ABSTRACT
Almost two decades have passed since the peak years of out-migration from Poland after European Union (EU) accession. While the academic literature in the first decade after 2004 focused on the ‘intentional unpredictability’ or ‘liquidity’ of Central and Eastern Europeans' migration plans, later scholars developed more stability- or settlement-oriented perspectives. This chapter focuses on how factors influencing migration decisions and decisions to remain changed for Polish migrants over time – measured in years spent in the destination and, especially, in life-course events. Many of the push and pull factors initially considered important by the 73 respondents in this study remained so, especially their perceptions of economic push factors in Poland. However, they also found significant new pull factors encouraging them to stay in the four countries studied. These were linked with the functioning of the health care and welfare systems (especially in Germany and the Netherlands) and culture and lifestyle (especially in the UK and Ireland). Culture- and lifestyle-related factors gained importance in particular for non-graduates. Although the respondents in this study were all long-term migrants with no immediate plans of moving, most did not perceive their destinations as final and planned return or onwards migration – at the same time appreciating the stability they had gained in their lives through migration and keeping a liquid outlook regarding their futures.
