Conditions for recognition as a Polish citizen after a criminal conviction
In practice, being a convicted person may result in the person applying for Polish citizenship not being recognised as a Polish citizen. This applies even if the conviction has already been expunged and the person is listed in the National Criminal Register as not having been convicted. A certain deviation in such practice of administrative bodies and case law was caused by the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 9 April 2024, II OSK 1129/22.
According to the court, the fact of a conviction of a person applying for Polish citizenship for committing any crime cannot be automatically identified with the existence of a threat to the defence or security of the state or the protection of public safety and order. In such a case, administrative bodies should take into account the type of crime committed, the penalty imposed on such a person by the criminal court, as well as the behaviour of such a person after committing the crime.
In the case in question, the applicant seeking to obtain Polish citizenship was convicted by the District Court in Piaseczno, II Criminal Division, by its judgment of 18 April 2017, file reference II K 1373/16. The court found the applicant guilty of committing the act under Article 305 sec. 1 and 3 of the Industrial Property Law and imposed on him a fine of one hundred daily rates, setting the daily rate at thirty zlotys, and also ordered him to forfeit the material evidence to the State Treasury. Then, the District Court in Piaseczno, II Criminal Division, by its judgment of 5 December 2018, file reference II K 988/18, found the applicant guilty of committing the act under Article 305 sec. 1 and 3 of the Industrial Property Law and imposed on him a fine of two hundred daily rates, setting the daily rate at twenty zlotys, and also ruled that the material evidence be forfeited to the State Treasury. Both judgments indicated that the accused had turned the crime he had committed into a permanent source of income.
Despite this, in the opinion of the Supreme Administrative Court, the evidence gathered in the case and the factual circumstances established on its basis did not provide grounds for assuming that the acquisition of Polish citizenship by the cassation complainant would constitute a threat to the defence or security of the state or the protection of public safety and order.
Interestingly, the Court found that although the applicant had been convicted twice for committing an offence under § 305 § 3 of the Act of 30 June 2000 - Industrial Property Law (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1170, consolidated text). This offence is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years, however, in both cases the criminal court applied Article 37a of the Penal Code to the cassation complainant and imposed only a fine on him. The second of the judgments issued was issued on 5 December 2018. After this judgment, the applicant had not committed any further offences until 10 March 2021. It results from the criminal record drawn up on 10 March 2021 that the cassation complainant is not entered in the National Criminal Register as a person with a criminal record. The case files also do not indicate that he was convicted after the indicated date until the issuance of the appealed decision, i.e. until 14 June 2021. In the opinion of the Supreme Administrative Court, this proves that the offences committed were incidental in nature and do not in themselves provide grounds for assuming that there is a negative premise preventing the cassation complainant from acquiring Polish citizenship, referred to in Article 31 point 2 of the Act of 2 April 2009 on Polish citizenship.
To sum up, convicted persons have some chance of obtaining Polish citizenship if:
- The conviction has already been expunged
- 3 years or more have passed since the conviction and during that time there were no conflicts with the law
- they were sentenced only to a fine
