Only 12% of Poles plan to leave the UK

According to the survey carried out by the market research institute from Poland only 12% of Poles

According to the survey carried out by the market research institute from Poland (Interaktywny Instytut Badań Rynkowych - IIBR) only 12% of Poles who live in the UK, plan to return back to Poland within a year.

The majority of respondents (74%) declared to stay in the UK for longer then a year, while 50% planed to stay in the UK for at least few years.

IIBR observes that there is a new trend in Polish migration to Britain. While fewer Poles leave their country, because of economic and political situation there, more of them come to the UK for other reasons (to join their partners or family, to gain experience or learn the language).

The same study carried by IIBR in 2007 shown, that 6% of Poles planned to leave the UK within next year. The number has doubled since then, but according to IIBR it is difficult to estimate whether the total number of Poles living in the UK will change this year, as new immigrants are still arriving

The study has been carried out by IIBR in April 2008 on sample of 1074 Poles living in the UK.

There are no official figures on how many Poles are in the UK and no embarkation controls on EU members so the number of Poles leaving and entering the UK is not known.

Frequently quoted source of information - the Worker Registration Scheme is not highly reliable. WRS was introduced in 2004 in order to regulate A8 citizens seeking employment in the UK. It noted a drop in number of new Polish registration in 2007, which causes common believe that there are less Poles coming to the UK. This information is however misleading as after 2006 Poles and other A8 citizens were officially advised that the WRS registration was no longer compulsory.

More reliable statistics are from National Insurance Registration figures. Between 2001 and 2006 - 333,000 Poles had been registered for National Insurance. In the year alone 2006/2007 a further 223,000 were registered. The number of registration in 2007 showed an increase in registration of Polish citizens comparing to the previous year.