Citizenship
Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the law as being a legal member of a sovereign state.
Each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to ist citizenship.
You will understand the primary and secondary ways of granting citizenshipgranting citizenship in Poland and other states.
You will know how a foreignerforeigner can apply for Polish citizenship and what the conditions are.
You will understand what the Polish Card is, who may receive it, and what rights it grants.
You will understand how citizenship may be lost.
What is citizenship?
The history of mankindmankind is the history of societies and nations. Societies, especially in today's world, may be multinational. Societies and nations in specific historical conditions were created by states that had, among others, providedprovided them with a sense of security and defined behavioral norms written in the law. This way, a special bond was formed between states and members of societies. We call this bond citizenship.
In today's world citizenship is a legal bond connecting an individualindividual to a state, on the basis of which the individual has specific rights and obligations to the state, and the state has duties and rights to the individual. The determination of matters related to citizenship, and in particular the methods of its acquisitionacquisition and possibly also the lossloss, belongs to the state itself.
Ways of acquiring citizenshipacquiring citizenship are regulated by the national law of individual countries. However, states have rather limited possibilities of legal interpretation related to citizenship. Therefore, the legal methods of acquiring citizenship may be divided into primary and secondary.
Primary ways of acquiring citizenship
Primary ways of acquiring citizenship
Citizenship by birth, right of blood, ius sanguinis
At least one of the parents should be a citizen of a given country, then he can decide about citizenship granted to his child. If both parents are citizens of the same country, the child acquires citizenship automatically after parents and no additional declarations are needed.
Right of the soil, birthright citizenship, ius soli
A child born within the territory of the state is granted citizenship of this state, regardless of the citizenship of its parents.
The territory of the state is understood broadly as both the proper territory, limited by international agreements, but also the aircrafts and ships, as well as the diplomatic missions of the country.
Secondary ways of acquiring citizenship
Secondary ways of acquiring citizenship
Naturalisation
A foreigner may be granted citizenship of a country in which he or she has settled. The case concerns immigrants arriving for economic reasons as well as refugees fleeing their country for fear of persecution, and their spouses. Naturalization is voluntary and the process is initiated at the request of a person interested in obtaining citizenship. Some of the conditions are to have lived in the territory of a given country for 5, 7 or 10 years and knowledge of the language of the country for the citizenship of which the foreigner is applying. The past of the applicant, his good opinion, and regular income are also taken into account. Often, examinations are also prepared, which check the level of awareness of the candidate and his interest in the country for which he / she is seeking citizenship. You can also acquire citizenship of a country as a result of marrying its citizen. Then the procedures for granting citizenship are shortened.
Reintegration
Reinstitution of citizenship that has been lost due to various reasons, e.g. renunciation of citizenship, unlawful denaturalization or loss of citizenship by a child under 16 on the basis of his parents’ decision.
Repatriation
This way of acquiring citizenship involves returning to the home country of people who for various reasons found themselves outside of the country (war, change of borders) and lost citizenship of their country of origin.
In Poland the right of blood is applied. A child acquires – by law – Polish citizenship by birth from parents, at leastat least one of whom has Polish citizenship, regardlessregardless of the place of the child's birth. According to the Polish law, the right of the soil may also be applied. This happens when a child is born or found in the territory of the Republic of Poland and both parents are unknown, their citizenship is undefined or they have no citizenship. Then the child acquires Polish citizenship under the law. The Polish law also permitspermits the acquisition of citizenship by adoption. A child adopted by a person or persons possessing Polish citizenship acquires Polish citizenship if the full adoption took place before the child was 16 years old.
The President of the Republic of Poland may grant Polish citizenship to a foreigner, at the foreigner’s requestrequest. Foreigners residing in Poland may apply for Polish citizenship through a voivode competentcompetent for the place of their residence, and if they reside abroad – through an appropriateappropriate consul. In the case of foreigners who apply for Polish citizenship and have previously lived in the territory of the Polish state, it is possible to shorten the procedures and recognize them as Polish citizens. To apply for Polish citizenship by recognition, foreigners have to:
reside in Poland on the basis of specific permits, and within a long term (at least 3 years) legal stay in Poland have integrated with the Polish society,
be able to speak Polish,
have a place to live and a source of income,
respect the Polish law,
be of no danger to the state’s defense or security.
This right applies especially to refugees, people with no citizenship, children and spousesspouses of Polish citizens, as well as people of Polish originorigin. Recognition of citizenship does not require a decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, but may take place in the course of administrative proceedings, in which the first instance is the appropriate voivode.
Listen to the excerpt from the Act on repatriation and answer the following questions.
Citizenship loss
The terms of citizenship loss are determined by each state under its internal law. Most often (also in Poland) however, the principle is applied that citizenship may be waivedwaived only by the citizen himself, although in this case the state authorities ensureensure that the renunciation of citizenship does not lead to statelessness.
According to the UN Convention of 1954, the creation stateless persons, i.e. persons with no citizenship, should be avoided. Being a stateless person is disadvantageousdisadvantageous to an individual because of the lack of protection from a state and its consular services or the lack of civil rights of children of such a person, especially if the right of blood is in force in a given country. When parents are known but have no citizenship, children cannot get their citizenship.
The conditions of waiving citizenship are, for example:
acquisition of citizenship of another country - this may result in the loss of citizenship already held. In democratic countries, dual citizenship is traditionally recognized, even if such a possibility has not been entered into the law,
joining the military service of another country - there are countries that have mercenary troops. Often, former soldiers from other countries are recruited to them (an example may be the French Foreign Legion). If, however, the interests of a state having such an army are contrary to the interests of the state of which the person is a citizen, he may lose his citizenship,
marriage with a citizen of another country – rarely the spouse's country recognizes only one nationality. Even then, however, the regulations of the international law are important.
A legal bond, connecting an individual with his state, called citizenship, arisesarises in many ways. The existence of this relationship results in mutual rights and obligations. Nowadays, the legal systems of states allow or tolerate the possession of more than one citizenship. Poland belongs to a group of countries in which citizenship is acquired by birth from parents who are Polish citizens (the right of blood). At the same time art. 34 par. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland states that a Polish citizen cannot lose his Polish citizenship unless he renouncesrenounces it himself. After Poland's accession to the European Union, Polish citizens automatically acquired citizenship of the European Union.
Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise. Match the pairs: English and Polish words.
pozwolenie na pracę, cudzoziemiec, uzyskać (obywatelstwo), zrzec się, przestrzegać (tradycji, obyczajów), prowadzić działalność gospodarczą, przyznać (obywatelstwo), prześladowanie
to renounce | |
persecution | |
to grant (citizenship) | |
to conduct business | |
to acquire/obtain (citizenship) | |
foreigner | |
cultivate (traditions, customs) | |
work permit |
Keywords
citizenship, naturalization, repatriation, visa, primary/secondary ways of acquiring citizenship, citizenship by birth, right of blood, ius sanguinis, right of the soil, birthright citizenship, ius soli, foreigner, recognition of citizenship, the Polish Card, a stateless person
Glossary
otrzymanie, uzyskanie
odpowiedni
przynajmniej
na prośbę/wniosek
upadek, rozpad
kompetentny, właściwy
przestrzegać (tradycji, obyczajów)
niekorzystna
cudzoziemiec
jednostka
łącznie
utrata
ludzkość
pochodzenie
na stałe
prześladowanie
bez względu
małżonek (małżonka)
uzyskać (obywatelstwo)
powstawać
potwierdzić
dotyczyć
prowadzić działalność gospodarczą
upewniać się, zapewniać
przyznać (obywatelstwo)
rozpoczynać
zakładać, obejmować, angażować
wydać (wizę)
zezwalać
udowodnić, dowieść
dostarczać, zapewniać
zrzec się
osiedlić się
uchylić
dobrowolna
pozwolenie na pracę