Abstract
This chapter attempts to offer a comprehensive picture of migration from the post-Soviet states to Poland. It presents factors facilitating migration to Poland from the East, including former connections to Poland and the existing migration policy instruments targeted at citizens of the post-Soviet states. Moreover, it offers a brief overview of available statistical data related to the scale of migration from the former USSR states to Poland as well as to structural characteristics of the population of post-Soviet migrants in Poland. This contribution aims to answer the question of whether post-Soviet migrants may be treated as a fairly homogenous group, which would justify generalisations based on what existing studies show as regards Ukrainians. The analysis provides evidence that post-Soviet migrants in Poland do not constitute a uniform group. Consequently, it points to the need to go beyond studies focused solely on Ukrainian migrants.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter was prepared within the research project: “The economic integration of immigrants in a country in the intermediate phase of the migration cycle—Poland versus selected EU countries” funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (Grant no. 2014/14/E/HS4/00387). The author would like to thank Renata Stefańska and the Editors of the book for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.
- 2.
For the sake of this chapter, the term post-Soviet migrants was narrowed to citizens of the 12 non-EU post-Soviet states (i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). Similarly, whenever post-Soviet states, former USSR republics or the East are mentioned in this chapter, I limit my considerations to the non-EU former Soviet republics. Baltic States are intentionally disregarded as members of the EU and a part of the Schengen zone.
- 3.
A notable exception was the 1990s study conducted at the Institute for Social Studies on short-term labour migration from the post-Soviet states to Poland (see, e.g. Stola 1997).
- 4.
Naturally, pure geographical proximity also plays a role here.
- 5.
Before the 2000 Repatriation Act entered into force in 2001, the then law allowed arrivals of Poles, inter alia, from (but not limited to) the post-Soviet area.
- 6.
According to the respective act, a repatriation visa may only be issued to a person of Polish descent who was a permanent resident in one of the South Caucasian or Central Asian states or in the Asian part of the Russian Federation before the respective act entered into force.
- 7.
There have been also several categories of foreigners exempted from an obligation to apply for any of these documents (see next section).
- 8.
For instance, the number of work permits issued in 2017 ranged from 3.6% of the number of registered employer declarations for Georgian migrants to 23% in the case of Russian citizens (MFLSP 2018).
- 9.
Total duration of stays cannot exceed 90 days in every half a year for citizens of both countries.
- 10.
The dominance of Mazowieckie and Dolnośląskie province reflects also in the highest number of employer declarations issued in 2017 (23% and 12%, respectively, MFLSP 2018).
- 11.
Quality assessment of Public Employment Services in Terms of the Simplified Employment Procedure for Foreigners (POWER) (www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/projects/quality-assesment-of-public-employment-services-in-terms-of-the-simplified-employment-procedure-for-foreigners-po-wer/).
- 12.
They ranged from 0 in the case of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan (in which there are currently no Polish diplomatic missions), through 3–5% in the case of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Georgia, 6–7% in the case of Uzbekistan and Armenia and 18% in the case of Moldova.
- 13.
For more see the interview with the Head of the Office for Foreigners entitled ‘Na Kaukazie Północnym bez zmian, a w statystykach rekordy’ [All quiet in the North Caucasus and in statistics records] published in Biuletyn Migracyjny 44 (http://biuletynmigracyjny.uw.edu.pl/44-pazdziernik-2013/na-kaukazie-polnocnym-bez-zmian-a-w-statystykach-rekordy-wywiad-z-rafalem-rogala).
- 14.
It has to be borne in mind, that such an additive approach involves a simplifying assumption that every declaration has been used as intended, although it may not always be the case.
- 15.
The chart does not present data for Turkmenistan due to small numbers of registered workers from this country (16 work permits issued in 2017).
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Brunarska, Z. (2020). Post-Soviet Migrants in Poland: A Uniform or Heterogeneous Population?. In: Denisenko, M., Strozza, S., Light, M. (eds) Migration from the Newly Independent States. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_23
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