Does Polish Origin Matter? The Integration Challenges of Polish Card Holders in Poland

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of obtaining the Polish Card; the functions attributed to the Card both by politicians and by its holders; the problems of integration faced by Card holders in Poland and the controversies surrounding introduction of the Card in Poland and Ukraine. The principal argument is that Karta Polaka has been transformed from a policy instrument supporting Polish minorities in the Post-Soviet countries into one facilitating access to the Polish labour market. Ultimately, it will lead to the cultural assimilation of the Card holders, especially those from the younger generation which have settled in Poland. The article is based both on desk research and on informal interviews with experts and knowledge gathered during my work at a non-governmental organisation that deals with the integration of migrants in Poland.

Notes

1 Act of 7 September 2007 on the Card of Pole (Journal of Laws of 2007, No 180, item 1280, as amended); Act of 28 August 2003 amending the Act on repatriation (Journal of Laws of 2003, No 157, item 1691, as amended); Act of 13 May 2016 amending the Act on the Pole’s Card and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 753); Act of 16 May 2019 amending the Act of Pole’s Card (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1095).

2 Ustawa z dnia 9 listopada 2000 r. o repatriacji, Dz. U. z 2000 r. Nr 106, poz. 1118; Ustawa z dnia 7 kwietnia 2017 r. o zmianie ustawy o repatriacji oraz niektórych innych ustaw, Dz. U. z 2017 r. poz. 858 tom 1.

3 There are no comprehensive statistics on migration to Poland. The data comes from different sources and cannot be easily summarised here. In the case of Ukrainians in Poland, there are several sources of data. Ukrainian citizens received 1.15 million visas in 2017 and 876,064 in 2018. Due to the establishment of the visa free regime between Ukraine and EU countries belonging to the Schengen Area in June 2017, the number of visas was reduced. Ukrainians who live more or less permanently in Poland have applied for short- or long-term residence permits, of which 214 719 had been issued by 01.01.2020 [Data from the Office for Foreigners: www.udsc.gov.pl]. The majority of Ukrainians in Poland are temporary labour migrants, who access the labour market on the basis of temporary work permits (Declaration to employ foreigner—Oświadczenia o powierzeniu pracy cudzoziemcowi) and seasonal work permits. In recent years over one million Ukrainians have received such permits and come to Poland. For instance, 971,840 Ukrainians in 2019 received 1 475 923 of such declarations. (Data from the Ministry of Family, Labour and social Policy). The company that analyses the behaviour of smartphone users has published data on Ukrainian smartphone users in Poland. According to the Company Selectivv there were 1,270,398 Ukrainians in Poland in January 2019. [Sylwia Czubkowska. Smartfony policzyły Ukraińców. Ile Ukrainek planuje mieć dzieci? Retrieved May 13, 2020 from https://wyborcza.pl/7,156282,24522397,smartfony-policzyly-ukraincow-ile-ukrainek-planuje-miec-dzieci.html.

4 On the territories of Galicia there was tradition of baptising the daughter in the religion of the mother, and the son in the religion of the father.

5 https://www.facebook.com/groups/infoKP/.

6 Moskalnia (Москальня) –an offensive term for Russians or Russian speaking Ukrainians.

7 Today, foreigners can apply for citizenship in Poland either via President or via regional authorities. Until 2012, granting citizenship was the sole prerogative of the President. The law on citizenship from 1962 underwent numerous revisions, but remained a rather restrictive document which substantially limited access to citizenship. The decision of the president was final and there was no possibility of appeal. Facilitation of the procedure was introduced through the Act on Citizenship of 2009, which came into force in 2012. The new law on citizenship broadened the categories of foreigners who can apply for citizenship, decreased the period of prior stay required for citizenship, gave regional authorities the right to grant citizenship and introduced an appeal procedure. With the adoption of this, law the number of naturalised citizens increased. For more on this topic, see: Keryk and Trochimczyk-Sawczuk (2018).

8 The latter involves an initial application for a permanent residence permit, passing the state language examination at B1 level and then, after one year, applying for citizenship.

9 The presumption is made on the basis of research done on Ukrainian migrants in Poland (Alebank.pl, 2018; Keryk & Pawlak, 2015) and the information collected during the work with migrants.