Poland in Ethiopia

Consent of the mother and father, a legal guardian, or an attorney ad litem is necessary to obtain a passport/temporary passport for their child or a child in their custody.

When both parents submit the application at a consular post, the consent to issue a passport for a child is given before a consular employee, using a device which can record a handwritten signature (SignaturePad).

When only one of the parents (legal guardian) applies for a passport, the other parent must:

• submit the original copy of their written and signed consent to issue a passport for the child to the consular post (for example, by sending it by mail); the parent’s signature must be authenticated by a notary; scans of paper consent forms sent to the consul by e-mail will not be accepted;
• send the consent to issue a passport document for the child using their ePUAP account to the consular post’s Electronic Inbox (ESP), which must be signed with a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature, or a personal signature;
• give their consent in person at any passport authority in Poland (provincial governor) or outside Poland (consul);
• give their consent using the e-service: Consent to the issue of a passport for a child.

PLEASE NOTE: the consent to issue a passport to a child should, as a general rule, include a PESEL number, therefore, in the case of children born abroad, you should first transcribe their foreign birth certificate.  

Exceptions:

• Consent is not required from a mother or a father whose parental rights have been terminated, suspended or restricted with regard to giving consent to issuing a child's passport by a family court.
• If the mother and the father disagree or the consent cannot be obtained from one of them, submit a final and non-appealable family court’s ruling which makes it possible to issue a child's passport without the other parent's consent.

REMEMBER! 

1. You must submit the original ruling of the competent family court.
2. A family court ruling that determines with which parent the child lives is not sufficient.
3. By submitting a family court ruling, you can obtain one passport only.

• If the other parent is deceased, you must present their death certificate.
• If the father is unknown, the consul will verify the full copy of the Polish birth certificate against the Polish register of births, marriages, and deaths.