What impact have lower barriers to mobility had on the migration flows from Poland to the UK?

Abstract: Abstract Following the 2004 EU-enlargement, the UK granted free movements of workers to nationals from the eight new member states (A8). There was a widespread concern in other European countries regarding the expected large inflow of A8 migrants, and consequently twelve of the old EU member states decided to implement transitional restrictions. This lead to a relatively large inflow of A8 migrants to the UK, and not to for example Germany that traditionally had experienced a great inflow of Eastern European immigrants. Poles came to be by far the largest immigrant group in the UK, constituting 67 per cent of all A8 migrants. Poland is the largest country out of all A8 countries and had a weakly performing labor market with high unemployment rates and low GDP per capita at the time of accession. In addition, many Poles had pre-migration networks in the UK. The Poles that came to the UK came to work; hence many were young and very few claimed benefits. The migrants started to settle down in parts of the UK not traditionally associated with migration. Post-enlargement migration differs from historical migration since current migration is characterized by more temporary migration. Many of the Poles have already started to return home, and many of those who have returned to Poland are planning to come back to the UK. Thus, we are experiencing a much more dynamic migration.