Poland’s support for Ukrainian refugees often gets portrayed as a success story. Key to this was the creation of the ‘special law’ (specustawa). Enacted just weeks after the war broke out in February 2022, this extraordinary piece of legislation granted all Ukrainian refugees immediate access to the labour market.
The special law led to an impressively high rate of employment among newcomers. It allowed refugees to start their new lives in Poland without many of the barriers present in other EU countries. Yet behind this seemingly open-door policy lies a far more complex reality. Challenges in the recognition of qualifications, high numbers of people employed far below their skill levels, and precarious working conditions – all on a wide scale – have amounted to significant structural barriers and underemployment for Ukrainians in Poland.
For many refugees, what began as an open door has morphed into a glass ceiling. As the war has become protracted, Poland has exposed its limited appetite for integration measures that would offer Ukrainians truly long-term protection and prospect. Instead, anti-refugee sentiment is on the rise and prolonged precarity has become a norm. This is not only bad for Ukrainian refugees, but also a missed opportunity for Poland.
