This article analyses the impact of the bilateral Polish-German migration regulations on patterns of Polish migration to Germany. A shift is revealed from the long-term, legal settlement of the Post War period to an increase in commuter migration of both legal and undocumented migrants since the 1990s. Included are two cases of migrant women from Poland that exemplify and explore the interface between migration policies and migrants' individual decisions. Migration policies constitute an opportunity structure for individual migrants which is modified by socioeconomic, gender and political relations. The two cases illustrate the discrepancies between the intended effect of migration policies and the actual strategies that migrants employ, which is largely reliant on the migrant's individual choices and social networks. Upon examination of how migration policies shape migration and integration patterns, it becomes clear that restrictive migration policies, intended to prevent people from migrating, rather have the effect of pushing migrants into insecure circumstance and hampering their integration. Under scrutiny, integration policies are shown to be less able to achieve their intended effect when faced with insufficient intercultural competence of the relevant host country institutions and a lack of gender specific integration measures. © 2008 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.

Social networks Gender Germany Poland Permanent migration Temporary migration Undocumented migrants Migration policies Aussiedler

international migration Poland immigration policy migration determinant Germany Eurasia Central Europe commuting Europe population migration immigration gender role immigrant population