Birth certificates

There are three things that need to be set up for kids born abroad and moving to Poland. The first thing is to assign them a registered address (zameldowanie). The second is to get the PESEL numbers for them which  are similar to the social security number in the US. Finally, they need Polish birth certificates.

Zameldowanie

Zameldowanie is needed for birth certificates or perhaps the PESEL numbers, which are assigned when the cerificates are issued. The crucial dependency here is the signature of the owner of the place whose address you assign to the person. This means that you either own some apartment or a house or someone else agrees to sign the documents. As being registered at an address gives certain rights to the registered person it is not possible to get such signature from a landlord if you rent an apartment. In my case my parents agreed to register me and my kids in their house. My wife is registered at the place where her mom lives. Normally also PESEL is needed to fill the application for zameldowanie, but after some meditation over the nature of circular dependencies in Polish regulations the clerk decided that PESEL is not necessary. The documents to prepare are:

1. National ID card of the parent. I had just received it at the same office.
2. The child’s birth certificate or passport. As I was told this is to prove that I am not trying to register a non-existent person. Or something like that.
3. The application with the signature of the owner of the place where you want the child to be registered.
4. Some document confirming the ownership. Since there is no one document like the car tittle in the US it is best to take a couple of documents in hope that the clerk will like one of them. My father had to drive back home to get the document that the clerk said would satisfy her.

Birth certificates and PESEL

After having the kids registered as living at my parents house I went to a different section of the (equivalent of) the Town Hall to apply for their Polish birth certificates. There was a special office for getting birth certificates for Polish kids born abroad, apparently this has became quite common. The clerk there dictated what I should write on the form. The cost was about 80 zł per certificate ($30). The documents she sked for were:

1. My ID card. This is needed practically for everything and not always can be substituted by passport.
2. American birth certificates with sworn translations to Polish. I had to leave both the originals and translations for the archive.
3. I don’t remember if the clerk asked for certificates of zameldowanie, but for sure the registered address needed to be written on the application form.

It takes about a week for the birth certificates to be issued. They can be picked by any person from immediate family, if the authorization for that person is written on the application form. In my case my father will take care of that. The PESEL number is assigned when the certificate is issued. Once my kids have their PESELs  I can start the process of getting the health  insurance for them.

assign them a registered address (zameldowanie

Container is about to arrive to port

The container with the household is to arrive to Gdynia during the weekend September 12-13. It is supposed to be processed in Gdynia  for transit and then transported to Wrocław where the real processing will take place. The documents I had to prepare were as follows:

1. A document certifying that I am registered at an address in Poland. This has to be a permanent address. Registering a permanent address may be a problem if you don’t own an apartment or a house in Poland.
2. A copy of the National ID card. I got it at the last moment on Friday. This required a trip from Wrocław to Lublin as the card has be applied for and received in person.
3. Documents that confirm that I was staying in the US for 12 months before moving to Poland. I provided electricity bills for last 12 months.
4. Documents that confirm my intent of permanently moving to Poland. I provided the work contract and the rental agreement. The customs also require having a permanent registered address, which should be in the city you intend to live. In my case it is not the same: I plan on living in Wrocław, while my permanent registered address is in Lublin. The requirement of having a permanent registered address makes no sense for people who are relocating and has no basis in regulations. The customs officials still require that though.  We will see if my address in Lublin is sufficient to avoid problems.
5. A list of stuff you want to claim as immigrant’s personal and household effects (mienie przesiedlencze). This should not be too sketchy or too detailed. I got an example from a friend that I followed.
6. The authorization for the customs agency handling the case to represent me.

One can find information on the web that any documents submitted to to the customs need to be translated by a sworn translator and any copies should be notarized. Translating the bills from point 3 above cost me about $200, but it turned out this was not needed. You may want to check before spending money.

The customs in Gdynia needed only scans of the documents, while the originals were provided to the agency in Wrocław.

National ID card

So, I am in Poland now.

The first thing to do is to get the ID card. Poland does have a national ID card that is pretty much necessary to have if you live here. In particular it is necessary when dealing with customs once the container arrives to Gdynia. It takes up to three weeks to get it, so the big question is whether the stuff arrives before that or not.

To obtain the ID one has to show up in person in Urząd Miasta and submit the following documents:

1. Three pictures. The pictures are kind of special, “left half-profile”, different than what is required for passport. In Lublin there is a photo service located in Urząd Miasta. The set of four costs 28zl ($10). Don’t forget to shave in the morning, this picture stays with you for ten years.
2. The request form. This can be downloaded from the Urząd Miasta site of the city you want to live in.
3. The previous ID. In my case that was the booklet-style ID from communist times.
4. Marriage certificate may be needed unless you married in the city where you request the ID. It is better to have it just in case.
5. The receipt confirming you have paid 30 zl to the Urząd Miasta account.

So this is the official list. However, when I came to the office the clerk wanted to see my passport as well, so I had to go back home and come again. There is also some tricky part with “zameldowanie”. In Poland everybody has to register his/her address with the goverment. It is a really annoying remnant of communism. In my case I didn’t unregister my address when I left Poland in 1994, which technically is a misdemeanor, but it simplified things somewhat when I was applying for the ID. It is not that easy to get the address registered as the owner of the dwelling you live in has to sign the form. If you rent, forget about it. I don’t know what happens when you don’t have a registered address.