🇵🇱 Poland’s main opposition party, Law and Justice, has announced a major citizenship reform if it wins next year’s parliamentary elections.
The permanent residence requirement would be increased from 3 to 10 years. Given that permanent residence already takes a minimum of 5 years to obtain, this would mean that the total residency requirement for Polish citizenship becomes at least 15 years (more realistically 17–18 years, given administrative delays in processing residence and citizenship applications).
The language requirement would also be increased from B1 to C1 level. C1 is an academic level of Polish—the same level required by universities in Poland for students who want to study courses conducted in the Polish language.
Other requirements would include a mandatory state exam on Polish history and culture, proof of a clean criminal record from the applicant’s country of origin, and proof of paying taxes in Poland for an extended period of time.
These changes were announced by Przemysław Czarnek, the Law and Justice party’s candidate for Prime Minister.
In 2024, Poland granted 16,342 citizenships. More than 50% of those went to Ukrainians, many of whom became eligible due to having Polish ancestry.