Your representative in Poland for document retrieval
We obtain Polish civil-registry and archival records for foreign law firms handling citizenship-by-descent matters, acting as your representative in Poland. You receive certified copies, transcription and informational translation, and a source log naming every institution and reference. Legal responsibility for the case stays with you.
Scope
- Abridged and full certified copies from civil registry offices (USC).
- Records from the State Archives, with the query commissioned and paid for at the archive.
- Parish and diocesan registers, obtained by correspondence, on a best-effort basis.
- Establishing which institution actually holds the record — which registry office, which archive, which parish — against changes in borders and administrative divisions.
- Transcription and informational translation from Polish, Russian, German (including Kurrent), Latin, and Ukrainian in Cyrillic.
- A source log: every document listed with its reference and issuing institution.
Exclusions
What we do not do, stated plainly so it cannot be assumed otherwise:
- No representation before the authorities in citizenship proceedings.
- No legal advice, and no assessment of whether your client qualifies for citizenship. That determination stays with your firm.
- No sworn translations included. They can be commissioned and are priced separately.
- No guarantee of result. If the records did not survive, or an institution refuses, you receive a documented negative result. A negative finding is a deliverable, not a refundable failure — the work of establishing it has been done.
- No in-person visits to archives or parishes. The model is remote and correspondence-based.
How it works
- You brief us on what is known about the ancestor.
- We return a feasibility note: a written assessment of where the record should be held and what can realistically be obtained.
- Your client signs a power of attorney.
- We file the requests and carry the correspondence with the institutions, reporting status as it moves.
- You receive the documents and the source log.
Turnaround
We do not publish a service level agreement, because we would not control it. Response times at registry offices and archives are set by those institutions, not by us, and they vary with the office, the period and the state of the holdings. What you get instead is an estimate in the feasibility note for your specific matter, and status reporting while the request is open. We would rather give you a figure we can stand behind than one that reads well in a pitch.
White-label
On request the deliverable carries no supplier branding and we do not contact your client directly. The relationship stays yours.
Confidentiality
NDA on request. We process personal data only to the extent needed to file a request with the holding institution, on the basis of the power of attorney granted for that purpose. Where a third party is engaged in that work, it is bound by a written data-processing agreement.
Who runs this
Adam Kempczyński, Owner. Based in Poland, working directly with registry offices and archives. Records are read and transcribed in Polish, Russian, German — including Kurrent — Latin, and Ukrainian in Cyrillic; where a record calls for specialist work, it is commissioned and checked here rather than passed on to you. One person answers for the correspondence, for the documentation, and for anything engaged along the way.
Questions we get from counsel
- Do you need a power of attorney from our client, or from us?
- From the end client, or from whoever holds the statutory right to request the record. Polish registry offices release certified copies to a closed circle of people, and a representative acts within that person’s right — not the firm’s. We send you the wording we need; you have your client sign it.
- What happens if the record does not exist?
- You receive a documented negative result: which institution was queried, under what reference, what they answered, and what that rules out. A negative finding is a deliverable, not a failure, and it is often what lets you close or redirect a matter.
- Can you obtain certified copies, or only scans?
- Certified copies with the issuing office’s seal, which is what citizenship proceedings require. Scans and indexed database entries are working material — they do not substitute for an official copy.
- Who is liable if the application is rejected?
- You are, and that is deliberate. We do not assess eligibility and we do not represent anyone before the authorities deciding the case. We obtain documents and tell you what they say.
- Do you work with sworn translations?
- We provide informational transcription and translation of what the record says. Sworn translations are commissioned separately and priced separately when your matter needs them.
- How do you handle our client’s personal data?
- We process only what is needed to file the request with the institution, and anyone engaged in that work is bound by a written data-processing agreement. We sign an NDA on request, and on request the deliverable carries no supplier branding.
Send us one test case.
One ancestor, one record. You get a written feasibility note before any work starts, so you can judge the fit at no risk to your matter.