Public understanding and attitudes to irregular migration in Poland

Laurence Lessard-Phillips, Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska and Kseniya Homel-Ficenes

The report presents an analysis of the I-CLAIM survey on public opinion on irregular migration and individuals with irregular work and/or residence in Poland (irregularised migrants). The survey was conducted by YouGov between 12 and 23 February 2025 with a nationally representative sample of 1,013 respondents. The study shows that the perception of irregular migration is significantly influenced by mainstream narratives and images that strengthen negative convictions and emotions of threat, despite the
increasing social contact with migrants on a daily basis and in the workplace. The survey’s key findings show that, while the general perception of migration is not very negative, the majority of respondents viewed irregular migration as a serious issue in Poland and seemed to overestimate the number of irregularised migrants. The findings on integration assessment demonstrate some persistence of racialisation, as some individual attributes were evaluated more positively for irregularised migrants from Ukraine than from India. However, in assessing integration, other factors also played an important role: the level of knowledge of the Polish language, the location of the migrants’ family and their marital status (as singles were perceived more negatively). In terms of hiring preferences, the results present a complex picture of attitudes towards migrants; however, what mainly transpires is the negative perceptions of irregularised migrants from Uzbekistan, the greater likelihood of hiring candidates from the Philippines and Ukraine and the importance of the length of residence and location of the family in Poland.

Most survey respondents link access to employment with legal residence status and the need to fill labour shortages. Irregular employment was mainly associated with construction/renovation, agriculture, transportation, food delivery and taxi sectors for men – and with cleaning, catering and hospitality, childcare/elderly care, retail and sex work for women.

The survey depicts that irregular migration is primarily associated with threats and insecurity, which corresponds to the media and political portrayal of migration as an undefined, large-scale ‘inflow’ often associated with aggression from migrants. The respondents in our survey the most frequently identify irregularities in crossing the border and in the procedure for obtaining international protection. Such a framing of irregular migration affects the latency of integration-related topics. Our research shows that protection as a reason for migration was evaluated less positively than education, yet more positively than migration for economic purposes.

The survey provides a new perspective on the existing research on public opinion by focusing on the aspect of irregular migration. It can serve as a resource for stakeholders, academia and the media working on migration and integration issues.