Our Strangers

13 September 2010

 In early 2004 I went to see a photo exhibition by Lukasz Trzcinski on Krakow's main square, called 'Nasi Obcy', roughly translated as 'Our Strangers'. The wonderful photos presented the daily lives in Poland of refugees from places such as Chechnya, Iraq, Somali and Sierra Leone. The exhibit introduction pointed out that it was now Poland's turn to share the responsibility for protecting refugees, given that its own citizens had once turned to other nations for their goodwill. As a migrant to Poland, even a comparatively uncomplicated EU migrant brought here by market opportunities rather than some kind of forced migration, this attitude touched a chord with me. It reminded me that I am guest within Poland, a guest who has been made to feel very welcome, not just by the system, but also by the openness of Polish people day to day.

However before I begin to wax too lyrical about Polish policy for foreign workers, I should point out that the immigration system is not always easy to navigate.

A recent survey by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office reported that while over a million and half Poles live in other EU countries, Poland along with Romania has the fewest number of foreigners living and working in its borders. This is perhaps surprising given Poland's economic strength over the past 6 years. It is probable that a large number of workers have gone unregistered on the black market.

After Poland joined the EU in 2004 and later the Schengen zone, it had to comply with more restrictive visa requirements resulting in a significant reduction in workers from Belarus and Ukraine. As Polish workers went abroad a stark shortage of labor in construction, agriculture and domestic work prompted measures in 2006 by the Polish government, to allow workers from these countries to perform short term work for up to 3 months without a work permit. While this was a logical and positive measure, several Ukrainian contacts of mine complained of slow moving Polish consulates with time consuming visa processes. In 2009 as the crisis took hold, Trade unions in Poland began to call for restrictions on foreign workers, to make way for Poles losing their jobs in other parts of the EU. While this was a trend of job nationalism that was seen elsewhere in Europe as unemployment took hold, it illustrates the delicate position of migrant workers, welcome in good times as cheap, quality labor, unpopular in a downturn.

A friend from South Africa who was a talented head chef in Krakow, dealt with the process of work permits and visas regularly. Most important was finding a Polish employer who would agree to apply for the work permit for him. The employer would first have to advertise the position to ensure no suitable Polish candidate existed for the position. However most employers make the job requirement specific to the skill set of their preferred non-EU employee to ensure they qualify for the position. When he first arrived in Poland 6 years ago this process was time consuming and involved going to different offices spread across Krakow dealing with officers, who were not always helpful. However over time he saw significant improvement and administration for work permits is now concentrated in one office on Basztowa Street, with helpful multilingual staff. The major issue was that he would have to rely on his employer to constantly process his visa and work permit application and this sometimes left him at the mercy of their changing demands. Despite loving Krakow, after 6 years he got tired of this and moved back to South Africa to become head chef at one of the World Cup stadiums.

As an EU citizen starting my own business in Poland in 2005, settling in Krakow was comparatively straightforward. I was still required to obtain a residency card ('Karta Pobytu') and owning property often helped with that. The Polish language represented a significant challenge in the first year, but translators and my bilingual team got me through that. More important was the open attitude of local business partners such as customers, suppliers and bank managers when dealing with a foreigner such as myself. Of course sometimes being a 'foreigner' in negotiations could lead to higher prices being demanded and when we suspected that might be the case, a local representative was used.

This week the case of Shaminder Puri, a British Sikh of Indian descent who is suing Poland's border guards for asking him to remove his turban at Warsaw airport, reminded me of the cultural clashes that can occur when visitors and workers from diverse backgrounds arrive in their host nation. As fast growing economies become more multicultural due to labor migration and wider economic ties, mutual respect and cultural sensitivity can often prevent such issues from boiling over. Let's hope that Prime Minister Tusk doesn't have similar problems during his Trade and Investment tour of India this week.

In 1986 my aunt published 'Twice Migrants', a book about Sikh settlers who moved first from India to East Africa and then later to Britain. My own family was part of that migration and living in Poland I suppose I am now part of a third migration phase. I hope I can live up to the efforts of my predecessors who worked hard, prospered and contributed to the society around them.

For those of you considering working in Poland, websites like www.polishforums.com and www.expats-in-poland.com are useful. Participants in the forums are from all over the world and share their experiences and knowledge.