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EU Membership Highlights Poland's Migration Challenges
By Krystyna Iglicka,
Center for International Relations, Warsaw
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April 2005
For more than a century, Poland has been one of the largest sending
areas in Central and Eastern Europe and a vast reservoir of labor for many
countries in Western Europe and North America. Poland's geographical
and political location predestined it to struggle amidst the interplay between
the West and the East, in both historical and cultural perspectives as well as economic
and social contexts.
Today, Poland is probably the most striking example of a Central European
country that is gradually shifting from a major sending country into a country
of net-immigration and transit migration. Poland's accession to the EU
in May 2004 is likely to foster the changes in the migratory processes that
have been observed since the beginning of the 1990s.
Historical Background
From 1945 until the collapse of communism in 1989, Poland's
migration policy, like that of other Soviet Bloc countries, reflected isolationist
principles. Polish citizens could not easily leave the country because of the
restrictive passport and exit-visa policies. Under these circumstances, Poland,
which might otherwise have been fertile ground for Western European labor recruitment
in the 1950s and 1960s, was simply not a country open to labor agreements.
The state, when it did grant permission to leave the country
temporarily, always set a time limit on the stay abroad. Those who wanted to
use such an opportunity to find a better life elsewhere knew they would not
be able to return home once they left, making the decision very difficult.
In all, an estimated six million people left Poland in the post-war period (see
Table 1).
Germany was the primary destination country for communist-era Polish migrants.
Although they entered the country illegally, it was fairly easy for them to
stay because any document confirming German (Aussiedler) ancestry
was accepted. Germany's lenient policy for those claiming German ethnicity
lasted until 1991. Since then, the procedure for obtaining Aussiedler status
has become stricter, and there are several new requirements applicants must
fulfill.
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Table 1: International Migration to and from Poland by Year (1945-2003), in thousands
(View Table)
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In a distant second place was the United States, the destination
of just over 10 percent of all post-war emigrants. An estimate based on official
Polish statistics suggests their numbers were between 120,000 and 150,000.
The US easily granted them, and others who escaped communist regimes in Europe,
refugee status.
During this period, in which the Polish government pushed to
become an ethnically homogenous country, the government focused on two issues.
The first related to improved settlement conditions for Polish citizens who
had repatriated from the former Soviet Union.
The second was an effort to eliminate what the government called "hostile
and temporary elements." By hostile element, communist authorities meant
anyone who was of ethnic German descent. After World War II, there were thousands
of people, especially in the western part of Poland, who identified themselves
as Poles, but had German names or did not speak fluent Polish.
Ultimately, however, the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989
not only transformed Poland's political and economic structure, it also
changed the country's ethnic make-up and disrupted established emigration
trends.
Recent Trends
Today, more people are still leaving than entering Poland, but
the gap is narrowing. The trend started in the early 1990s. In 1989, over 26,000
people permanently left the country while only 2,200 people planning to remain in Poland entered (see Table 1).
Just two years later, in 1991, the number of people who emigrated
dropped to 21,000, but the number of people entering — 5,000 — had
more than doubled the 1989 number. Although emigration numbers have remained
above 20,000 pear year, peaking at 26,900 in 2000, the immigration numbers
have been on a general upward trend, reaching 7,000 in 2003.
In the past few years, Poland has received more temporary than
permanent permit applications, and accordingly awarded more temporary permits
(28,767) than permanent ones (1,805) in 2003.
Not surprisingly, the majority of both temporary and permanent
permits in 2003 went to citizens of the former Soviet Union (see Table 2).
Ukranians received the most permits (8,456), followed by people from Belarus
(2,507) and the Russian Federation (2,081). Those from Vietnam (1,316) and
Armenia (1,018) were also among the top permits recipients.
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Table 2: Temporary and Settlement (Permanent) Residence Permits by Applicants'
Continents and Countries of Origin (2003)
(View Table)
Table 3: Asylum Applications to Poland by Country of Origin (1998-2003)
(View Table)
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The country has also seen a steadily increasing number of asylum
applications from various countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa since the late
1990s, from just over 3,400 in 1998 to over 6,900 in 2003 (see Table 3). In
2002 and 2003, the majority of applications came from Russians, most of whom
are from the war-torn region of Chechnya.
Making Policy After 1989
After the collapse of communism, the Polish government realized that it had
extremely limited experience with immigration, and lacked the legal foundations
and policies to deal with people intent on entering the country. The government
also lacked money to fund the structures necessary for handling asylum and
migration-related procedures and paperwork.
The lack of infrastructure was especially important given the massive changes
that followed the events of 1989. Along with other Central European countries,
such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, Poland witnessed several
new trends in a short period of time. These included:
- the massive short-term mobility of citizens from the former Soviet Union;
- labor migration to both Eastern and Western Europe;
- permanent migration into Poland, mainly from other Eastern European countries;
- the formation of new immigrant communities of Chinese, Vietnamese, and
Armenian origin;
- inflows of asylum seekers;
- lower levels of emigration;
- the return of Polish citizens living abroad.
Several experts concurrently pointed to various public security threats and
called for a coordinated state response. These opinions, prevalent among the
public and with policy experts, sent a clear message to Poland's politicians
that a "law and order" approach to policymaking was expected.
Since 1989, Poland has developed an increasingly complex set of laws to regulate
immigration matters. Up until that time, the only law dealing with migration
was the Aliens Act of 1963. The Aliens Act, implemented at a time when
few foreigners entered Poland, defined the conditions of entry into the country,
internal movement, and departure.
After Poland ratified the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967
Protocol, in September 1991, the country amended the 1963 Aliens Act to formally
establish a system for granting refugee status. Until that time, Poland had
only granted asylum to people for a limited set of reasons, and most of those
who received asylum were communists from Greece and Chile escaping Greece's junta regime
and Pinochet's regime in Chile, respectively.
Although work on a new Aliens Act began in 1992, it took five years to complete
an updated version. Ultimately, the Aliens Act of 1997 enabled the free movement
of persons and focused mostly on the conditions for entry, stay, and transit
through Poland. It was also mindful, however, of national security, potential
EU accession, and human rights issues.
The Alients Act also made major changes to the refugee system by defining safe third
countries and safe countries of origin. Thus, an applicant from a safe country
or who passed through a safe country en route to Poland would not be granted
refugee status. However, this provision was not enforced because the government
did not determine which countries would be on the safe countries list.
The Impact of Joining the EU
Much of Poland's policy has been made in reaction to changes in migration
patterns to and from Poland. But the country has also had to align its laws
with those of the EU before it could join in May 2004.
Indeed, joining the EU helped Poland set a policy agenda and focused the government's
attention on the most pressing migration issues, namely its visa policy and
border protection. As might be anticipated, as Poland neared its accession
date, more and more people were interested in settling there because of its
pending EU membership.
Like the other accession candidates, Poland's immigration policy is based on the limited amount of European Union legislation in this area; these immigration-related provisions are part of the full EU body of law known as the "acquis," which constitutes all membership obligations.
Specifically, policy is based on two major documents: its negotiation position paper, which outlined Poland's responses to the "acquis," and the Schengen Action Plan. Implementation of the Schengen Action Plan will eventually allow for Poland's inclusion in the free-movement area. Both documents responded to Poland's existing agreement with the EU and presented the timetable for a range of legal and institutional changes, some of which were migration-related.
Although the Aliens Act of 1997 appeared consistent with European standards
at the time it was passed, it quickly became just a step in the accession process.
Consequently, in April 2001, the Polish Parliament passed comprehensive amendments
to the Aliens Act which would help clear the path toward EU membership. One
of the significant changes included establishing the Office for Repatriation
and Foreigners. This became the first separate government agency dealing solely
with migration issues.
In January 2001, a separate Repatriation Act came into force as the first
comprehensive document regulating resettlement of people of "Polish ethnicity
or descent," which encompassed people living in the Asian part of
the former Soviet Union. This law made it easier for those people who, "due
to deportations, exile and other ethnically motivated forms of persecution
could not settle in Poland."
The Repatriation Act also clarifies the means for acquiring Polish citizenship and outlines
types of resettlement assistance. It applies to those who have maintained
cultural ties to Poland and have at least one parent, grandparent, or two great-grandparents
who are of Polish ancestry.
What proved more difficult was Poland's obligation to implement Schengen
requirements, which meant mandating visas from nationals of its eastern neighbors,
Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Russia.
Many worried that such visa requirements could weaken cross-border trade, cause
the market for exports to the former Soviet Union to collapse, and decrease
the income of people dependent on trade-related services. This last point was
important because residents of Poland's eastern borderlands have depended
completely on trade-related services for their income.
Consequently, the Polish waited until the last moment — October 2003 — to
make these visas mandatory. In the first six months after the visa regime's
introduction, cross-border mobility decreased by around 30 percent.
Thanks to efforts by Polish consulates in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia and
improvements in the visa regime's administration, the number of visas
has increased. By March 2005, the number of visitors from Ukraine, Belarus,
and Russia had reached the level observed before the visa's introduction.
Polish consulates estimate that only one percent of visa applications are rejected.
Also in 2003, Poland implemented two laws, the Act of Protection of Aliens
and the 2003 Aliens Act, which further refined the 2001 changes. The Act of
Protection of Aliens clearly divides asylum from economic migration issues.
It includes principles and conditions for extending various forms of protection
to foreigners, including refugee status, asylum status, temporary protection
status, and tolerated status. Tolerated status was created to cover mainly
Chechens whose asylum claims have been rejected but who cannot be sent home.
The 2003 Aliens Act marks Poland's first regularization program for
unauthorized immigrants. The Office of Repatriation and Foreigners estimated
just the number of illegal Vietnamese in Poland in 2003 at 30,000 and the total undocumented population at around 45,000 to 50,000.
However, according to the authorities responsible for the program, the regularization
has been a failure. No formal information about the program was written, and
the information that was provided did not reach the majority of illegal immigrants.
In total, only 3,508 persons — 1,626 Armenians and 1,341 Vietnamese — submitted
applications. As of November 2004, 2,413 applications (69 percent) had been
approved, with 1,052 Armenians and 1,001 Vietnamese receiving legal status.
New Policy Concerns
Characterizing the current policy debate on migration is a difficult task
because the country still lacks a comprehensive approach. It seems that the
dominant issues in the debate have pertained to asylum and repatriation.
So far, immigration has not been discussed intensely in terms of social or
economic policy, nor has it been perceived as an element within these policies.
In some ways, this is understandable. Reducing unemployment has been
the primary objective of the government.
Similarly, the presence of foreigners in Poland is a relatively new social
phenomenon, and managing migration is not yet perceived as a burning social
issue.
To date, the political debate on migration policy has focused on the following
issues:
- the protection of the national interest — protecting borders,
society, and the country against the negative consequences of migration;
- human rights protections — a category raised mainly in the
context of refugees and the legitimization of aliens' stay in Poland;
- refugee protection — treated as a group of foreigners under
particular protection who enjoy the rights specified in the Geneva Convention
and New York Protocol, ratified by Poland. In Polish legislation, the concept
of refugee is separate from the concept of asylum. The status of refugee
is subject to international protection, whereas asylum is understood as exclusively
the right of the state to protect the foreigner and — apart from humanitarian
considerations — to serve the interest of the state, which offers asylum
to foreigners;
- repatriation — formulated by both government and members of Parliament as a long-awaited
return of compatriots to their mother country. The debate has not treated the
repatriates as aliens since they are considered persons to whom the Polish
state bears special responsibility. It is evident in the means facilitating
their return to Poland and adaptation upon return.
Yet, while the mass emigration of Polish emigrants toward other
countries of Western Europe is unlikely, future Polish migration policy faces
various challenges. This includes, for example, the need to prevent the outflow
of specialists sought in Western European countries.
Looking Ahead
Poland will have little choice but to actively join the discussion
on common EU migration policy. This will include proposing the priorities of
its own migration policy to ensure the protection of its future social and
economic interests. Areas of priority include prevention of the so-called "brain
drain" and the continuation of cross-border movements of people and goods
in the east.
Following the example of original EU Member States, Poland may
consider establishing quotas for recruitment of highly qualified specialists.
Good migration management practices are being developed with a special recognition
of illegal employment and its local consequences, and an eye toward improving
the lengthy bureaucratic procedures for hiring foreigners in the country.
As elsewhere in Europe, Polish migration policy will also have to grapple
with immigrant integration. To this end, a campaign to regularize the status
of the large number of foreigners who are residing in Poland illegally will
be on the political agenda.
Poland's ability to manage the emigration of the highly skilled and
those with other needed skills while implementing a long-term immigration plan
will be critical in the years ahead. With a shrinking and aging population
and with more people still leaving Poland than arriving, the stakes are quite
high.
Sources:
Central Statistical Office, Census 2002 data, GUS, Warsaw.
Iglicka, K. (2002). "Poland: Between Geopolitical Shifts and Emerging
Migratory Patterns." International Journal of Population Geography,
153-164.
Iglicka, K. (2001). Poland’s Post-War Dynamic of Migration. Ashgate, Aldershot
Iglicka, K, M. Mazur-Rafal and P. Kazmierkiewicz (2003). "Poland." In
J. Niessen and Yongmi Schibel (eds), EU and US Approaches to the Management
of Immigration. Comparative Perspective. MPG, Brussels.
Office for Repatriation and Foreigners data, Warsaw, various years.
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