United States passports containing Polish entry visas - is no longer met.

Editorial & Opinion Talk #2763.10



Oh, sure. There is a consular convention in force between the US and Poland that has been there since the Nixon presidency: see TIAS 7642, or 24 U.S.T. 1231, or 1972 U.S.T. LEXIS 253, or http://travel.state.gov/poland_treaties.html
It was signed in Warsaw on May 31,1972 and came into force on July 6, 1973. It guarantees to any US citizen the right of departure from Poland on completion of his or her visit, on the basis of his or her legally held American passport - with none of this Polish chauvinist nonsense of the exclusively Polish citizenship, allegedly inherited by infinite generations of Americans from their Polish ancestors for all time.



However, while not game enough to formally renounce the convention, Poland has decided it will not comply with it. To date, they have got away with it, mainly because State Dept. has had more important matters to occupy their time.



The abrogation of the 1972 consular convention by Poland has been disguised by a not very clever technicality. Poland unilaterally dropped the visa requirement for US citizens in 1991, hoping to induce the US to do the same.



When this did not happen, because the record of compliance with US visa laws by Poles visiting the United States is nothing short of shocking, Poland decided (incidentally, that decision came during Mr Sikorski's tenure as Deputy Foreign Minister responsible for Polish consular affairs), that they would no longer respect clauses of the consular convention which are technically dependent on American travellers being in possession of Polish visas. Thus while the US State Department considers the 1972 Convention to be fully binding as a whole, Poland choses to ignore the key clause:



"Persons entering the Polish People's Republic for temporary visits on the basis of United States passports containing Polish entry visas will, in the period for which temporary visitor status has been accorded (in conformity with the visa's validity), be considered United States citizens by the appropriate Polish authorities for the purpose of ensuring the consular protection provided for in Article 29 of the Convention and the right of departure without further documentation, regardless of whether they may possess the citizenship of the Polish People's Republic."



While the Republic of Poland of today is the legal successor of the Polish People's Republic, it no longer requires visas from US citizens. Accordingly, the consular convention condition - on the basis of United States passports containing Polish entry visas - is no longer met.



As a result, the Polish Government feels free to harass at will, at points of departure from Poland, such American citizens as it cares to unilaterally nominate as Polish subjects, often on the flimsiests of grounds, such as a Polish-sounding surname.



There is a gulf of difference between Poland and the US in basic definitional terms, borne out of the 45 years of Polish immersion in Communist doublespeak from 1944 to 1989. To the US Government, a citizen is, and always has been, a person equipped with certain unalienable rights respected by the state.



To the Polish government, a "citizen" is actually a subject, an item of state property to be dealt with as the state sees fit, rights an optional extra. This is why they got rid of a perfectly sensible arrangement for dealing with the question of dual citizens of US and Poland travelling to Poland on American passports - it offends their notion of ownership.



The more subtle notions of diplomacy, such the letter vs. the spirit of international agreements, are really kind of wasted on those people, until such time as the generational change in Poland sweeps away the sad legacy of Communism.

Meanwhile, holiday in the Bahamas.

Edited 11/10/2003 9:06:21 PM ET by STARYWIARUS