Restoration of Polish citizenship

This is a method of obtaining Polish citizenship available to the foreigners who used to hold Polish citizenship in the past but lost it before 1 January 1999 under article 38 item 1 of the act on Polish citizenship.

Citizenship is restored by virtue of an administrative decision issued by the Minister of the Interior upon request of the interested party, and it is conditional upon meeting certain formal requirements listed in chapter 5 of the act on Polish citizenship.

The application is submitted on an official form filled out in Polish. The detailed requirements to be met by the application are listed in article 40 of the act on Polish citizenship and in the Resolution of the Minister of the Interior concerning the template of the application form for accepting a foreigner as a citizen of Poland, as well as the photograph to be attached to the said application.

The application is submitted together with the appendices required by the above-mentioned legal acts, as well as the proof of paying a stamp duty in the amount of PLN 219.

The application is submitted to the Minister of the Interior. However, if the applicant is a foreigner residing abroad, then the application is submitted via the consul having jurisdiction over the foreigner’s place of residence.

The proceedings progress in accordance with the rules laid down in the code of administrative procedure.
A negative decision of the Minister cannot be appealed against, but the application can be re-submitted for repeated consideration by the same authority.