Marriage upon recognition as a Polish citizen
According to art. 30 sec. 1 item 2a of the currently applicable Act of 2 April 2009 on Polish citizenship, a Polish citizen is a foreigner who has been continuously residing in the territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 2 years on the basis of a permanent residence permit, a long-term EU resident permit or the right of permanent residence, and who has been married to a Polish citizen for at least 3 years.
In connection with this, the question arises whether the spouse of a foreigner must have Polish citizenship at all times from the moment of concluding the marriage, or only at the moment of concluding the marriage, or perhaps it is sufficient for him to have Polish citizenship at the time of recognition?
The teleological interpretation supports the idea of departing from a purely linguistic understanding of this provision, which would indicate the requirement for the spouse of a foreigner to have Polish citizenship only on the day of the wedding. It would lead to the absurd result that a foreigner who entered into a marriage with a Polish citizen, but after the wedding his spouse lost his Polish citizenship and would no longer have it at the time of recognition, could be recognized as a Polish citizen. The ratio legis of the provision in question is to facilitate the acquisition of Polish citizenship by spouses of Polish citizens whose marriage has lasted for at least 3 years, regardless of when the foreigner's spouse has held Polish citizenship.
A similar regulation was in force under the Act of 15 February 1962 on Polish citizenship. According to art. 10 of this Act, a foreigner who has been married to a person with Polish citizenship for at least 3 years and who resides in the territory of the Republic of Poland on the basis of a settlement permit, a long-term resident's EC residence permit or having the right of permanent residence, may acquire Polish citizenship if, within 3 years and 6 months from the date of entering into a marriage with a person with Polish citizenship or 6 months from the date on which the foreigner obtained a settlement permit, a long-term resident's EC residence permit or the right of permanent residence, he or she submits an appropriate declaration to the competent authority and this authority issues a decision accepting the declaration.
The interpretation of art. 10 of the 1962 Act was the subject of considerations by the Supreme Administrative Court. This court stated in its judgment of 13 June 2007 (II OSK 1098/06)
The provision of art. 10 sec. 1 of the Act of 15 February 1962 on Polish Citizenship (Journal of Laws of 2000, No. 28, item 353, as amended) also applies when, at the time of entering into a marriage, the spouse of the foreigner did not have Polish citizenship and acquired it after entering into a marriage.
In the justification of the discussed ruling, we read that the understanding of these provisions presented by the Court is supported primarily by the fact that in Art. 10, sec. 1a of the Act on Polish Citizenship, two independent deadlines for submitting a declaration of will to acquire Polish citizenship by the foreigner were introduced. The first deadline is counted from the date on which the foreigner obtains a settlement permit, and the second deadline from the date of entering into a marriage. If we were to assume that the manner in which the second deadline was defined implies that the condition for acquiring Polish citizenship is that the person with whom the foreigner enters into a marriage must already have Polish citizenship at the time of entering into the marriage, then an unacceptable situation would arise that would differentiate the conditions for acquiring Polish citizenship in this procedure depending on which of the deadlines for submitting the declaration of will the foreigner refers to. There is no doubt that in the event of submitting a declaration of will with reference to the deadline counted from the date on which the foreigner obtains a settlement permit, it cannot be assumed in any way that the condition for acquiring citizenship is not only that the foreigner has been married for at least 3 years to a person with Polish citizenship, but also that this person already had Polish citizenship on the day of entering into the marriage with this foreigner. It should also be noted that the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, opened for signature in New York on 20 February 1957, to which Poland acceded in 1959 (Journal of Laws of 1959, No. 56, items 334 and 335), does not make the application of the simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship dependent on whether the foreigner's spouse holds, on the day of the marriage, the citizenship of the country for which the foreigner applies. The purpose of introducing the "special simplified naturalization procedure" by the states bound by the Convention was to enable women to acquire their husband's citizenship relatively quickly and in a simplified manner compared to the method of acquiring citizenship outside this procedure.
There are stated that the reasons cited lead to the conclusion that the provision of Article 10, Section 1 of the Act on Polish Citizenship also applies when, at the time of entering into a marriage, the spouse of the foreigner did not have Polish citizenship and acquired Polish citizenship after entering into a marriage.
Due to the similarity of the provisions of the Act of 1962 with the provisions of the Act of 2009, it should be considered that the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court of 13 June 2007 remains valid.
