Polish migration to the UK

Abstract

Chapter two includes an overview of EU migration to the UK and migrants’ characteristics with the message that migration to the UK is not new. People have been migrating since forever; recently however, the issue of migration has been elevated to a key national concern in the UK and beyond. It is now one of the most contentious and divisive matters in contemporary Britain and globally. Meanwhile, the government continually fails to deliver on its promise to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, but should it? This chapter presents and discusses most up-to-date existing statistical data in relation to EU migration to the UK and migrant characteristics. These are contrasted with new qualitative data from women migrants from Poland to the UK. This chapter provides an explanation of the current complexities related to EU nationals’ legal status in the UK. Finally, a series of interview extracts are presented to illustrate the abovementioned points.