Although the introduction of new citizenship legislation was considered to be important and necessary, already by politicians taking part in the negotiations at the Round Table leading to the establishment of the III Republic of Poland in 1989, a new act on Polish citizenship has not been enacted yet. The Act on Polish Citizenship of 1962 with some amendments introduced in the 1990s (major changes are from 1999) is still in force. None of the drafts of act on Polish citizenship, discussed in 1999-2001, have been accepted. It seems that the source of the lack of consensus on the proposed drafts had to do with an issue concerning dual citizenship. Other ideas included in the drafts did not create many controversies. These ideas were in line with the approach observed in the III Republic in Poland where emigrants, the Polish Diaspora and problem of repatriation are still the focus of Polish citizenship matters. The importance of the ‘emigration aspect’ is visible also in statistics on acquisitions of Polish citizenship. A great share – around half for the 1990s – of newly admitted Polish citizens are people who restored their Polish citizenship lost during the communist period and those coming to Poland as repatriates.
Lack of changes in Polish citizenship law is acceptable because the 1962 Act gives significant freedom to decision-makers in the realm of granting Polish citizenship. Consequently, changes of the policy regarding Polish citizenship can be introduced without changes in the legislation. The problem is not so pressing also due to the small volume of naturalisations. In the 1990s, annual numbers of persons granted Polish citizenship were not reaching 3000 although the beginning of the 1990s brought about a visible increase in the volume of naturalisations.