Many of you are planning to obtain Polish citizenship. This process is long and time-consuming. However, the paperwork does not end with the granting of Polish citizenship. After the holiday in honour of the joyous event, you will have to think about the documents. After all, they contain the name and surname written according to the English transliteration. Of course, there are coincidences with the Polish version, but rarely.
English transliteration
According to the law, the application for citizenship must contain data according to the translation of the birth certificate. In turn, the name and surname must correspond to the spelling in the foreign passport and residence card. Poles often have difficulties in reading and pronouncing the Latin version of surnames and first names of people from the post-Soviet space. Many of you have probably already encountered this problem at the polyclinic, university and other institutions.
Thus, Belarusian names and surnames are distorted beyond recognition. The reason is that the Russian sound of a name and surname is first translated into Belarusian and only then into Latin. For example, the female name Olga turns into Volha (Volga in Belarusian), and the surname Snegireva into Sniahirova.
You will agree that being a Polish citizen with a name and surname written according to the English transliteration and sounding different in Polish is at least strange. Therefore, it is often a question of changing your name and surname to the Polish spelling.
Change of name and surname
This procedure is based on the Ustawie o zmianie imienia i nazwiska.
Holders of a Pole card (stałego pobytu or Polish diploma) with a Polish variant of first and last name are likely to use Art.4 ust.1 p.4 or p.2.
Punkt 4 "...na imię lub nazwisko noszone z przepisami prawa państwa, którego obywatelstwo również się posiada...". - in the name or surname written according to the spelling rules of the state whose citizenship is held.
Punkt 2 "...na imię lub nazwisko użymane..." - to the name or surname that is being used.
In order to make changes, you must go to the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego. There you must write an application (wniosek), pay the fee. You must also attach to the application photocopies of documents that show that you have used your name and surname in Polish before. For example, a copy of a Pole card or a diploma from a Polish university.
Remember that you can apply to ANY Urząd Stanu Cywilnego throughout Poland, regardless of where you live.
After you have changed your name and surname, an employee of the Administration (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego) will issue you a decision on the change of data (decyzja). This document will contain your previous and new data, as well as the date of the decision. In addition, the same inspector will make changes to the PESEL within a few days.
Replacement of documents
Once you have the decision in hand, it is worth getting the latest version of the birth certificate immediately. To do this, you will need to write an application again. In the "Purpose of issuance" column, specify that you need the certificate to obtain an internal passport. Then you will not have to pay for this service. Now it remains only to issue a civil passport. By the way, it is also issued free of charge. But the waiting period for a new document can be up to 30 days.
