Welcome!
Welcome!
Welcome to British In Poland.
What you’ll find here
The heart of this website is my blog. There you will find a number of articles about how to survive in Poland. I have written up my experiences in dealing with Polish bureacracy which I hope will help you in dealing with day to day life as a foreigner living in Poland.
Why this website?
When I first moved to Poland I found it really hard to get accurate information on what hoops I had to jump through to get my documents in order. Also there aren’t that many Brits living in Poland and so sometimes whilst living here there is the impression that you are fighting Polish bureacracy alone. Thus this website was created with a view to helping Brits who want to live in Poland.
Please note that although I write from the point of view of a Brit, all procedures are the same for any EU citizen and I don’t mean to exclude my fellow Europeans when I talk about “Brits” or “English”.
If you’re from elsewhere (e.g. USA or Australia) – sorry but you’re going to be in for a much tougher time. The rules are usually much more complicated for non-EU citizens and as they didn’t apply to me I don’t know much about them.
Website History
I started my British In Poland blog over at blogger.com in February 2008. I have blogged regularly since then and as my article count has grown so has my readership. So a few months later in September 2008 I decided it was a good time to move my blog to its own domain and so www.britishinpoland.com was born. Having my own domain and control of my own server account means I can start to add cool new stuff such as podcasts, surveys and more. Watch this space!
Hi there, stumbled across the site by accident, am still laughing over your tales with the Karte Pobytu and stories of the car/motorbike registration saga. I am English and moved to Bydgoszcz 6 years ago after a rather acrimonius split with my English wife. I am 53 and finally got back on my feet here but it was a monumental battle. Poland has been very good for me but would agree that the bureacracy is mind boggling. However one way round this is to get the Karte Pobytu and then using that register in some small Gmina in the country, it was possible for me as I own a house in a small village as well as my apartment. Now these small hick towns have pen pushers and little to do, so no waiting in line, result bafflement but if you get your story straight no problem. I could write a book on the ludicrous situations I got into. Probably the funniest was when I ended up in a ‘tug of war’ when registering my Polish car. The registration clerk was just handing the number plates through the hatch when she changed her mind, so I grabbed the plates and she held firm onto her end. I realised I would probably get arrested but as my car was sat outside in the car park without plates and I had some important visits that day I held on. She started shouting at me and I realised she just wanted a further document which I did not have. It was the little red passport book which did not come with the car it was too old to have one. We compromised in the end after I signed a letter she wrote out for me. The end result was I am now well known at the vehicle registration office and subsequent visits have gone smoothly. However I strongly recommend not getting into a strop as it usually results in a big problem.
As well as my estate agents business we also have two other sites
http://www.polishlokal.com and http://www.cherishedpoland.com any idea how we could promote them?
Just as a final comment, I have a few English friends who moved here and almost without exception have been totally ripped off, all of Polish decent originaly, most are now dissillusioned and going home broke, is it possible to promote your site a bit more to ex pats before they get here?
Hi Stephen – thanks for all of your recent comments on the various blog posts. I will drop you a separate email about the websites. Cheers. Ben
Hi Ben. Stumbled across this website today. Very helpful. I am Irish and my fiance is Polish. Recently I have been let go due to the recession and I am half thinking of moving to Poland. I have been there many times but just for holidays mainly. Trying to find a job in my field (jeweller) which is tough but fingers crossed. Your website is very helpful, very well done.