The experiences and migration strategies of senior migrants differ significantly from those of their younger counterparts. However, since migration flows are dominated by younger migrants, the recent Polish migration discourse tends to present the younger migrants’ perspective. This article addresses this research gap by exploring the migration experience of older Polish migrants to the United Kingdom (UK). The types of older migrants currently living in the UK are discussed: namely those who have lived in the UK for several decades and those who have migrated late in life. The experiences and attitudes of both groups are then explored and compared in order to expose several assumptions concerning older migrants: the immobility of seniors; the vulnerability of older migrants; and seniors migrating exclusively as part of care networks. The article is based on qualitative research conducted in the UK in 2005–2009 and in 2017.

This paper contemplates the concept of hostility working on the assumption that people are by nature friendly and deprived of negative feelings. What it takes to fit the category of ‘stranger’ is secondary to how one becomes one in the in the eyes of other people. It is the process that matters. Hostility is a derivative and a by-product, it twists and distorts the truth about man. It is difficult to pin down what produces or provokes a hostile attitude in people. How does this complex transition from being seen as ‘different’ in the eyes of the beholders to being categorised as the ‘stranger’ play out? The author seeks to draw the reader’s attention to several apparently important themes, only to conclude that the „making of the stranger”, unnatural as it might seem, is inherent to our world. This conclusion is always tragic.

Australian immigration policy, particularly regarding refugees, along with multicultural policies were often hailed in Europe as a positive model, especially by advocates of mass immigration and the integration of newcomers in receiving societies. However, in recent years Canberra’s position on asylum seekers trying to reach the Australian territory without visas has provoked criticism in the world as well as in Australia. At the same time, when the European Union faces uncontrolled migration from Africa and Asia, there is no shortage of calls for an adoption of Australian solutions. On cannot but notice how much these polemics reflect the clash between different political and ideological perspectives, while voices on the topic which reach Polish-language readers are usually taken out of context. Therefore the text has two aims: to outline the history of Australian refugee policy and to show that the changes at the turn of the century are its evolutionary continuation rather than any radical change.

The article presents the results of research on the immigration of Ukrainian students to Poland. The research was conducted in 2015 and 2017 among students with the use of the survey method and the auditorium questionnaire technique. The research sample consisted of 606 students and was conducted in Kraków, Rzeszów and Przemyśl. The main motivation for going to Poland was the will to get an education abroad, which is supposed to increase one’s life chances. The biggest problems the students had to face after arriving in Poland were high costs of living, insufficient command of Polish and incomplete integration with Polish peers. The students evaluated the technical and digital infrastructure of Polish universities and the rapport with academic staff highly. The main problem for the students was the difficulty of finding appropriate jobs during their studies and after finishing. The majority of students plan to continue studying second cycle degree programs after finishing their first cycle studies. Only 13% of students declare that they will return to Ukraine after graduating. More than half want to stay in Poland whereas one third want to go to the West for economic reasons.

The article analyses the data about foreigners registered as unemployed in Poland. The most numerous groups of the registered unemployed originate from the post-Soviet bloc, especially Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Armenia. This distribution is a result of various determinants, for example Ukrainians constitute the biggest and dynamically increasing migrant community, so the numer of unemployed is proportionally higher. The individuals who have a Russian passport are usually refugees from Chechnya. The numbers of registered unemployed from Vietnam, India and China are marginal, despite the fact that these communities are relatively numerous in Poland. The sole status of unemployed is associated with the access to some basic welfare benefits (especially access to public healthcare). The share of individuals who have a right to unemployment benefit within the migrants populations is very low, lower than in case of the unemployed natives in Poland. Moreover, the analysis of the percentage of the unemployed depending on the country of origin exposed that in years 2012–2017 the share of unemployed in the migrant population often decreased. The increase in the migrant population was much higher than the increase in the number of the unemployed. The summary offers some explanations of the low level of migrant unemployment, indicating that most foreigners are labour migrants. The analysis of the registered unemployment among migrants fills in a significant gap in research about joblessness of foreigners in Poland.

At the beginning of the 1980s, due to the tense political situation and the economic crisis in Poland, thousands of people set out to emigrate to Western Europe. A particularly popular destination was West Berlin, located near the Polish border. The Poles have put a lot of energy to integrate into the host society, developing appropriate integration strategies. They have contributed to the emergence of certain lifestyles as a set of behaviors characteristic of this particular group. In recent years they have been modified, among others in connection with the process of transnationalisation of migrants. The article analyses the changes on the basis of the results of research carried out by the author between 2009–2015.

In 2011, there were about 250,000 people of single Portuguese origin living in Canada and almost 180,000 who were partly Portuguese. The first group of Portuguese emigrants arrived in Canada in 1953, thus beginning almost a half-century period of quite large Portuguese settlements in this country. Over the following decades, over 95% of Portuguese have immigrated to Canada being sponsored by family, neighbors or other close or distant friends or relatives. As a result, the successive groups of Portuguese immigrants had very similar characteristics: they lacked proper education, professional qualifications, and had knowledge of their native language only. The Portuguese diaspora in Canada originates primarily from the Azores. To date, over 65% of the Portuguese ethnic group is represented by the first or successive generations of emigrants from these islands. The Portuguese ethnic group is classified by researchers as a group undergoing a transformation, although almost everyone admits that this is a relatively late process when compared to other ethnic communities. There are many reasons for this, among them the most important are: the dominance of the first generation, which in fact lacks education and, additionally, has no education habits; the socialization during the Salazar regime, which was the experience of most of Portuguese emigrants, resulting in, inter alia, a lack of independence; divisions within the group resulting from the relations exported from Europe, including the sense of marginalization of the Azoreans by a group from mainland Portugal.

The thesis that there is a resemblance between Poland and Portugal in the field of migration issues is serving as a starting point for this article. First of all, the author looks at the history of Portugal since the Age of Exploration from a migration perspective. At the same time, the chosen events of Portuguese history refer to the situation of Poland within the scope of this article. Then, the author describes specific political solutions implemented in Portugal, which are compatible with a suggestion for the fundamental guidelines on the Polish immigration doctrine put forward by Rafał Matyja, Anna Siewierska-Chmaj, and Konrad Pędziwiatr. Those guideposts are: firstly; protection for refugees, secondly; working for broadly understood repatriation, thirdly; being open to migrants from Europe, as well as from other culturally similar areas and identifying them as potential fellow citizens, fourthly; undertaking a task aimed at bringing highly qualified foreigners to Poland.

The paper is dedicated to immigration and transnational families in Spain. The author presents legislative aspects, discusses social phenomena and analyzes crucial INE data which hinge on the intersection of immigration and family issues. The data include: 1/the number of marriages which are referred to as matrimonios mixtos, i.e. the ones which are contracted between a Spaniard and the other spouse being a foreigner, 2/the number of marriages contracted in Spain between foreigners and 3/their share in the total number of nuptials. Legislative aspects relate to the formal conditions which need to be fulfilled by foreigners in order to enter into wedlock and the requirements concerning documentation on the part of a Spanish citizen and a foreigner. What is important, the Spanish law allows a marriage to be contracted between a Spanish citizen and a foreigner regardless of the status of the latter. That is to say, the future spouse may be in a so-called irregular situation which  grants the right for undocumented immigrants to get married in Spain and eventually obtain a residence permit.

This is a bibliographical study on Norbert Żaba, Stockholm-based Polish exile in Sweden after 1945 and distributor of emigre literature to visitors from Poland. As this literature was considered subversive and banned by the Polish government, Żaba’s activity took the form of smuggling books through the so-called Iron Curtain. Sowinski argues that Żaba was a prime example of “activists beyond borders” (Keck & Sikkink, 1998). During the Cold War these middle men contributed to the process of undermining the communist regimes in Eastern Europe by reinforcing and co-creating the underground book scene. Żaba could be seen, then, as a soft agent in the process of regaining freedom in Poland and in the dynamics of 1989. The scholarship includes problems such as tactics of the smugglers, leadership, inner clashes, group identity, motivations and emotions of political diaspora members, media and “politics from afar”.

My aim is to present the museum as an element of the public sphere as well as to present its opportunities and limitations in generating a public debate concerning migration. The problem of migration and multiculturalism is so important in the current social context that, despite its difficult political connotations, it cannot be omitted by museums, especially if we consider museums as an element of a public sphere.

The concept of New Museology became a symbol of challenges which contemporary museums are facing. Adopting assumptions of the New Museology in the practice of museums is a visible marker of a public character of museums and it does not let them distance themselves from the politics. Museums are understood as public institutions which can include democratic principles and relations in their actions. In my opinion the museum can assure the space for inclusive forms of citizens’ activity, and the sheer co-participation in cultural practices supports democratic ideas. Museums have plenty of tools supporting the development of a dialogue between cultures, cultural and social integration, creating the atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding of different worldviews. Such actions can be an effective tool in the fight with the exclusion of certain communities from the possibility of taking part in benefits and resources offered by the society – in the cultural, economic, social and political dimensions. In this article I explore how everyday activity of the museum can support the civic culture in six different dimensions: knowledge, values, trust, space, practices and identity.