ABSTRACT
For Poland, 1989 marked a turning point in the migration process. The existing immigrant groups are too new to engage in civic activities and their efforts are concentrated primarily on their economic situation rather than their social integration. Polish immigration policy developed under the influence of quite different factors from those commonly recognized in the literature. Neither the economic need for immigrants' labour nor socially destabilizing large inflows of asylum seekers, political and public debates on immigration creating certain opinions had real impact on this policy. Two issues of deep concern have a great importance in analysing the future of migration trends into Poland. The first is connected with the difficulty of being European Union border country, and a country absorbing flows of transit, temporary and permanent migrants, mainly from its eastern neighbours. A second issue is connected with the growing presence of legal and irregular immigrants in Poland and a lack of integration policy in the country.
