119 - Helping Polish national renew passport and visit family - April 2023

 One of our members told us about Roman, a Polish friend who they have known since 2016.  Roman uses the Nourish food service we supported back in September.


Roman’s Polish passport expired in Feb 2022. At the time, the Covid backlog made it nearly impossible to get an appointment with the Manchester Polish consulate for most Polish families.


In October 2022 Roman had a ruptured ulcer and could not do his self-employed labouring work for over 4 months. He is now working shorter days and hours doing lighter gardening duties.


His situation means he has very little money for daily living, let alone to pay for a new passport. The costs of not just the passport fees, but also passport photos, travel to and from Manchester to attend the consulate passport renewal interview - plus a return trip to collect the passport in person all add up, making it an insurmountable financial challenge for him to undertake.


Yet Roman needs to get a passport.  Not only is he desperate to get back to Poland to spend time with his children and wider family, who he hasn’t seen since 2020, but not having his passport  also means he doesn't have ID for renting a new home or getting a new job in the UK since BREXIT. 


Our member told us they are part of a group of friends keen to help Roman with his application on a practical level, but they also needed some 500 together support to help with all the costs involved in getting everything sorted out.  We were only too pleased to step in.


Since we agreed to help, his friends have managed to get him an appointment at the Polish consulate, helped him double check all his paperwork was in order and  have taken him across to Manchester.  He is now waiting to hear when he can return to pick up his new passport and think about organising a trip home to visit his family.


We have sent £500 to Roman - via our member who will help him manage the funds to pay for all his passport costs, as well as using the remainder to help him with travel costs to get back to Poland.


They tell us how getting the passport has really lifted his spirits and given him hope of seeing his family.  Roman does a lot to help others where he can in his community and we are pleased to have been able to join with his caring friends to take him a step closer to seeing this family  as well as having a more settled life here in the UK.


We send him our very best wishes and wish him safe travels when the time comes.


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