If one of the parents is a citizen of the Republic of Poland, the child acquires Polish citizenship by birth. In Polish law, the so-called ius sanguinis or the law of blood shall apply. This means that the child obtains the citizenship of one of its parents, and not the citizenship of the place (country) where the child was born. In order to make the acquisition of Polish citizenship by a child a fact, a declaration on the choice of citizenship for the child must be submitted to the Department of Citizenship and Foreigners of the Voivodeship Office competent for the place of residence. If the child’s parents are not married, recognition of the child by the father is required. Such declaration must be made within three months of the child’s birth and is submitted by both parents.
Each child born in Poland (regardless of the parents’ citizenship) must be registered with the Registry Office within 14 days of birth. This is done by the parent, or another authorized person. With the birth certificate issued by the Registry Office, you should go to the consular institution of the parents’ country of origin in order to obtain a passport for the child (or enter the child in the parents’ passport). With a ready passport, you can go to the Department of Civil Affairs at the place of residence of the parents (usually the child’s mother) and apply for registration. The first registration of residence takes place for a period of up to 3 months, and then, after obtaining a permit from the Voivodship Office, it can be made for a temporary stay of over 3 months. In order for the approval of our newborn child’s residency to be complete, we should not forget to obtain a PESEL number for the child. It will be necessary, among others in contacts with the public health service, regardless of the fact that parents are insured with ZUS (social insurance institution). The PESEL number is issued ex officio to foreigners registered for permanent or temporary residence lasting more than 3 months. In this case, after the foreigner submits the registration form at the office, the office is obliged to apply to the Minister of the Interior with a request for granting the foreigner a PESEL number. However, so that nothing unexpected happens, I suggest you to ask the registration office whether it will do so. The entire procedure of assigning a PESEL number should take about a month.
