Comparative European Politics
Contemporary Issues in
Poland: Emigration, Migration,
Immigration
Polonia
The Polish Diaspora
15-20 million Poles throughout the world
Emigration
Late 17th and 18th Centuries
Jamestown
American Revolution
General
Tadeusz Kosciuszko by Benjamin West
Push factors
Partitions/political
instability/persecution
Poverty, underdevelopment, land
shortage
Pull Factors
Political democratization
Economic development, growth
US, Europe (esp. UK France
Germany)
19th-20th Century
Push Factors
Poverty, economic backwardness
Continued political subjugation
Pull Factors
Industrial Revolution, expansion
in the US
Homestead Acts
Negative Polish Stereotypes in US
Why?
Poles in America
Migration
1990s-today
post-Communist transition
accession to the EU 2002
France
The Polish Plumber
controversy
UK
DidnŐt bloc access (1 of only 3 EU nations not to)
Service sector, building industries
Return?
Immigration to Poland
Still more Poles leaving than foreigners entering
But gap narrowing (more than 20,000 leave per
year)
1989
2,200
1991
5,000
2003
7,000
Most who apply for permanent
residence are from former Soviet republics
Ukraine
Belarus
Russian Federation
Vietnam
Armenia
Asylum seekers
From Asia and Africa
Applications increased from
3,400 in 1998
6,900 on 2003
2002-03 Many Russians from Chechnya
Signed UN Refugee Convention
in 1953 and the 1967 Protocol
Aliens Act of 1963
Amended in 1991 to establish a system for granting
refugee status
Aliens Act of 1997
Enabled free movement of people
Set conditions for entry, stay in, transit through
Defined safe third countries and safe countries of
origin
2001 Repatriation Act
Established procedures for repatriation for Poles
deported or exiled (e.g. under Stalin to Kazakhstan, WWII POWs, refugees, etc.)
For those that have maintained cultural ties and
that have at least one parent or grandparent or two great grandparents of
Polish descent
Schengen Area
Poland is part of
Visas required from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia
Within first 6 mos of introduction, border
crossing from east decreased 30%
2003 Aliens Act
first to establish procedures for illegals in
Poland
e.g., estimated there were 30,000 Vietnamese
illegals in Poland in 2003
Source of data/legislative
history on immigration to Poland:
Iglicka, Krystyna. 2005.
ŇEU Membership Highlights PolandŐs Migration Challenges.Ó Migration
Information Source. April 2005. Migration Policy Institute. Accessed
November 25, 2009.