Polish citizenship - News

Loss of Polish citizenship due to acquisition of foreign citizenship

The acquisition of foreign citizenship resulted in the period from January 31, 1920 to January 18, 1951 resulted in the loss of Polish citizenship.

The law provided for exceptions to this rule:

• - men obliged to active military service.
• - wedding children during their father's life
• - women during their husband's life.

It should be remembered that men were obliged to military service not all their lives, but only in the age range specified by military regulations. If a man was older or younger at the time of acquiring foreign citizenship then he would lose Polish citizenship. He was treated like a woman. The courts also considered that even if, at the time of acquiring a foreign citizenship, a man was subject to the obligation of active military service, when he got old and ceased to be subject to the obligation of this service, then he lost Polish citizenship. This view should be criticized, because it violates the principle of permanent citizenship, and also creates an unknown law institution of temporary citizenship. One can hope that the jurisprudence will change in this respect. The court rulings also show the principle that men who, due to their health condition, were not subject to active military service were also not subject to the obligation of military service and thus lost their Polish citizenship. More details on:

military service

Exceptions regarding wedding children and married women arise from the principle of uniformity of citizenship of spouses and their minor children resulting from art. 13 of the Act of 1920 (cf. judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 26 August 2011, II OSK 1776/10). It meant that only the loss of Polish citizenship by the "head of the family" caused the loss of Polish citizenship by underage children and wife. However, it should be remembered that after the death of her husband, the wife and children were no longer protected in this way and their acquisition of foreign citizenship resulted in the loss of Polish citizenship. On the other hand, after her husband's death, under the law on citizenship, the mother did not become the "head of the family" and her loss of Polish citizenship did not cause her to lose her citizenship. The child could independently acquire foreign citizenship and then lose Polish citizenship. Incidentally, it can be said that if during the marriage the wife or child acquired foreign citizenship, but as a result of the protection of her husband did not lose Polish citizenship at the time of acquiring foreign citizenship, they did not lose Polish citizenship later if the husband and father died. Another interpretation was contrary to the principle of permanent citizenship.