work there (in all of South America) and I can fairly easily get it for wife as well.

My advice is that you plan this with at least a couple of years ahead of time.

One of the things that I've done in the past is to never lookout for connationals. I live where I want to live; sooner or later they will find you or you will find them; and I keep a certain distance. I don't want to live in a little enclave of Poland, US or any country, but with local people as the center and focus of life.