History and characteristic of migration from Poland to Iceland

by Anna Wojtyńska

This chapter describes the history of Polish migrations to Iceland. Though not a long one, this history is interesting as it rather differs from the cases of other countries. Even in such a brief history, it is possible to distinguish several phases. The chapter describes four phases of Polish migrations to Iceland, from the earliest individual arrivals in the 1980s, through the more organized arrivals following 1989, eased by emigrant social networks, up to the wave of arrivals after 2006, when Iceland opened its labor market to Poles as a consequence of Poland's accession to the European Union, and the most recent phase, beginning with the crisis in Iceland. The social and demographic characteristics of the Polish minority in Iceland and its self-organization are presented herein.

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