Restaurant Backyards, Food Stores, and Temples: Invisibility, Informal Labour Practices, and Migrant Networks in the Suburbs of Warsaw

In the recent years, Poland has emerged as an attractive migration destination and has witnessed a substantial growth of the migrant population, especially coming from Asian countries. This has been especially visible in the urban and suburban areas around big cities. The chapter discusses the visible shift to diversity in the character of a suburban neighbourhood of Warsaw, and tries to uncover what it means for the different migrant groups in terms of access to the labour market, the formal and informal practices they engage in, and the role it plays in the migrant imaginary of post-socialist Poland. Thus, we take a closer look at migrant networks that are the basis of migrant life in Poland and allow them to legalize their stay, find employment, and build a safe environment for themselves. Not being part of the Polish informal networks leaves migrants unable to use the local strategy of “załatwianie” (getting things done”), and thus not integrated into the official labour market. We argue that using informal migrant networks in order to cope with everyday life in a foreign country is a substitute to the local practice of “getting things done”. Thus, we analyse how migrants, excluded linguistically and socially from the Polish labour market, are also being pushed into ethnic niches. These businesses are concentrated in the food and beauty sector. The last strategy we describe is entering the grey zone economics through undeclared or half-legal work.