ABSTRACT
Although Poles had been migrating to the Netherlands for over 100 years, their numbers grew significantly after Poland's EU accession. Characteristic features of Polish migration to the country included a particularly low percentage of graduates among the migrants and a strong reliance on employment agencies. In the first decade after enlargement, Poles were also not well received by some of the Dutch public, including politicians and the media. This chapter, based on qualitative interviews with 16 Polish migrants living in the country, demonstrates that, frequently, they did not prefer the Netherlands but rather chose it because migration to the country was perceived as easy to organize – and to reverse in case of misfortune. As a result and also perhaps reflecting the Dutch public discourse on Poles, some perceived their compatriots in the country as the ‘worse sort’ of migrant and fantasized about moving to other destinations to be among ‘better’ Poles.
