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The paper looks at one of the most dynamically evolving migration processes in contemporary Europe – labour migrants in Poland. Poland, until very recently a typical emigration country started receiving large numbers of migrants only after 2014. This process, however, cannot be explained in supply terms only. In fact, it was also a strong structural demand for foreign workers that played at least an equally important role. This newly established migration system has been tested during the pandemic along with policy adjustments and economic changes. We claim that despite the very fact that the 'essential workers' rhetoric was almost absent in the Polish public discourse, foreign workers played a significant role in securing the continuous operation of many sectors of the economy. The paper shows that the role of migration in Poland has changed along with the transition from a net-sending to a net-receiving country, but still it worked as a safety valve during the pandemic. We argue it was possible because of liberal rules regarding international movement and work abroad. By focusing on the role of exogenous shocks and by considering the very specific migration system in Poland, this paper contributes to the growing literature on the labour market-immigration nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dentists, managing highly prevalent oral disease are in demand across the world and hence potentially highly mobile. Both the United Kingdom and Australia, continue to be favourable destinations for migrant dentists. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of the professional integration of migrant dentists in the UK and Australia, and health system responses, while explicating implications for future health workforce governance. In doing so, the paper adopts a system-thinking approach to analyse interactions between the migration system and other societal systems. This is the first multi-country study to analyse the professional integration of migrant dentists through the lens of health workforce and migration governance. The study draws on semi-structured qualitative interviews with migrant dentists in both countries, together with national systems registration and examination data and relevant policies, together with data from government and global datasets. Both countries are high-income countries with a relatively large dentist-to-population ratio maintained through reliance on migrant dentists. The health systems and migration governance have responded by increasing the number of local graduates with limited success in the UK, potentially due to organisational demands, and the multifactorial complex mutual influences between higher education systems, labour market, feedback loops and dentist migration systems creating a nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]