Can an Israeli citizen obtain Polish citizenship? Israeli Law of Return versus Polish law
Private clients / 26 April 2026

The Polish roots of many citizens of modern Israel mean that it is by no means uncommon for Israelis to apply for a Polish passport. It is therefore worth examining the effects of acquiring Israeli citizenship under the ‘right of return’ and the consequences this may have for efforts to obtain or confirm Polish citizenship.
The case law of the administrative courts, which is favourable to citizens of other countries applying for Polish citizenship, mitigates the seemingly strict wording of the provisions of the Polish Act of 1920.
The Law of Return, the status of Israeli citizens and the acquisition of Polish citizenship
The centuries-long dispersion of the Jewish community has meant that the rules for acquiring Israeli citizenship differ from the standard practices of other democratic states. The formation of Israel’s citizenry as a result of the relatively recent (at the time of Israel’s establishment, barely a few decades old) Jewish immigration to Palestine necessitated the adoption of an original framework of provisions on Israeli citizenship, which largely deviated from the classical solutions of ‘jus soli’ (ius soli) and ‘right of blood’ (ius sanguinis). This specificity found expression in the so-called ‘law of return’ (Hebrew: chok ha-shvut, transl. ḥok ha-shvūt), which also applied to persons who already held Polish citizenship.
Acquiring Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return
The basis of the Israeli Law of Return is the Act passed by the Knesset on 1950 5 June(amended to a limited extent in 1954 and 1970). In the absence of a classic constitution, this Act is classified in Israel ( ) as a ‘basic law’. Its core provision (Article 1) introduces two key concepts:
- ‘oleh’, meaning a Jew arriving in Israel from the diaspora on a permanent basis (with the intention of settling),
- “aliyah”, meaning the return of an “oleh” to Israel.
Article 1 of the Israeli Law on the Right of Return ( ) (which is also the title of the law in question) states that “every Jew has the right to return to the country (i.e. Israel) as an oleh”. Aliyah takes place on the basis of a visa for the returnee (oleh). Such a visa is granted to any Jew wishing to settle in Israel, unless the competent minister objects to this – on the grounds specified in the Act. These grounds can be found in Article 1(2)(a) and ( ) of the Israeli Law of Return:
(b) An oleh visa shall be granted to any Jew who has expressed a desire to settle in Israel, unless the Minister of the Interior is satisfied that the applicant
(1) engages in activities directed against the Jewish people; or
(2) may pose a threat to public health or national security;
(3) is a person with a criminal record who may pose a threat to the public good.
Under the provisions of the Israeli Citizenship Law (1952), arrival in Israel under the Law of Return (settling in Israel as an olim) results in the acquisition of Israeli citizenship.
Who is eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return?
As mentioned, Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return may be obtained by an oleh, i.e. a Jew intending to settle in Israel. The key to being able to avail oneself of the Israeli Law of Return is therefore determining who is a Jew within the meaning of this Act. These doubts were resolved by the 1974 amendment. The then-added Article 4B states that “for the purposes of this Act, ‘ ’ a Jew ’ is a person who was born to a Jewish mother or has converted to Judaism and is not a member of another religion”. Israeli case law interprets this definition strictly, denying Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return to persons of Jewish descent who have formally adopted other a religionthan Judaism. Such persons must apply for Israeli citizenship through naturalisation.
Israeli Law of Return may have retroactive effect – implications for obtaining Polish citizenship
A key element of the Israeli Law of Return (affecting the acquisition of Israeli citizenship) is the retroactive effect of this law. As stated in Article 4, any Jew who arrived in that country (i.e. Israel – ed.) prior to the entry into force of this Act, and every Jew who was born in this country, whether before or after the entry into force of this Act, shall be deemed to have arrived in this country as an ‘oleh’ in accordance with this Act. This provision applies primarily to those who arrived in the territory of Palestine (as a British Mandate territory) even before the establishment of the State of Israel, as part of the early Jewish immigration that laid the demographic foundations for its creation. As we shall see, this has implications for the situation of Israeli citizens who wish to confirm their Polish citizenship.
Israeli citizenship and Polish citizenship under the 1920 Act: the twists and turns of history
For historical reasons, many Israeli citizens have roots in the lands of present-day or pre-war Poland; their ancestors therefore included Polish citizens. Cases in which an Israeli citizen wishes to apply for Polish citizenship are therefore not isolated.
It is worth noting that the Act on Polish Citizenship, in force from 1920– 1951, excluded (with certain exceptions) the possibility of a Polish citizen acquiring the citizenship of another state. We have already discussed these issues – in relation to the acquisition of Brazilian citizenship under the principle of ius soli ( ) – on the lexplorers.pl blog [LINK]. Whilst in the case of acquiring citizenship under ius soli, the status of citizen is acquired automatically by birth on the territory of the country in question, i.e. without any action on the part of the individual, a somewhat analogous situation may arise in the case of the Israeli Law of Return. The cited Article 4 of the Israeli Law of Return is based on a specific interpretation of ius soli. Individuals who emigrated to Israel prior to the establishment of the state and had Polish ancestors ( , which resulted in the acquisition of Polish citizenship) could acquire both Polish citizenship (ius sanguinis) and Israeli citizenship (retroactive application of the Law of Return). Whether Polish and Israeli citizenship were in fact acquired simultaneously must be examined on a case-by-case basis. This is supported by the case law of the Supreme Administrative Court, which is favourable to applicants seeking confirmation of Polish citizenship, shaped against the backdrop of the concurrence of citizenship acquisition in jurisdictions where the jus sanguinis principle applies and the jus soli principle (Argentina: judgment ref. II OSK 2095/21, Brazil: judgment ref. II OSK 1048/23). The Supreme Administrative Court ruled in these cases that the fact that a person’s ancestors acquired Brazilian (Argentine) citizenship by virtue of their birth in Brazil (Argentina) and the jus soli principle in force there does not preclude the acquisition of Polish citizenship under the jus sanguinis principle , contrary to the seemingly categorical wording of the Polish Act of 1920 (exclusion of dual citizenship). In the court’s view, this provision was intended solely to prevent the acquisition of citizenship of another state as a result of actions taken by a Polish citizen, and being born to specific parents in a specific place cannot be classified as such an action. The interpretation adopted by the Supreme Administrative Court may also prove useful for analysing cases at the intersection of Polish and Israeli citizenship laws, supporting the argument that Jews exercising the right of return retain Polish citizenship.
Polish citizenship, Israeli citizenship and dual citizenship
Under the current legal framework, both Polish legislation (the Act of 2 April 2009 on Polish citizenship, Journal of Laws Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1611 ) and the Israeli Citizenship Law permit dual citizenship. This opens the way for foreign nationals to obtain Polish citizenship, and for those who can demonstrate that they acquired it as a result of specific events, even from the more distant past – – to confirm their Polish citizenship. We have described in detail the procedures that Israeli citizens (and others) must follow to acquire Polish citizenship in one of our articles: https://lexplorers.pl/jak-uzyskac-obywatelstwo-polskie/).
Obtaining Polish citizenship by Israeli citizens: support from GWW
The specialists at GWW provide comprehensive support to individuals who intend to apply for or confirm Polish citizenship: https://gww.pl/en/specjalizacje/nationality-and-residence/.
As Polish citizenship entails numerous rights (participation in political life, the right to purchase property, access to the EU labour market) and a few obligations (we discuss this here [in Polish]: https://lexplorers.pl/polski-paszport-prawa-i-obowiazki-wynikajace-z-bycia-obywatelem/), it is worth taking advantage of one of the routes to acquiring Polish citizenship that we have described on our blog: https://lexplorers.pl/en/how-to-obtain-polish-citizenship/).
Author
Aldona Leszczynska-Mikulska
radca prawny, doradca podatkowy
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