Summary - Building a future in the Netherlands

The life situation of Polish migrants who registered in the Netherlands after 2004

Original title: Bouwend aan een toekomst in Nederland

The accession of a number of Central and Eastern European countries to the EU in 2004 has led to the arrival of a significant number of Polish migrants in the Netherlands. Immediately after 2004, restrictions on working in the Dutch labour market remained in place, but since 2007 the labour market has been fully opened up. Since then, many Poles have arrived in the Netherlands to work here. There are now approximately 160,000 registered Polish residents in the Netherlands. This means that Polish people have rapidly become the sixth largest migrant group in the Netherlands.

This study looks at the life situation of Polish migrants who have registered as resident in the Netherlands since 2004. What are the characteristics of this group? And how long might they stay? What is their position in the labour market and what changes do we see happening? What are their experiences of life in the Netherlands and how do they feel here? This study is based on a survey of over 1,100 Polish migrants who registered as resident in the Netherlands between 2004 and 2015.