UK News
British report confirms that East European migrants head for home
Apr 30, 2008, 9:07 GMT
London - About half of the estimated one million East Europeans who came to work in Britain since EU expansion in 2004 have returned home, a report by a British think-tank said Wednesday.
The research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) investigated the impact of the influx from the eight countries that joined the European Union in May 2004 - Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Most of the migrants came from Poland. The report also took into account recent migrants from Romania and Bulgaria after their two countries joined in 2007.
It concluded that about half of the estimated one million migrants had returned home, lured by improved economic prospects in their native countries.
The slow-down in the British economy and the falling value of the pound also contributed to the decision to return.
The IPRR concluded that so-called post-enlargement migration was different to previous waves of migration to Britain.
'In contrast to previous migrants, it is financially and logistically possible for migrants from the new EU member states to come to the UK on a temporary or seasonal basis, and to regularly visit home while living in Britain,' it said.
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