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KarinaK wrote:

Hi to all. We are just preparing to move to Poland for work reasons. We have several years of experience in living abroad, but this side of Europe is completely new for me and my husband. We are an italian family, and we have a 5 years old daughter. She's fluent in both Italian and Russian. I would like to have some essential information about expat life in Gdansk: my daughtet does not speak polish language, would it be quite difficult for her to attend polish school? I mean is there some option for expat children in school system? Where in Gdansk I could attend some polish language courses? My husband is going to work for Italian company branch, as for me I would be happy to find job as well, as I have many years experience in hospitality industry. I need to get any work permit? Is my italian driving licence valid to drive in Poland? How is working medical assistance in Poland? I would be very grateful to receive some input from you. Thanks a lot

Hi

Yea AFAIK there are schools for children of immigrants. She'd probably be accepted in a Polish school but without the lingo she'd struggle so it would be probably better to but her into a private school until she can speak Polish.
There are plenty of language schools in Gdansk so you'll be able to find a Polish teacher pretty easy, you could also check out gumtree.pl for private lessons.

As an EU citizen you won't need a permit, but you will need a residence permit-kind-of-thing. It's just a wee piece of paper that says you're a registered citizen at your address.

You might find it difficult to get work I'm afraid. Not having Polish will make it extremely difficult to find employment in the hospitality industry. Maybe you could teach some Italian in private lessons for some extra money.

Your driving license will be fine.
Medical insurance will be taken care of by your employer, it's obligatory....or your husbands. The health system is pretty poor to be honest, it's really best to not get sick in Poland. You can also buy private health care.

Gdansk is a really lovely city and the locals are very open to foreigners so I think you'll really enjoy it. But the best bit of advice I can give is to get learnign the language. Not so many people speak English, especially people over 30 years old.