Posts by Edward101

Edward101

16 Sep 2010

UK, Ireland / Why Polish people decided to move to the UK, and their experiences. [46]

I'm a student in my third year doing geography. I've been interested in migration and specifically eastern Europeans moving to the UK since 2004 when several countries joined the EU.

For my dissertation/thesis I am going to be answering the question

Why do eastern Europeans (A8 countries)* migrate to the UK, and what are their experiences in Norfolk compared to London.

*A8 countries being;
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia

I live in Norfolk and there has been an increase in eastern Europeans moving to the area for work, mainly working on farms and in factories. I am in the process of writing a questionnaire specifically these people.

Basically I am writing this thread to find out reasons why eastern Europeans move to the UK. I realise this is specifically a Polish forum, but I just need some broad reasons why eastern Europeans choose the UK over other EU countries. For example, the free health service.

I have searched this forum and there seems to be a large amount of members living in London, so I am in the process of writing another questionnaire for eastern Europeans living in London and would be very grateful if some of you would be able to fill it in.

I have just returned from a month travelling around Europe and I spent 4 days in Krakow, which I really enjoyed, I was able to speak to a man doing a free walking tour around Krakow, which I found really helpful and gave me some more reasons why Polish people are moving to the UK that I hadn't previously thought of.

Any replies would be much appreciated, for example the reason you moved to the UK (if you have) or any other reasons you could think of.

Thanks.

Edward101

16 Sep 2010

UK, Ireland / Why Polish people decided to move to the UK, and their experiences. [46]

Thanks everyone for your responses, they're much appreciated.

I definitely will keep you posted, I will post my questionnaire in the coming few days, and will be using this forum frequently.

I've been told there are strict regulations on abortion and contraception in Poland, and the idea of the free contraceptive pill in the U.K draws women in. Could something like this really make women want to leave Poland for the U.K?

More younger Poles are learning Englihs at school than German, French, Italian or the Scandinavian tongues.

I have thought about this, through some background research I found that the average pay migrants get for the type of work they do (farm work, factory work - is this too much of a generalisation?) in the U.K is lower than what they would be paid in Sweden. So is the English language an important factor it being the lingua franca of the world?

Yeah, I looked at the members list, and looked through the threads in this part of the forum. There are 3 threads on the first page specifically about London. I am able to change the question I'm doing, so if I find using London as the comparative city doesn't work out, I can easily change it