Changes in Migration Policy - An Answer to Permanent Migration
Bozena Leven

Abstract
This study describes recent changes in Polish emigration to the US, focusing on the changing characteristics of migrants and major forces influencing migration between the two countries. We find that the tendency of recent Polish migrants is to seek to reside permanently in the US, though today’s migrants are also better educated and integrate faster into the US society then earlier cohorts, often bypassing predominantly Polish communities. However, the overall number of Polish migrants to the US has been declining in the last decade. To understand the forces driving migration we focus on push and pull forces, concluding that restrictions on Polish migration maintained by the US and eliminated by the EU are the key factors in this decline. This finding generally supports the broader argument that relaxing migration restrictions helps control permanent migration flows and diminishes the negative impact of such migration on domestic resources.

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