Question for Europeans or those that might know how the system works...

[Snibble]

Greetings from Europe and Hi to all members,

I am planning on staying Poland, in a a wonderful and historical city of Poznan for the next 5 years or so. I can't imagine living in a dormatory for all this time.. so I am thinking of perhaps buying an apartment as close as possible to the old city center. Now.. being that I am only a US citizen... am I able to purchase land/house abroad? Also... from the European standpoint.. would they sell or atleast LEGALLY sell to one who is not an EU member? Curious on how things like that work.

[Jorn]

If you have a visa that allowes you to work in Poland I don't see any reason why you would not be allowed to buy a house.

[PC Dave]

Different countries have different rules, and the new EU members may/may not have harmonized all their laws yet. When I lived in Prague, for instance, foreigners couldn't own property, but they could own corporations, and corporations could own property. Kind of strange. Any decent sized city, and Poznan certainly qualifies, will have an American Chamber of Commerce ("AmCham"), that'll have regular get togethers where lots of your fellow expats can help out. You can find out the details via the local consulate, or if there isn't one, through the embassy in Warsaw. Also, find the expat. bars (you'll find them pretty quickly ), and start asking around - there's a bunch of standard newbie questions when you hit the ground, and folks there will answer them for you over beers, always the best way...

[Snibble]

Originally Posted by PC Dave

Different countries have different rules, and the new EU members may/may not have harmonized all their laws yet. When I lived in Prague, for instance, foreigners couldn't own property, but they could own corporations, and corporations could own property. Kind of strange. Any decent sized city, and Poznan certainly qualifies, will have an American Chamber of Commerce ("AmCham"), that'll have regular get togethers where lots of your fellow expats can help out. You can find out the details via the local consulate, or if there isn't one, through the embassy in Warsaw. Also, find the expat. bars (you'll find them pretty quickly ), and start asking around - there's a bunch of standard newbie questions when you hit the ground, and folks there will answer them for you over beers, always the best way...

thanks PC Dave.. I thought you might know of an answer since from reading in the past, you are a bit familiar with this region of Europe. I will check out what you said this week..

About the bars.. ehh, it found me. A bunch of cool Norwegians took me down to this place and from what I still remember, "WOW" is what I can say. I must have been dreamin'... actually I hope it was, cuz my gf would kill me

[wbain5280]

The US doesn't care if you own land in a foreign country. Poland may care so check (no pun intended) their laws.