Entry to a market, not to a state: Situation of migrant workers in Poland

Abstract

In this report, we have presented the Polish legal frame-work for labour immigration and recent migratory trends. We have also analysed two entry points to the Polish labour market: an intermediary and employment agency, and a private college. Polish regulations regarding immi-gration are complicated and incoherent. There is no openly declared migration policy and the issue has very much been demonised in the public debate. In recent years, however, actual migration has been increasing at an enor-mous rate. The matching employers and migrant employ-ees is not organised by public institutions, but by for-profit actors looking to make money from intermediation. Social networks and informal arrangements also play important role in facilitating migrants’ labour market entry, although the large scale of immigration has opened up a window of opportunity for specialised intermediaries to fill a niche.