Migration Plans and Strategies of Recent Polish Migrants to England and Wales: Do They Have Any and How Do They Change?

Debates have persisted about the character of the large East-West population flows that followed the accession of Poland and other Central and Eastern European states to the EU in 2004. Some of the key discussions surround the extent to which the mobility has been temporal and hence how likely these migrants are to settle permanently or to stay for long periods in host countries. This paper further enhances the understanding of such issues mainly through examining survey data on 700 Polish nationals in seven English and Welsh towns and cities, and supplemented by an analysis of qualitative information obtained from the respondents. Three categories of migrants are initially identified on the basis of their intentions of stay in the UK. Multinomial logit models are then estimated to examine the characteristics of individuals in each category to establish the factors that influence migration strategies and changes in plans. The results indicate that although standard socio-economic characteristics tend to be insignificant, migration strategies and changes in intentions are affected by the migrant’s view of whether their job matches their expectations, the time of entry into the UK and remittances. Analysis of the qualitative information provides a complementary perspective and re-inforces some of the key findings in relation to the factors determining changes in the anticipated length of stay.