Poland’s government signed off on a tough new immigration strategy on October 15, releasing the document on the anniversary of the ruling Civic Coalition (PO) party’s victory over the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party in legislative elections last year, and just months before the presidential elections scheduled for the spring of 2025.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk presented the new strategy on October 12 at a convention of his centrist Civic Platform (PO) party. With security named as the overriding priority, Poland plans to "temporarily suspend the right to asylum," he said, adding that he would "demand recognition" of the decision in Europe "because we know very well how Lukashenko, Putin, people smugglers use this right to asylum contrary to the essence of [that] right."

Tusk and other politicians have framed the migration debate around security, especially along Poland’s border with Belarus. Yet they would do better to focus on the integration of the several million foreign workers already in the country, says an expert.

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Move focus to legal migration, advise experts

"We have statistics on asylum seekers and it's several thousand people per year, compared to 2.5 million foreigners who are in Poland legally," said Dominika Pszczółkowska from the Center of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw in a TVP World interview. 

The Polish border guard also regularly publishes statistics on people who were apprehended either attempting or having crossed the border irregularly. "We are constantly focused, because of the political rhetoric, on this small issue – which by the way – looks to me as if it's under control," said Pszczółkowska. [Polish border services recorded some 7,100 attempts in May 2024, compared to 1,900 in the same month last year, and just 913 in May 2022, editor’s note] 

Tusk's controversial decision to temporarily halt processing asylum requests comes as Poland transitions from a country of emigration into a destination country for immigration. "In recent years, tens and even hundreds of thousands of people from different parts of the world have come to Poland in a quest for a more prosperous life," described a recent article on immigration to Poland published in the daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

Wages, jobs and the war

In 2011, Poland counted barely more than 100,000 immigrants, compared to several million today. The surge is due to three factors: wages, jobs and Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the article published in Gazeta. As Poland became richer over the last decade, and the minimum wage rose, it became an increasingly attractive destination for migrants. The economic boom, and continued development, meant Poland needed more migrants, besides the ones from Ukraine, to fill the gaps in its labor market. It is worth noting that Poland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union, with only the Czech Republic registering lower figures.

While the immense majority of migrants in Poland are from Ukraine, Belarus and the Caucasus region, the number of migrants from Asia and the Middle East has increased in recent years. In 2023, notable rises included 4,588 Indians, 3,535 Colombians, and over 1,750 each from Nepal, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Legal migrants made up 6 percent of the workforce in Poland in 2023, or around 8-10 percent if illegally employed migrants were included, according to Jarema Piekutowski, the author of the report, "Migration: an untapped (for now) ressource for Poland."

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Integration and language

"We should be devoting much more attention to this large group of people who we already let in, who are already here, who are likely to stay," said Pszczółkowska. "Of course many are doing very well in terms of jobs and integration, and so on, but many need help, for example with Polish classes."

Pszczółkowska added that the debate should be re-oriented on integrating people, and the kind of support the state should offer them. "The Ukrainians who arrived are working and it's a big success, but they are not necessarily working according to their qualifications, and one of the reasons why is because they don’t speak Polish well enough," added the expert. 

Immigration policy and Donald Trump’s recent victory in the US presidential elections will probably be on the minds of Polish voters as they head to the polls this spring to pick their new president. By ostensibly taking a tough stance on migration, Tusk hopes to circumvent the issue and gain an upper hand over his far-right PiS rivals.