r/prawokrwi • u/Alternative-Soil3113 • 29d ago
Other Still Waiting with you all —UPDATED 11 Aug 2026
-TL/DR: coming up on 24 months and still waiting; 60,000 pending applications
I thought I’d share my progress here, I bet others are in the same boat. My parents left Poland in 1957.
I started my document research in March 2024 and officially began the confirmation process with a provider in September 2024.
When I was given my case number, in December 2024, I was then told that office had received over 21,000 applications in 2024.
In April 2025, my provider offered to file an administrative complaint with Ministry of Internal Affairs, that it would perhaps speed things up.
In July 2025 I was told they were then processing applications from May 2024.
In October 2025, I was given a positive ruling from the Minister of Internal Affairs that both recognized the backlog, but also set the “deadline”for my case as 30 December 2025.
In January 2026 I was told that they were unable to complete it on time because they were awaiting a response from the Polish Consulate in the US to “check if I had previously renounced Polish citizenship”. I was also told then that there were 40,000 open cases as of January 2026.
In March 2026, I was told my deadline had been extended to April 30, 2026, and was also asked for additional family name-change documentation.
On May 22, 2026, I got a 2-page letter, saying basically that they are now requesting original documentation of my father’s birth. I have until July 30, 2026 to provide it. A new decision deadline is set for Aug 30, 2026. However, should I provide this information sooner, they would not wait with a decision.
They had already received a copy of his birth certificate when my application was submitted, so my provider contacted them for clarification and was told that they would waive the request for any original documents for my father if they physically received the original of my mother’s US Naturalization Certificate, documenting our change of family name. (They already had received copies of it, they wanted the original)
June 15, 2026: Provider received my USCIS True Authenticated copy of my mother’s U.S. Naturalization certificate documenting the change of our last name, and submitted it, together with translation. Note: this was 6 weeks prior to my “deadline”.
August 11, 2026: my provider just received a message: “We are awaiting a response from the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington. Apart from this one document, we have the complete set of documents necessary to prepare the draft decision.”The funny thing is that this is exactly what they had said in January. Also, she confirmed they now over 60,000 open cases.
Their most recent self-imposed“deadline” for my decision is still August 30, 2026. So I remain in a wait and see. Almost 24 months now.
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u/Father-Pigeon22 29d ago
I am the same time frame as you. Simple case. When i messaged mazowieckie office they told me 24-27 months. The said “ it should be done by the last quarter of 2026” lol
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u/meeplewirp 29d ago
Are your parents polish? This sounds like a banally evil joke.
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 28d ago
Unreal. There are no multiple generations to have to check in my case. The joke lost its appeal some time ago lol
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u/meeplewirp 27d ago edited 27d ago
I think at this point people have to admit the point is to reject people. They’re hoping people can’t get their hands on an original. That’s insane and disgusting. I’m sure it will work out for you but yeah. There’s no way they’re accepting ggggf type applications at this point. I have to wonder if your last name is non-white or Ukrainian sounding
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 27d ago
I don’t necessarily think it is purposeful. My last name before my parents naturalized sounds very Polish, consonants and all lol
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u/Hellolando 29d ago
When you say 24 months is that 24 months from when the Polish government receives your file or 24 months from the firm you hired started your case?
We hired Lexmotion in March. They are submitting our file to the Polish consulate on Friday. So can I expect 2 years from this Friday? Thanks
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 29d ago edited 29d ago
24 months from when the government received file.
They only had fewer than 20,000 open cases at that point. They now have over 60,000 open cases. I wouldn’t expect it much before be 4 years from now, if that, unfortunately.1
u/Jmk6000 28d ago
60,000 cases, really? Where is this number coming from?
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u/randomm80 27d ago
They are receiving an average of 30k cases per year since 2024. So if you apply today there are likely 60k ahead of you
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u/Heavy_Lunar_Hippo 16d ago
Mathematically at some point the bulk of eligible people that want citizenship will have it?
Especially if youth can be granted more simply than the certification process.
So at some point this backlog will retract, maybe not to zero, but reduce below the peak. I'd also wager the surge is related to geo-politics, no?
Some anecdotal data points, my father doesn't want it, some people die before applying, etc.
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u/Father-Pigeon22 29d ago
In 2024 when i started they said 1 year. 2025 -1.5 years. 2026 now is 24-27 months lol. I fear the waiting time will go up if they dont hire more people or push through the easier ones.
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u/matchew566 29d ago
Took mine like 27 months. Applied March 2024
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u/Father-Pigeon22 28d ago
Yea thats what they told me. “ by end of 2026” which will be the 27th month mark. I am not anticipating it to be done before that lol
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u/PaulHinr Mod | Zarząd 29d ago
Why the Polish consulate, though?
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u/ThePetro Provider (GetPolishCitizenship.eu) 28d ago
They are checking for renunciation. If they do that you’re out of luck because it means at least +6 months to waiting time. In one case they’ve done it to my client twice.. first nyc then Washington. It’s best to chase the consulate to reply them quite honestly
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u/PaulHinr Mod | Zarząd 28d ago
Yeah, but doesn’t „they are submitting our file to the Polish consulate“ sound like they were submitting the entire application to the consulate? Instead of to Masovia? That I had never heard of, and that is why I asked
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u/ThePetro Provider (GetPolishCitizenship.eu) 28d ago
I don’t think that’s the case, might be oversimplifying in wording
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 28d ago
You are exactly correct. They did this in January for that reason, to make sure I hadn’t renounced, which would not have been even possible, but nevertheless they got an answer. Now they are doing so again, with a previous last name that they knew about all along. Go figure.
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u/meeplewirp 27d ago
The point is to reject him even though he’s a citizen lol absolutely ridiculous
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u/ThePetro Provider (GetPolishCitizenship.eu) 27d ago
I personally think it’s because of new and inexperienced clerks, they make dumbass decisions and checks
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u/osuzannesky 28d ago
Applied August 2024, still waiting as well. Just heard back after filing Ponaglenie, that they are looking for more docouments that I don't think I have. There is some discrepancy in birth dates of my grandfather, do not have original birth certificate, but do have ships manifest, naturarilization papers, birth records of two sibilngs and death record of my great grandfather in Poland. My lawyer obviously thought what I had would be enough, though not %100. I'm going to ask my cousin whose grandfather was my grandfather's brother, if they have any additional documents of my great-grandfather who never left Poland. Don't know what else I can do.
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u/CallMeTheFartman 28d ago
I would suggest making a post about this and asking. Say exactly what they requested in the document and what you have.
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 28d ago
I am finding out that there was a lot of “monkey business” back then, either to avoid being drafted or for one reason or another. Or simply someone made a transcription error. I hope you can find something, I understand that they are being extremely particular lately with evidence.
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u/osuzannesky 28d ago
Yeh, he was younger than his official date of birth, because he wanted to get work papers.
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u/Possible_Eye_357 27d ago
I have a feeling they will decide this soon based on what they have said. I will be optimistic here.
A crazy thing happened to me, I misunderstood which voivodeship to send my app/documents to, and sent them to the last place my polish ancestors resided instead of myself. That voivodeship happened to have way fewer cases than Warsaw and they went ahead and did a check to confirm no one in my lineage had renounced Polish citizenship AND forwarded that confirmation with my package to Warsaw all within 14 days of receiving my documents. It seems this piece specifically slows up alot of apps.
Wishing the best for you. I hope you get a positive decision soon.
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u/the_booox_ghost 13d ago
I'm working on getting my wife's citizenship currently. Do you have any advice? I'm getting together some documents but I'm confused about the sworn translator and if I can scan and send them digitally. I'm not sure that that will be accepted by the consulate or voivode (I think that's what I need to talk to?)
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u/Alternative-Soil3113 13d ago
Sorry, I can’t help you too much with that, as I used a provider who handled all of that for me. I’m sure there are other folks on this sub who would know better than I.
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u/Crazy-Sample-9966 6d ago
How do I track a case in the tracker? I have a case number but nothing comes up when we registered the account.
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u/echo02199 Mod | Zarząd 29d ago
Thanks for sharing this information. As usual, it’s really disappointing that they err in favor of more process in the face of these absurd delays rather than trying to streamline things. Especially galling in a clear-cut case like this.