Poland in Ireland

You can submit the application directly to the registry office in Poland or to the territorially competent Polish consular office, which will send it to the selected registry office in Poland.

You can also submit the application to the registry office in Poland through a plenipotentiary (e.g. a family member).

Documents can be submitted in person or sent by post. 

If you decide to submit an application via the consular office by post, in order to avoid errors and shorten the time of handling the matter, we recommend contacting the consular office in advance by e-mail at: dublin.legal@msz.gov.pl to verify the correctness and completion of the documents.

You can book your appointment via the e-konsulat system.

1. A valid passport or ID (to be presented at the consular office - when submitting the application in person).
2. Application form (available at a consular office and below).
3. Original of the foreign marriage certificate.
4. Translation of the foreign marriage certificate by a sworn translator or a consul.
5. In addition, if one of the spouses does not have a Polish birth certificate, in order to supplement the data, we recommend submitting the original birth certificate of that spouse (an apostille or legalization may be required, unless separate regulations state otherwise) together with a translation made by a sworn translator or a consul. Without submitting the above document, transcription can be made, however, the transcribed certificate will not have all the data. Birth certificates allow for supplementing the marriage certificate with the data contained therein, e.g. the spouse's place of birth.

Documents issued outside European Union countries may require legalisation or an apostille (unless otherwise stated in separate regulations).

Remember! Documents drawn up in a foreign language must be submitted with the official translation into Polish by:

• A sworn translator entered on a list kept by the Minister of Justice,
• A sworn translator authorised to make such translations in the member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area (EEA),
• A consul.

Due to the fact that there is no institution of a sworn translator in Ireland, we recommend contacting a Polish sworn translator registered on the list conducted by the Minister of Justice. Below is a link to the website of the Ministry of Justice with a list of Polish sworn translators: https://www.gov.pl/web/sprawiedliwosc/tlumacze-przysiegli. The list also includes several translators with the offices in Ireland.

Therefore, make sure that the person performing the translation has the qualifications to perform a sworn translation.

A translation performed by a consul is a separate and paid consular procedure (50 EUR). It is also not available immediately, so in order to speed up the process, bring/send a prepared sworn translation.

In the Member States of the European Union, pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 on promoting the free movement of citizens by simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the European Union and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012, Multilingual Standard Forms - Translation Aid are issued, which can also be used for transcription, as an official translation of a foreign civil status document into Polish. Such a form can be obtained at the registry office of a Member State of the European Union (in Ireland: General Register Office).

Civil status records issued in multilingual form, on the basis of Convention No. 16 on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records, signed in Vienna on 8 September 1976, do not require translation.

The fee is 50 Euro.

The consul will immediately forward your application to the head of the Register Office of your choice.

A Polish copy of the marriage certificate can be collected in person at the consulate or sent by post.

The head of the Register Office will refuse to transcribe a foreign civil status document if:

• A document is not considered to be a civil status document or is not a valid official document or has not been issued by the competent authority in the issuing state, or raises doubts as to its authenticity, or confirms an occurrence other than birth, marriage or death.
• A foreign document was created as a result of transcription in a state other than the state of occurrence.
• It would be contrary to basic principles of Poland’s legal order.

A refusal to transcribe a foreign civil status certificate will take the form of an administrative decision which may be appealed with the competent provincial governor for the territory in question.

Do both spouses have to be present to submit a transcription application?

An application for the transcription of a marriage certificate may be submitted by either spouse but, in that case, he/she will be able to make a declaration of his/her surname only — leaving the original surname, creating a hyphenated surname or taking the other spouse’s surname. The spouse who does not apply for transcription keeps the original surname, while the children born to such marriage will bear a hyphenated surname composed of the mother’s surname and the surname of her husband. Of course, this limitation will not apply if the information about the choice of surname was included in the foreign marriage certificate.

Our details in the foreign marriage certificate have been saved without Polish characters. How does it affect the transcription application?

In this case you may (together with the transcription application) request to have the spelling in the Polish marriage certificate adapted to the rules of Polish spelling or request the rectification of data based on your birth certificates.

How long can I use the documents bearing my previous surname (passport and ID card) after the Polish marriage certificate was drawn up and a new surname adopted?

You should immediately request the replacement of existing identity documents. The invalidation of the documents takes place after 120 days from the date of the change of data contained in the documents in the PESEL register.