Homecoming: Polish returnees’ lives made much easier

According to Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, between 100,000 to 200,000 Poles based in the UK are expected to return home. “Polish people are starting to realise that there are exciting opportunities waiting for them back home”, says Morawiecki. And with the Polish economy on an all-important growth surge, the excitement-factor is gaining more momentum than ever before. For most, however, whom have spent a significant time abroad - getting back could prove tricky. Upon return, not only can home be a different place from what it was when you left it or from what you were used to. But it most probable to appear different from your expectations.

This is where Zielona Linia comes in - a nationwide Public Employment Service that lends a hand in helping returnees settle back in Poland. The Agency has developed a campaign currently underway called “Are you coming back to Poland?” targeting Poles that live abroad, and who have already decided to go back home. The main way to get informed about the process is from the campaign’s website at http://powroty.gov.pl. Its goal is to address and provide detailed, all-inclusive and up-to-date information and formalities that Poles are likely to face. Offline also, a print leaflet has been produced to help support and cross-promote the initiative. Tracking the main areas on which people can be given information and support, the leaflet is available both in Polish and English. 

Edyta Jaremko-Kuśmirak, Public Employment Service Advisor, comments that their purpose is to help Poles deal with all the legal, administrative and community or even psychological support issues. These cover a wide variety of topics ranging from registering at the labour office to job search through to tax issues and the complicated transfer of benefits to Poland. Information on how to gain funds to start your own business, employment support, CV know-how and training courses are also amongst the services provided. Edyta and her team also extend a hand when it comes to more sensitive subjects, such as reverse culture shock, the children’s adjustment to their new environment (perhaps not for the first time), or choosing the proper school.

“We help those people who have already decided that they want to come back home. But we do not actively participate in the process of making the all-important, personal decision of returning” says Agnieszka Juźwiuk, Zielona Linia employment advisor and website editor.

If you are considering coming back to Poland, be sure to visit the campaign website. And rest assured that the team over at Zielona Linia will be happy to answer any of your questions either via e-mail or on the public info line (no. 19524). Remember to keep up-to-date with their information through Facebook whilst checking valuable tips, advice and useful videos. Still have questions? Join the live video streaming Q&A sessions every last Thursday of the month on the same Facebook page, and get all the answers you are looking for!

It is these types of challenges that EURES Poland with the help of the Polish Public Employment Service hopes to overcome with campaigns such as this. Its aim is to provide a more accessible platform for Polish returnees enabling them to make informed decisions and access timely and expert-led information, with dedicated professionals and returnees who have already benefited from EURES’s help.

Related links:

Zielona linia, Polish Public Employment Services

“Are you coming back to Poland” campaign

Polish returnees dedicated online section of interviews and testimonials

Campaign Facebook page

International Study on the Challenges of Returning Home - ‘Reverse Culture Shock’

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