Genealogical research in Polish and ex Polish territories
We conduct research of families whose origins lay on Polish and ex-Polish territory in order to find proof of their Polish and Austrian citizenship. As well, we deal with research for personal and genealogical interest.
Update 2023
Ukraine situation
Because of current events linked to Russia’s invasion on Ukraine’s territories, we are not currently undertaking cases that require research on the Ex-Polish territory that today form part of Ukraine.
We don’t believe it’s advisable to begin any search on the area as it’s impossible to determine if those searches are going to be able to be finished and achieve any results while this horrible situation lasts. Hopefully once the situation settles we can re-start those processes again.
Lipka is the name of a small Linden tree that carries big cultural importance in the region. We chose a tree because through our research we want to help your family roots grow.
How it work
Polish and Austrian citizenship are based on the principle of transmision by blood. This means that the documentation we need to find proof on those citizenships excedes birth registrations, marriage registrations and sometimes, depending on the particulars of the case, passports.
Our work consists in tracking down the true origins of your family and the documents that bare proof of their citizenship. These type of documents are usually scarce in comparison to birth certificates. It’s a exhaustive task and a process that not always conducts itself in a lineal fashion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Duration of the process
The search for documents is a very thorough and difficult process and its characteristics are directly related to the individual characteristics of each case.
Not one case is the same as the others and because of that it’s very difficult to have a proper estimate of the duration each case might entail. The duration of the whole process depends on multiple factors such as the lack of documentation that we start with, the number of Archives we might have to contact, the work-load of each one of those Archives (it varies deeply and it’s impossible to know upfront how many cases is each Archive currently working on). It can take from three months to over an year.
The duration of these processes are not accounting either for the time we might need from the moment you contact us at first until we can actually work in your case. If you need your case to be dealt with urgency, please request more information and the conditions on that possibility in your email.
Means of payment
- Wire transfer to either Polish, Portuguese or German bank accounts.
- Western Union/Wise/Xoom/PayPal (directed to bank accounts)
The fees of transfer are taken on by the clients.
Costs
The search process is divided into three stages.
The first one bares no cost unless it’s required to be carried out with urgency. In this stage, we look through the provided information/documents and we create a strategy to conduct the research onto which we will decide which Archives we will contact and the budget for the second stage.
If said budget is accepted, we start the process of reaching out to the Archives to require documental proof of the citizenship of your ancestors. We most likely will require you to send us a Power of Attorney conffering us the permission to conduct said research on your name. Said document has no cost and will be provided by us at that time. It will have to be sent by postal mail to Poland to our office.
If documents are found on the Second stage, then we will produce a new budget that will include the cost of production of certified copies, any translation that might be needed and our fee plus the shipping to the country of your choice. The cost of the whole process can vairy greatly from an average of 200 to 600 euros. The final amount will depend on many factors, as the number of Archives we might require research from, the amount of copies, the translations, etc. If no documents are found in the Second stage, we don’t move towards the third and there’s no charge. We segment payment in this way in order to safe keep your investment.
This way the only moment in which you have to pay without absolut certainty of success is the Second stage, in which we will contact the Archives in the hopes of finding mentions of the family. Most of the times we won’t be able to know for sure if there’s mentions of your family until we do this, so this is the only Stage in which there’s a degree of risk.
Testimonies
Important
Given the volume of people that daily request our services, there’s a chance that we take some days and even a couple of weeks to reply to every email. We receive everything, but we just take some time to reply back. We hope you can understand.