Interim Decision #2189 

MATTER OF KUBICKA 

In Visa Petition Proceedings 

A-20865987 

Decided by Board October 20, 1972 

Under the law of Poland, a child born in that country of a bigamous marriage 

was legitimated by the act of recognition of the child by the father in a report 

of the child's birth to the Civil Registry Office. 

This is an appeal from a decision of a district director which 

denies a visa petition filed on behalf of the petitioner's 22-year-old 

married daughter. The district director based his denial of the 

petition on the following grounds: "The facts presented disclose 

you were never married to the beneficiary's mother in that you did 

not terminate your first marriage until January 27, 1963, seventeen years after the birth of the beneficiary to your second wife 

and you have not thereafter entered into a legal marriage with 

the mother of the beneficiary." 

The documents submitted in support of the petition reveal the 

following facts: The petitioner and the beneficiary's mother were 

married on June 16, 1945. At that time, a prior marriage entered 

into by the petitioner was still in existence. The beneficiary's 

mother was not aware of the fact that the petitioner was already 

validly married. The beneficiary was born as issue of that bigamous marriage on June 17, 1950. The marriage was annulled on 

July 5,1902. The prior marriage of the petitioner was terminated 

by a divorce decree, on January 4, 1963. All those events took place 

in Poland where the petitioner, the beneficiary's mother, and the 

beneficiary resided. 

The law of Poland has enlarged the rights of children born out of 

wedlock. The constitution of the Polish People's Republic provides 

in Article 67 that, "The birth of a child out of wedlock does not 

reduce its public rights." Like previous enactments, the latest 

Polish Family Code ("Kodeks Rodzinny") which became effective 

on January 1, 1965, contains detailed provisions for the acknowledgment or repudiation of paternity, in Articles 62 through 86. 

Recognition, whether voluntary or enforced, of a child born out of 

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wedlock, in conformity with the provisions of the Polish Family 

Code, results in the child's legitimation. We recognized the effect of 

a natural father's acknowledgment of a child as his own, under 

Polish law, in Matter of K—, 8 I. & N. Dec. 73 (BIA, 1958). 

The matter before us does not involve the ordinary situation in 

which a man. has recognized paternity. Here the beneficiary's 

mother and the petitioner had entered into a ceremonial marriage 

which, on its face, appeared to be valid. As the Polish District 

Court which annulled that marriage on July 5, 1962, pointed out, 

only the petitioner knew that the marriage was bigamous. On 

June 27, 1950, he reported the beneficiary's birth to the Civil 

Registry Office in Lodz, Poland, under No. 4681/50, as the birth of 

a child born as issue of his marriage to the beneficiary's mother. 

We are satisifed that his act, never repudiated, resulted in the 

beneficiary's legitimation, in conformity with the applicable Polish 

law. 

In Matter of K—, supra, we concluded "that the beneficiary in 

the instant case should be regarded as a legitimate or legitimated 

child of the petitioner." A "legitimate" child is, of course, a child 

"born in wedlock" (Webster's New International Dictionary, 1971). 

The distinction between the birth of a child in wedlock and the 

birth of a child out of wedlock is recognized in the provisions of 

Article 67 of the constitution of the Polish People's Republic which 

was quoted above. We, therefore, state, and should more correctly 

have stated in Matter of K—, above, that a child born out of 

wedlock recognized by the father as his own, in accordance with 

the law of Poland, becomes the father's "legitimated" child, rather 

than his "legitimate" child. 

The petitioner has submitted a marriage certificate which shows 

that the beneficiary entered into a marriage with Jan Kubicka on 

February 6, 1971. Thus we shall approve the petition for status of 

the beneficiary as the married daughter of a citizen of the United 

States under section 203(aX4) of the Immigration and Nationality 

Act. 

ORDER: The petition is approved for status under section 

203(aX4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

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