Poland in Australia

You can apply for your child’s passport in any Polish consular office. Please remember that you will apply for and collect your child's new passport in the same office.

Passport application for a child should be submitted personally by:

• both parents or court-appointed guardians 

or 

• one of the parents or court-appointed guardians

if they present:

• a written consent of the other parent (guardian) to issue a passport for the child, which contains the confirmation of the signature's authenticity by a public notary, a consul or a passport department official authorised by the province governor (in Poland); the parent may also grant their consent to issue a passport for the child by sending to the consular office’s Electronic Platform of Public Administration Services Inbox (ePUAP) a letter granting the consent and signed with a qualified electronic signature, trusted signature or personal signature;

ePUAP Inbox:
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Sydney – /KGSydney/SkrytkaESP
Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canberra – /AMBCanberra/SkrytkaESP

The consent should contain:

1) the name(s), surname, PESEL number, if assigned, and if there is no PESEL number, the date of birth and series and number of a valid document confirming the identity of the consenting parent;
2) the name(s), surname, PESEL number, if assigned, and if there is no PESEL number, the date of birth of the minor on whose behalf an application to issue a passport document is made;

• final and binding court decision under which the other parent (guardian) has no right to make decisions about issuing a passport to the child,
• final and binding family court decision in which the court 
• consents to the issue of a passport to a child without the other parent's consent
• unabridged copy of the child’s Polish birth certificate stating that the father of the child is unknown (there was no recognition of fatherhood or judicial establishment of paternity),
• copy of a death certificate of the other parent.

A child over 5 must be present when you submit the passport application. If the child is older than 12, the consular staff will take its fingerprints.

You can book your appointment to apply for a passport via the e-konsulat

IMPORTANT!  You no longer need to fill out the application by hand.

Your passport application to the RP consul can be filled in electronically during your passport visit. A consular employee will file your application using an electronic form and you need to confirm that the data are correct by placing your signature on a dedicated device (signature pad).

Parents give their consent to the issue of a passport on the application form by signing it in the presence of a consular official and present their valid passports or personal IDs.

• Colour photo - read what the photo should look like.
• Application for a PESEL number and abridged copy of a Polish birth certificate if the child does not have its PESEL number.
• The child's current passport or temporary passport (for review only), if it had already been issued. 

If the application is made by one of the parents, please prepare also one of the following documents:

• a written consent of the other parent (guardian) to issue a passport for the child, which contains the confirmation of the signature's authenticity by a public notary, a consul or a passport department official authorised by the province governor (in Poland); the parent may also grant their consent to issue a passport for the child by sending to the consular office’s Electronic Platform of Public Administration Services Inbox (ePUAP) a letter granting the consent and signed with a qualified electronic signature, trusted signature or personal signature (check the section "Do I have to apply in person?"),
• final and binding court decision, under which the other parent (guardian) has no right to make decisions about issuing a passport to the child,
• final and binding court decision, in which the court consents to the issue of a passport to a child without the other parent's consent,
• unabridged copy of a Polish birth certificate stating that the father of the child is unknown (there was no recognition of fatherhood or judicial establishment of paternity),
• copy of a death certificate of the other parent.

The consul may ask you to present additional documents of your child if he/she cannot establish its identity and citizenship based on the data in the documents presented or the data available to the consul in his/her records and registers, or  if the data are unclear or inconsistent:

• abridged or unabridged copy of a Polish birth certificate,
• decision of the province governor confirming the child's Polish citizenship,
• valid foreign identity document.

You do not have to present a school ID or a similar document to confirm that the child attends school.

The passport fee for a child between 5 and 12 is 57 AUD.  
The fees must be paid at the office counter when submitting the application. 
​​​​Accepted forms of payment: bank transfer, cash, or by money order issued to the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Sydney. 

You will pay less if you apply for a new passport for your child before the current passport expires if:

• the child's data in the passport changed, for example its name(s) or surname (in this case, the exchange of passport is obligatory)  or its appearance changed so much that it makes it difficult to identify the child,
• the child's passport has no more free space for visas or border crossing stamps.

You will not pay for the child's passport if:

• your child stays in a nursing home or a residential care facility and its travel abroad is related to a long-term treatment or a surgery.
• your child's passport has a technical fault.

Important
If you lose or destroy your child's passport through your fault, the fee for a new passport will increase by 200% compared to the fee on the day of application.

When you apply for a passport, a consular officer will give you an estimated collection date. You will also receive a written confirmation of application receipt. On the receipt you will find the child's passport application number, which is useful if you want to track the progress online.

If you need the child's ID document urgently, for example because of a coming trip, you should also apply for a temporary passport that will cover the waiting time for the delivery of the biometric passport. You will get it sooner than the biometric one. 

Please note, if you are planning to take your child abroad with the temporary passport, check current rules of entry and stay of foreigners in the country of destination. Make sure that the child can cross the border with the temporary passport and check the required validity period (at entry and departure).

The child's passport can be collected by either of the parents (guardians) personally in the same office where the application was submitted.

On the collection day of te new document, bring the child's previous passport (or temporary passport) to the consulate - current passport will be cancelled, except for pages with valid visas, and returned.

Important
In justified cases, especially if the travel to the consulate is particularly difficult, the consul may depart from the requirement to collect a passport in person. Discuss this point as you submit the application.

Remember that you will have to submit a reasoned written request to the consul to depart from the requirement to collect a passport in person (the form is available at a consular office) and pay the postage. 

The consul will send the passport to the indicated address via postal or messenger service operator, ensuring the security of the document, if possible.

The consul will cancel the current passport or temporary passport before the new one is sent. 

If you know that your child's passport is ready for collection at the consulate, send you child's current passport (or temporary passport) to the consul for cancellation. The consul will return the cancelled document together with the new one.

Remember that the consul will not send passports to citizens staying in Poland.

It is also not possible to send a passport issued by a domestic authority (province governor) to a person staying abroad. 

Does not apply.

How to obtain the first passport for a child born abroad?

First, you need to register a foreign child birth certificate in Poland to obtain an abridged or unabridged copy of a Polish birth certificate. The Polish birth certificate is necessary to obtain the individual PESEL number which is then entered in a biometric passport.

How to obtain the PESEL number?

The consul applies for the PESEL number to be issued in connection with a passport application for a child who is not yet a PESEL holder. 
Please remember that the consul does not apply for the PESEL number to be issued under any other circumstances besides the issue of a passport or a temporary passport.

What if one parent cannot apply in person?

The parent who cannot apply in person may consent to the issue of the document by writing a statement of consent. Authenticity of the signature on the statement should be confirmed by a notary or a passport authority (consul, province governor). 

What if one or both of the parents have invalid passports, personal IDs or do not have any ID documents and want to apply for a passport or a temporary passport for a child?

If a parent has no ID document it is impossible to identify him/her. In this case, the consul cannot take a parent's consent to issue a passport to a child. The parents will have to obtain passports or personal IDs first.