Marriage in Poland to foreigners – 1/4 are fake

In my post marriage in Poland I tell you about how to get married in Poland. However in this post, you are reading, I talk about a problem in Poland, that is at least 1/4 of all the marriages in Poland to foreigners are for fake. This is fake news and needs to be fact checked. I would say statistically there is not variation from other countries.

It seems way too high for me. This is an estimate by a Polish newspaper. That being said it is annoying that I get so many people on this blog looking for fake marriages. I delete their requests.

Some claim it is for love and others are more honest and say it is for money.  Others ask how they can get a Polish girl to fall in love with them so they can get citizenship for Europe.  These spammers and marriage for citizenship bidders are annoying.  I can understand that they do not like the economic situation they live in. I really do, but what they want is illegal and immoral and they are very insincere. Europe will be flooded with people from around the world because they know the law and there is an easy way to get into Europe. That is marrying a European.

I wonder why some Polish girls fall for it. I am an American married in Poland.  I am really in love and my wedding was for love.  However, people from around the world seek out Polish girls to marry so they can get an EU citizenship.   The price on the market for a false wedding in Poland to a foreigner is about 5 to 10 thousand Euro.  That is a foreigner guy pays a Polish girl.   This is very wrong and the Polish government and police are getting wise to this.

How Polish girls get burned after their fake wedding

When there is one of these arrangements, a wedding for EU citizenship the funny thing is the guys more times than not, just take off.  They never give the Polish girl the civil divorce they promised (they are all civil marriages) and they disappear.  The Polish girl can now never get married again. Why? Because she is still legally married in Poland. And once you are married you are married all over the world.  So this fake (for money or they get tricked into believing it is love) marriage to a foreigner ruins their lives.

Author: Mark Biernat

I live in with family between two worlds, US and Europe where I create tools for language learning. If you found my site you probability share my passion to be a life long learner. Please explore my site and comment.

35 thoughts on “Marriage in Poland to foreigners – 1/4 are fake”

  1. This is only one sided thinking. It depends on the relation between them. There are lot of girls in Poland that married with their our polish guys but later these girls get divorced. Maybe these girls were not happy with them.
    Also there are lot of girls that married with foreigners like middle eastern guys. But they living happily and their marriage is succeed. In Poland foreigners like people from UAE and middle east countries Pakistan and India having big business and they have wife from Poland and their marriages are succeed. Maybe these girls get married with them for money?

    1. You are very right, many girls in Poland are marrying guys from other countries all over the world and are happy. I do not know the statistics. I am not against this as I am an American married to a Polish citizen. 🙂 I am just stating that some people are doing it for money or citizenship, while others are doing it for love. I got married in Poland for love. I can not judge others.

    2. I think Mr Azhar may be you are saying right but one thing which is understandable. I know due to country-wide circumstantial issues in Pakistan now a days every body wants to leave pakistan like energy crises, insecure human life’s, rapidly increasing unemployment etc. Besides this if some Asian takes step to get marry with some Polish female only one thing he should must keep in his mind that if he may become EU national after get marriage with her lady he must be thankful to her and he should take her consent what she wants next. If she is intended to live with him that person should never deceive her. But if she got marry for only money then he should release her on request. I am also finding some Polish lady for get marry and I am really interested to spend my whole life with her (Inshallah).

  2. It is very easy to judge people who get fake marriages, but the truth is that many of them don’t have much choice about it. I am a Polish student in Scandinavia and i am working myoff in order to be able to finish my studies. I work in a restaurant with people from India and Pakistan and one of them has asked me today if i will marry his friend to help him stay in Europe. He would pay me double the amount i earn each month if i did that. Of course i will not do it because i don’t want to get in trouble with the law, but the proposition was very tempting and i can understand people who decide on a fake marriage.
    While i struggle to pay my rent and am not even entitled to a student discount on bus tickets, my fellow students from Scandinavia or Germany are having the time of their lives, shopping for expensive clothes and spending holidays in Egypt for the student support money they get from their respective governments. But while that is merely a bit depressing, the situation of my co-workers is often that they have escaped extreme poverty in their home country, and are supporting their huge families by working 13-14 hours every day. They will do anything to stay in Europe, as going back is simply not an option for them. I wish we lived in a world where people would only get married for love, but the reality is sadly what it is.

  3. Those Polish ladies who agreed to such an arrangement are not doomed to never marry again. You can get divorced in Poland if you go to court and declare that your spouse has abandoned you, foreign or not.

    Is it so easy to get EU citizenship? I practically had to give birth on the clerks desk to get my permanent residence, but it was right before the EU.

    1. Chris, To get an EU citizenship is doing lots and lots of paperwork. If someone thinks they can just pick one up because they come from the US they are wrong. You have to have 1) reason 2) lots of paperwork. But all that said if you want a citizenship you can get one.

      Yes Polish women can get out of the marriage, however, if the man is not there to sign the paper, it is very hard if not impossible. Polish judges know about this scam and they do not sign these papers as they know the marriage was for an EU citizenship.

  4. I think that the judges do not sign the decree as a way of making an example out of these women but these women may appeal and in the end, divorce will be granted.

    After getting my right to settle in Poland I went back and forth between the idea of Polish citizenship or EU citizenship. I visited the local government office where the clerk informed that I would have to give up my American citizenship ! And that in fact foreigners cannot get Polish passports. I of course know that that is not true but what about some of those people who come to her office and do not know. Sad but true story.

    1. You are right the people who work in the Polish offices are the least informed about Polish laws or they are telling people wrong things because they have an agenda. So I guess you have Polish citizenship by now? I highly recommend it. I have a green card for Poland and waiting for years for a citizenship.
      Well and about giving up your US citizenship, its not all bad, as taxes in the US are high and as a US citizen you must report your world wide income and all bank accounts foreign and domestic forever, as does your spouse if you put them on the return. Or you face five years in a federal ‘bump me in the as” federal prison and 1/4 million dollar fine, just for failure to report this. So many people have no problem to give up their US citizenship.
      I am married in Poland and live in Poland and pay both US and Polish taxes even though the US has a high exclusion. However, if I ever made real money I see no great benefit to having a US passport. America is not what it was for our parents.

  5. What this guys are saying is not true,and i have been in Poland for years now sure thing had never happened,please for your information the comment are false and we should not believe it.

    1. It is true. I have lived here many years and I have a blog about marriage in Poland and most of the people who are foreigners are fake marriages in my opinion. Further, this is an official estimate and you can search it and look it up yourself. Also I think more than 1/4 of the marriages to foreigners are fake. And last you used all caps in your comment please do not do this.

  6. “America is not what is was for our parents” yeah im gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one. I know for a fact there are many people in Poland living in poverty and some dont even have running water. If Poland was such a great country, then why have so many Polish immigrants flooded the United Kingdom and Ireland? The US may have its problems, but were still the land of milk and honey. Which may also explain why we have hundreds of thousands of ILLEAGAL Polish immigrants. And I thought it was the other way around- gold digging Polish (and other when from Slavnic countries) marrying AMERICAN men for green cards, which is no different than kindness.

    1. Whims, what planet are you from? Poland is the only country in all of Europe and the Americas that is growing in 2009. Do you know that? Poland had immigrants largely because of the currency. You could earn GBP, dollars or Euros and convert them to Polish currency and you are rich. But if you are comparing the average bloke in the UK and a person living in Poland I would rather live in Poland. In fact I am an American from Boston living in Poland.
      The economist magazine had a study that said if you are a manager for a company you are better off in Warsaw than London based on cost of living and other factors.
      Who do you know in Poland does not have running water. I have lived here 6 years and travel all though the countryside and never seen it. You have some prejudices you have to look at.
      Also the UK has poor school, drugs and crime. Poland at this juncture does not have this like the UK. Also in the UK it rains all the time. I am happy I am in Poland.

  7. Well I think that if Poland is so wonderful,then they all should go back then, because while they’ve been in the UK,there is no longer any jobs for the English,and my kids are now staying in school till 18yrs of age,because no jobs left,I’ve nothing against the Polish, Romanians etc,but they r here for money,our country has enough of there own poverty to deal with.our country is now really struggling,and the English r been penalized with it, while we go further into poverty, loose our jobs and homes these immigrants are getting top priority first,half of the UK r sitting in squaller while sum of these foreign family’s are living in 3 story houses.that the government will help pay for while they don’t have jobs.the government is to blame yes,and I understand your point bout these Polish girls been conned in marriage, I no its not our English lads who r doing that as they obviously don’t need green cards and its Africans,but what bout the Polish girls that are coming here to get pregnant to our men then return home and sting these men for maintenance,and marry to then claim half of our English mens assets etc,then go home,till they want to make more money again its all about the individual person isn’t it and what there intentions r, my view is yes these girls are been victims like u say but,but u also have to understand that sum Polish girls intentions are not totally honest either in sum cases sum are also plotting and scheming, and in the same category as the people who make them victims.they earn there money then go home and that money when converted increases,nothing wrong with that,but when they are driving a country more into the ground that the government have already done, then whats left for us in the UK, what jobs do our kids av to go to when they no longer need education, absolutely none.English people are loosing there homes because they av lost there job to an immigrant because there cheaper, people are ending up homeless,should we then cum there,and prey that we get treated with top priority like they do here.same same. same everywhere.i don’t like whats happening to these naive Polish girls that are tricked into marriage,but I also don’t like what they are also doing.I’m not trying to b awkward saying this its just an opinion,like u don’t like these false marriage behaviour, I don’t like sum of there behaviour,however I know in saying all of what I said I no there are some honest decent Polish too.so if Poland is so great y are they helping run our country further into the ground.because they get paid more her then convert it into even more when going home.if we came their for jobs we wouldn’t get paid as well n still couldn’t cum home and survive because we wouldn’t b paid enough to live.yet no jobs here. all down to systems,and every system just seems wrong.

    whim’s comment is right, sum these girls marry for money and they do sting our UK men,it really isn’t any different from pros.just as much as u say its the men at fault for doing it to these girls,sum of these girls are at fault for what they do, i no a guy who ended a 20yr marriage, hes 45, n ended it for a young polish 19yr old.now he is alone after she got what she wanted,n his x wife, her world has still been destroyed,he can never go back to his x wife,but she still suffers daily at the fact she lost not just her husband of 20yrs,but her kids farther,her best friend, the other half of her that will now always feel missing to her, these girls just are not destroying marriages to get Wait they want, they are emotionally destroying people,n sum of these marriage breakups will never b healed r repaired and all because of these polish girls throwing themselves at UK and Ireland men.there just as bad are not they.u shouldn’t think 1 sided,its polish girls at fault to, if you are happy married to a polish then u are 1 of the rare lads that have found that real love,its wonderful, but not all these girls are innocent.not all these girls do it for love.like whim says there prostituting really for doing it,just because there not stood under red lights,and having many men,n avin just 1 man,there still doing it.

    1. We have similar problems in Scotland with some people coming in and taking our jobs signing on benefits, going to college because we have education and health care etc and taking advantage of our system, mosts of them take advantage of the system.

      1. I think some take advantage of the system but humans are innately good and when people are given the chance they will develop themselves to a higher level in the right environment. This is from Adam Smith a Scotsman.

  8. I cant believe what I am reading here on this site! Ive just been asked by a Polish girl (24) resident in UK and unsuccessfully married to a Polish man, for £3,000. “To advance towards university fees”. I don’t know what I’m going to hear next from the women of the world. All they ever marry for is money and all you young male dudes need to wake up and understand that THAT IS ALL MARRIAGE IS! And if it doesn’t happen in marriage, a woman will seek it outside marriage; just like friendship. Love in marriage is a utopia, completely mutual satisfying s_x is another, but the core of marriage is for financial reasons, if for producing kids or any other reason; and if it doesn’t happen in marriage, women will always look elsewhere unless they are loaded with money themselves. The woman who asked me for £3,000 has my respect because she was upfront. But she wont get it from me.

  9. We are US citizens. My son wants to marry a girl,Nina, from Katowice who has a son, Patryk. Her husband has been gone for years, and does not even see his child but he won’t cooperate with a divorce. He says that he will but when the time arrives to go to court he won’t show up.

    Nina lives at home with her parents and her son. My son pays half of the household bills, all of Nina’s support and the majority of Patryk’s support.

    These two have spent a lot of money trying to get this divorce with no success. Is there someone who can help them or is it just not possible for Nina to get a divorce?

    I suspect they may have paid money to legal advisors who did not care if the divorce was obtained.

    1. I am very sorry to hear about your situation. In Poland divorce is not easy like in the USA. But I think there is a law that if the man or woman disappears than after some time the other person can get a divorce. Polish law is very clear about this, it is under family law. You need to get a lawyer who will tell you exactly. At the US embassy they have a list of trusted lawyers that speak English. I think to look something like that up and tell you exactly what you need to do would not be more than 100 usd, I think.
      Also if you want you can do the work yourself by going to the Polish Uząd and they will guide you on this. There is something in the codex that describes this clearly. If you can find that line of law you will be all set.
      This is what I think.

  10. Hi, I hope you are still running this blog.

    I am an Irish male who married a Polish woman, in Poland, 11 years ago.

    We both now live in Ireland, but are fairly recently separated.

    Can I file for divorce in Poland, as we were married there, as it is quicker than divorce in Ireland (5 years)?

    I do not mind being sited as the person at fault etc if it speeds things up, I just want out.

    1. I think Poland is faster than Ireland. However, you do not have this no fault divorce like in the USA. There has to be a reason. I guess my question is can you get a divorce in some of these quick divorce places, not Poland and Ireland and it still being legal, even vegas. I think if you do all the paper work etc yes.
      However, I am very sorry to hear about the break up. 11 years is a long time and you fell in love for a reason. Can you but put pride and being right aside and find out why you are came together? I believe in acceptence, that is unconditional surrender of ego.
      But do not listen to be I am not a wise guy.

  11. Oh, almost forgot, how long does it take to get a divorce in Poland please?

  12. Hi Mark,
    you got be very nervous! 🙂
    A good friend of mine (a Polish girl) married an Indian guy for money. That was 4 years ago. They are still not divorced and he would never reply to her email and texts. I just called him asking how he would like to procedure with the divorce. I am scared now that he will dissapear and she wont be able to get divorced. They got married in a different country, still within the European Union. I was wondering, do you know what happens to girls who cannot get divorced?

    1. I do not know exactly but it will be many years before that girl could get married again. I think there has to be a long time before she could file and legally be divorced if he is not around. I also think they might question if the marriage was a fraud for money. I would not want to be in her position. There are much easier ways to make money than get married. I also do not recommend it as it is very not legal. I think it is wrong.
      I think eventually in Polish court she can file something like divorced based on abandonment.

  13. Hi everyone i know about a fake marriage and i want to complain to the Polish court, they are married but don’t live together since they married, to who I can complain about it?

  14. Ran accross this post when I was researching about fake marriages in the US. I am an American and I know tons of foreigners trying to marry Americans. Some do it ‘honestly’ by telling the partner that the marriage is for money; would last until they get green card. Some are less honest in which they made the innocent Americans think that this is real love. Most of the time, international students are the one with that intention (especially girls), at least 90% of the ones I know of, and I do know a lot of internationl students since i live in this area. It upsets me seeing people being tricked. 6 of my friends were tricked and stories like these are passed around daily. The victims were heartbroken. They lost their assets, houses, cars. I know the interview is pretty intensed but maybe it’d better to lengthen the time of obtaining green cards to at least 5 years. That way, either these sinisters have enough time to appreciate & love their partners for who they are and not their citizenship, or these sinisters just give up their bad intention.

    1. Statistics show foreign women divorce American men at much lower rates than American women. This is a mathimatical fact. So the question is how to make sure the person American or foriegn is not using you for money or passport or citizenship or just to get married. There is an easy solution and that is actions speak loader than words. Observe their behavior, do they go to church and know the prayers of their faith by heart? Do they question you are your morals and ideals about love and marriage? Do they have the ideal that they would stay with you for all times even if you do not get along because they believe in love more than they believe in themselves?

  15. I’ve been living with my Polish partner for 1 year and a half and we’ve been married for 9 months. Things got really tough now for a big number of reasons and we might get divorced soon.

    I’ve been in Poland for the past 6 months. Got a job at an American multinational and would like to stay in here at least for a while even if the divorce happens. I’ve asked at work about this and they told me that they would get my back and would provide any documentation necessary in case this really happens. I’m Argentinean and my karta pobytu is valid until December. In case of divorce does anyone know if that would automatically cancel my temporary karta pobytu impossibilitating me from work or would I still have until the end of my temporary residence to give the new papers to get the work visa? I’m just wondering if they could make from this a problem since our marriage would finish quite early and maybe they would consider this a signal of being fake or something, Polish laws are quite strange :S
    Thanks.

    Z.

    1. Why would you want to get divorced? I mean Argentina and Poland are Catholic countries from the same tradition that believe in the seriousness of marriage and love. I lived in both countries and culturally there should be no problem. Further, both countries have beautiful people so why do you not try to work it out? It is a lot harder to be divorced for a girl than a guy and you married her and nine months later you are ready to split?

      Look, women are emotional. Women are illogical at times, they like to be bossy and if you guys are in your 20s there is a high premium on being right in an argument and think it will never work. But the reality is people need to learn acceptance and to be easy-going. Even if she is a hormonal loaded cannon ready to fire erratically at anytime, know that as a man, you have to be captain of the ship and keep things on steady course by riding out the storm.

      If it is other Polish women that are your temptation, just know the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence and know that your faith teaches about such things. There is a reason you fell in love and got married in the first place.

      I am sorry to write these things, but nine months seems too short a time to just throw in the towel for two Catholic people who come from countries with a tradition of family over anything.

      I think your visa will be OK regardless. The idea is getting the Visa, they should not take it away until it expires from my understanding, which will be in about ten years. So regardless you can work and get a job and live in Poland and do what you want with you life.

  16. I’m a foreigner married to a Polish citizen. This probably not related, but I’m just wondering if my husband could ask me to move out of the apartment we reside together, because it is his property. He does this quite often to hurt me.

    And what’s my legal stand?

    Please help me out.

    1. I do not have enough information, however, I would say that he is being hurtful, but that does not mean you should leave him.

      Most hurtful action like that comes from years of programming or being hurt on his part so he hurts you. Believe me I know on this. I was a bitter person much of my life. It is a life long process to over come the situations we have been set up with in life. I really wanted to be a good person but I think in small ways I was spiteful and petty and egotistically hurtful.

      In retrospect, I can not believe I behaved that way.

      Legally Polish law is similar to American or UK law. As husband and wife you have equal rights and share the same property. I do not think he has a right to order you out. In fact the person who leaves has less rights then the person who stays as it could be argued you abandon him. But I would not worry about the legalities.

      I would try to get at the root of his upset. Something special brought you together. You fell in love and got married for a reason. You need to try to remember those reason and let the unity be stronger than youthful marital arguments.

      If he is catholic or has any ideals that he holds true, try to appeal to this. I am Polish and catholic and I understand my responsibility to be a good husband as God the loving father is good to all of us.

      If spirituality is not his style, simply try to find the root of his upset. I know it is hard for you. I really do. It is very upsetting because you love him. Just know you are both young and emotions, ego and pride often confuse relationships.

      Both of you should try to learn to be more easy going and accept the rough spots of each other. I do not have enough information here but these are some ideas. Morally or legally I do not think he has the right to ask you to leave, even if he says he does, he is just talking. You are married. I do not have the answers and I am sorry you are going though this.

  17. I am not married to my Polish girlfriend, but we expect a baby which will be born in Poland. I am a citizen of another EU country. What is the situation with my status here in Poland since I will have a kid?

    1. If you part of the EU than you should be all set. You might want to get married though if you have a family, but as far as visa’s you do not need one.

  18. Looking for polish wife? Let me know as I might be open to communication.

  19. Hi! I’m from Peru and my boyfriend is Polish. We decided to move together when I finish my studies in my country but we are not sure about where to live. He prefers staying in Poland and I like it when I was there so I won’t have a problem with that, but I want to know if I get any rights for cohabitation with him. I mean rights like social security or be able to travel in the schengen area. We are still very young and we don’t want to get married but it would be easier if I get any kind of right so I don’t have to ask for visa all the time.

    Hope you can give me some information.

    1. Cohabitation gives no rights unless it is for a long time in an English common law jurisdiction and Poland and Peru are Roman law rather than common law.

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