Second Pass

Citizenship by Descent in Poland

The Verdict: Unlikely

Your ancestor most likely never held Polish citizenship, because they left before it existed in 1920. Look at our diaspora route, which needs Polish ancestry rather than citizenship.

Poland was not a state between 1795 and November 1918. The 1920 Citizenship Act, in force from 31 January 1920, gave citizenship to people settled on the new state's territory or born there. A line can only pass on what its first person held.

It is a long shot rather than a flat no. The Act also reached people who had the right to be entered in the permanent population registers, or a right of settlement in a Galician gmina, and that right did not always end when someone emigrated. Property, registrations or military papers on Polish territory into the 1920s are the documents to look for.

The diaspora route is the stronger one for most people here. A person of Polish origin who intends to settle in Poland can get permanent residence straight away, needing one parent or grandparent, or two great-grandparents, of Polish nationality, and can apply for citizenship a year later.

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