35% of war refugees now in Poland plan to return to Ukraine shortly – research data

Comparing pre-war migrants to war refugees, it is among the latter that the percentage of those to return to Ukraine as soon as possible, within the next year, is much higher. Thus, according to a sociological study, 35% of war refugees intend to return to Ukraine in the coming months, and 29% plan to stay abroad for at least another year.

Marcin Kolodziejczyk, International Recruitment Director at EWL Migration Platform, announced this information during a presentation of the study at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukraine. 

“Instead, the percentage of those who do not plan to stay in Poland and do not plan to return to Ukraine either, but to go elsewhere, is 4%. This also affects the number of people willing to obtain temporary residency or permanent residence permit in Poland. The percentage of those willing to do so among war refugees is much lower,” he noted.

According to the study, 29% of war refugees do not plan to apply for temporary or permanent residence permit issuance or residency status.

Marcin Kolodziejczyk noted that among war refugees, there is also a lower percentage of those willing to obtain Polish citizenship.

“This also naturally affects the number of people willing to obtain Polish citizenship, and among war refugees, this percentage is much lower. And the percentage of those who say “rather not” – 26% or “definitely not” – 18% regarding obtaining Polish citizenship is also increasing,” he added.

By contrast, Marcin Kolodziejczyk emphasized that getting a Polish passport is in demand among Ukrainian citizens.

“What is interesting is that there are 15% of those who want to get a Polish passport and 10% of those who plan to stay in Poland. Meaning that among those planning and striving to obtain Polish citizenship, there are people who want to get it just in case.”

According to the general data of the survey, 62% of Ukrainian interviewees in Poland plan to return to Ukraine in the near or long term. 50% of respondents intend to apply for a temporary or permanent residence permit in Poland.

It is worth noting that the sociological study “Citizens of Ukraine in Poland and the Polish Labor Market. New Challenges and Prospects” is the first study to identify the attitudes and intentions of refugees from Ukraine to Poland (those who arrived after February 24, 2022), as well as migrants from Ukraine who arrived in Poland before the full-scale invasion.

The survey among pre-war migrants and war refugees from Ukraine living in Poland was conducted on March 4-13, 2023, through direct face-to-face interviews.

The interviews were conducted in Ukrainian on a sample of 500 adult citizens of Ukraine currently residing in Poland, including 300 pre-war migrants from Ukraine who arrived in Poland before February 24, 2022, and 200 war refugees from Ukraine who arrived in Poland after February 24, 2022.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news