Guide · Citizenship
Which Polish citizenship law applies to your ancestor?
By Natalia Przewoźnik, Trainee Attorney
Polish citizenship by descent is judged one generation at a time, each time under the statute in force on the day that child was born. Four statutes have applied since 1920. For each of them, this page sets out how citizenship passed to a child and what could end it.
Key points
- Four statutes have governed Polish citizenship since January 31, 1920. The one in force on the day of each birth decides that link in the family line.
- 1920 to 1951: a child born to married parents took the father's citizenship. Naturalization abroad, or foreign public office or military service without consent, ended it, and the loss reached the wife and children under 18.
- 1951 to 1962: a child of two Polish parents was Polish. With one foreign parent, the result depended on where the child was born and, for births abroad, on the other country's law.
- 1962 to 2012: one Polish parent was enough at birth, unless both parents chose the other citizenship within three months.
- Since August 15, 2012: one Polish parent is enough, and citizenship ends only by renunciation with the consent of the President of Poland.
Why does the date of each birth matter?
Because citizenship by descent passes at birth, one link at a time. The question for every generation is the same: was the parent through whom you trace citizenship a Polish citizen on the day the child was born, under the rules of that day? A later statute does not reach back and change what happened under an earlier one, so a family line running from the 1920s to today can involve all four.
The table is a summary; the sections after it give the provisions. How the decision itself is obtained is described in our guide on confirming Polish citizenship.
| Period and statute | How citizenship passed to a child | What could end it |
|---|---|---|
| January 31, 1920 to January 18, 1951 Act of January 20, 1920 | Child of married parents: the father's citizenship. Child born outside marriage: the mother's. | Foreign naturalization; foreign public office or military service without consent. The loss reached the wife and children under 18. |
| January 19, 1951 to August 20, 1962 Act of January 8, 1951 | Two Polish parents. One Polish and one foreign parent: Polish unless the parents chose the other citizenship within a month; for births abroad, only if the other country applied the same rule. | Foreign citizenship taken after permission to change citizenship; deprivation of a citizen living abroad. |
| August 21, 1962 to August 14, 2012 Act of February 15, 1962 | Two Polish parents, or one Polish parent: Polish at birth unless the parents chose the other citizenship within three months. | Foreign citizenship taken after permission to change citizenship; deprivation of a citizen living abroad. |
| Since August 15, 2012 Act of April 2, 2009 | At least one Polish parent. | Only renunciation with the consent of the President of Poland. |
What applied from 1920 to 1951?
The Act of January 20, 1920 on Citizenship of the Polish State took effect on January 31, 1920. A child born to married parents acquired the father's citizenship, and a child born outside marriage the mother's (Article 5). A father who had naturalized in the United States before a child's birth could therefore no longer pass Polish citizenship to that child.
Article 11 listed the grounds for loss: acquiring a foreign citizenship, and taking public office or entering military service in another country without the consent of the Polish government. Under Article 13 the loss extended to the wife and to children up to 18, unless the Minister of the Interior decided otherwise. The Act also refers to Polish women who lost citizenship by marrying a foreigner, and let them regain it after the marriage ended if they settled in Poland and made a declaration (Article 10).
Two further rules can decide a case. People obliged to active military service could acquire a foreign citizenship only with permission; without it, Poland did not stop treating them as its citizens, and from December 25, 1932 the condition became release from the general military obligation. And a 1938 statute allowed the authorities to deprive a citizen living abroad of Polish citizenship by an individual decision. Both are covered in our guide on whether an ancestor lost Polish citizenship by becoming an American.
What changed on January 19, 1951?
The Act of January 8, 1951 started from the rule that a Polish citizen could not at the same time be a citizen of another state (Article 1). Marriage to a foreigner stopped affecting either spouse's citizenship (Article 5).
Permission to change citizenship. A decision of the Polish authorities that, under the 1951 and 1962 Acts, a Polish citizen needed before taking another country's citizenship. Permission granted to parents also covered children under their parental authority.
A child acquired Polish citizenship when both parents were Polish, or when one was Polish and the other unknown or of unknown or undetermined citizenship (Article 6). A child born in Poland to one Polish and one foreign parent acquired Polish citizenship unless, within a month of the birth, both parents jointly chose the other parent's citizenship where that country's law allowed it; such a child could later choose Polish citizenship after turning 13 (Article 8). For a child born abroad to parents of different citizenship, the same rules applied only if the other country applied the same principles to children born there to parents of different citizenship (Article 9). Whether that condition was met for a particular country is a legal question we examine case by case.
A Polish citizen could acquire a foreign citizenship only after obtaining permission to change citizenship (Article 11), and a citizen living abroad could be deprived of Polish citizenship on the grounds listed in Article 12. The Act also excluded some people who had held Polish citizenship on August 31, 1939 but lived permanently abroad, including those who took another country's citizenship under an international agreement on border changes and those of Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian or German nationality (Article 4).
What applied from 1962 to 2012?
The Act of February 15, 1962 took effect on August 21, 1962. A child acquired Polish citizenship by birth when both parents were Polish, or when one was Polish and the other unknown, of undetermined citizenship or stateless (Article 4). A child with one Polish and one foreign parent also acquired Polish citizenship by birth, but the parents could jointly choose the other citizenship for the child within three months if the child acquired it under that country's law (Article 6). A child who received the foreign citizenship that way could still become Polish by a declaration made after turning 16 and within six months of reaching adulthood, once the authority accepted it.
The permission requirement stayed: a Polish citizen could acquire a foreign citizenship only with permission, and acquiring it then ended Polish citizenship (Article 13). A citizen living abroad could still be deprived of citizenship on grounds listed in Article 15.
What is the rule today, and what if citizenship was lost?
The Act of April 2, 2009 has applied since August 15, 2012. A child acquires Polish citizenship by birth when at least one parent is a Polish citizen (Article 14). A dual citizen has the same rights and obligations toward Poland as anyone holding Polish citizenship only (Article 3), and citizenship ends only by renunciation with the consent of the President of Poland (Article 46).
Restoration of citizenship. A separate procedure from confirmation, for people who once held Polish citizenship and lost it. It restores citizenship on application instead of confirming that it continued.
Under Article 38, a foreigner who lost Polish citizenship before January 1, 1999 under Articles 11 or 13 of the 1920 Act, Articles 11 or 12 of the 1951 Act, or Articles 13, 14 or 15 of the 1962 Act has it restored on application, subject to the exceptions in the same article. Our guide on restoring Polish citizenship goes through that procedure. Restoration covers the person who lost citizenship; whether it helps the next generation depends on when their children were born.
How we help
We map the family line generation by generation, match each birth and each event to the statute in force at the time, and point to the documents that answer the question for that period. Where the chain holds, we prepare the application for confirmation; where it broke, we check whether restoration is available.
This page is general information about Polish law, not legal advice about your family's situation, and it does not describe U.S. nationality law. Legal basis: the Act of January 20, 1920 on Citizenship of the Polish State (Journal of Laws 1920 No 7 item 44), Articles 5, 10, 11 and 13, as amended by the Regulation of the President of December 3, 1932 (Journal of Laws 1932 No 109 item 896); the Act of March 31, 1938 on Deprivation of Citizenship (Journal of Laws 1938 No 22 item 191); the Act of January 8, 1951 on Polish Citizenship (Journal of Laws 1951 No 4 item 25), Articles 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12; the Act of February 15, 1962 on Polish Citizenship (Journal of Laws 1962 No 10 item 49), Articles 4, 6, 13 and 15; the Act of April 2, 2009 on Polish Citizenship (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025 item 1611), Articles 3, 14, 38 and 46. If you would like us to check your family line, describe it to us.
Sources
This article is based on the acts listed below. Each link opens the text published by the Polish government, checked on September 20, 2026. Acts in force open as a consolidated text; historical acts are marked as such, with the date they stopped applying.
- Act on the Citizenship of the Polish State of 1920historical act, Journal of Laws 1920 No. 7, item 44, repealed on January 19, 1951
- Regulation of the President of the Republic amending the Act on the Citizenship of the Polish Statehistorical act, Journal of Laws 1932 No. 109, item 896
- Act on Deprivation of Citizenship of 1938historical act, Journal of Laws 1938 No. 22, item 191, repealed on January 19, 1951
- Polish Citizenship Act of 1951historical act, Journal of Laws 1951 No. 4, item 25, repealed on August 21, 1962
- Polish Citizenship Act of 1962historical act, Journal of Laws 1962 No. 10, item 49, repealed on August 15, 2012
- Polish Citizenship Actconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025 item 1611
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