Poland becomes a key destination for labour migration

Poland, far from being just a destination for big cities, is undergoing a profound rural transformation driven by labour migration, with small municipalities exceeding 30% foreign population.

The image of **Poland** as a country that only welcomes immigrants in its major cities such as **Warsaw** or **Kraków** is crumbling. The reality is that foreign labour is settling strongly in smaller towns and industrial areas, to the point that some of these municipalities already exceed **30%** foreign population. Data from **Statistics Poland (GUS)** from late 2025 reveal that while **Warsaw** stands at around **14.5%** and **Kraków** at **11.3%**, towns like **Mszczonów** reach **31.7%** and **Mława** **27.8%**. In total, at the end of 2025, some **2.3 million** foreigners were living in the country, roughly **6%** of the total population, with Ukrainian citizens making up the majority at **73%**.

## The visa and permit machine

This migratory flow is no accident. Between **2018** and **2023**, a period covering the final years of the **Law and Justice (PiS)** government, **Poland** issued more than **four million** visas and more than **11.5 million** documents to legalise stays, including work permits. The country has positioned itself as a leading player in labour migration within the **European Union**. In **2024**, it granted **337,874** first residence permits for employment, more than any other member state, with the main beneficiaries being citizens of **Ukraine** and **Belarus**.

The paradox is clear: while political rhetoric has been tough on illegal immigration, especially from **Belarus**, and Western Europe's mistakes have been criticised, the Polish economy has increasingly relied on the mass arrival of foreign workers through legal channels.

## Labour for key sectors

The arrival of immigrants is concentrated especially in those sectors that require labour for hard, low-skilled or relatively low-paid tasks. Industries such as food processing, furniture manufacturing, logistics and agriculture depend heavily on these workers. In fruit harvesting, for example, some companies employ almost exclusively foreigners during the season. A major blueberry producer admitted that immigrants accounted for around **70%** of his workforce, after having pogre replaced Polish workers. Even large companies such as the oil and energy group **Orlen** have turned to thousands of foreign workers for their industrial projects. Near the **Olefins III** petrochemical complex, close to **Płock**, a container city was even built to house some **6,000** employees.

## A "privatisation of immigration" with cracks

The Polish migration model has been described by **Paweł Kaczmarczyk**, director of the Centre of Migration Research at the University of **Warsaw**, as a "privatisation of immigration". The idea is that companies and private agencies profit from importing cheap labour, while the social, administrative and integration costs fall on society at large and on local authorities. Business pressure has been a key factor, with companies and employers' associations demanding faster procedures to bring in foreign workers. Temporary work agencies have acted as intermediaries, largely setting the pace of migration, sometimes ahead of any clear state strategy.

However, this rapid growth of the market has generated problems. In **2025**, the National Labour Inspectorate found irregularities in **95.8%** of the temporary employment agencies inspected. Cases have been documented of Colombian workers denouncing precarious conditions, such as rooms shared by five people, charges for protective clothing, medical examinations or residence permits, and seven-day working weeks. There have also been reports of suspected human trafficking, unpaid wages and retention of travel documents. In May, the Border Guard arrested three people accused of setting up some **130** shell companies to submit more than **11,000** false declarations of hiring foreigners, in order to obtain visas and cross the border legally.

## The impact on small towns

The phenomenon is especially visible in small and medium-sized municipalities. More affordable housing and proximity to factories and logistics centres have caused labour migration to concentrate in areas away from the big urban centres. In these towns, the rapid arrival of foreign residents is generating political tensions, rising costs for local services and a growing sense of social transformation. This demographic change may be influencing the electoral growth of political forces to the right of **PiS**, such as **Confederation** and **Grzegorz Braun's** movement, especially in rural areas where **Law and Justice** used to have a clear dominance.