Foreigners in Wroclaw: Raghavender Balasubramanian

18.05.2016 00:00 |

Redakcja www.wroclaw.pl

The inflow of direct foreign investments and the employment of foreigners by Polish companies are strictly connected with the arrival of many foreigners in Wroclaw. These are both employees of Wroclaw companies and members of their families. We show what they do and how they live in Wroclaw. Raghavender Balasubramanian from India has worked and lived with his family in Wroclaw for 2 years.

When he was packing his baggage, his knowledge of Wroclaw was limited to what he had read on the Internet and had seen on YouTube. He knew that he was going to a post-communist country. He expected to see destroyed buildings, and he experienced a huge positive disappointment. He is called Ragan in the company, because it is difficult to Poles to speak his full name – Raghavender Balasubramanian. He is 35 years’ old and has been the director of the division of CRISIL Global Research & Analytics (GR&A) in Wroclaw since July 2014.

Why Wroclaw? Since 2008, it has been the seat of an office of Crisil GR&A – an international outsourcing company providing financial market research and analysis services for European customers. Before arriving in Wroclaw, Raghav worked in CRISIL’s divisions in India and Singapore.

Removal to Wroclaw

During his removal to Wroclaw, Raghav was helped out by the previous director of the Wroclaw division, who advised him, for example, how to find a school for his daughter.

‘At the time of my first arrival in Wroclaw, I wanted to see where my daughter would continue her education. Employees of the Wroclaw Agglomeration Development Agency put me in touch with school headmasters, because I wanted to learn about the infrastructure and offer of schools. During my second visit (this time my entire family had arrived), all accommodation formalities were arranged. In general, the entire relocation process went off quite smoothly and I could arrive for work in Wroclaw with my family. Today my daughter attends an international school and participates in extracurricular activities, such as ballet. My wife is happy here. She likes Wroclaw, because it has a rich offer of leisure possibilities for our entire family,’ tells Raghav.

He arrived in Wroclaw with his wife and two daughters, who are 2 and 7 years’ old. The elder daughter learns Polish in an international school and already serves an interpreter for her parents at times. ‘The children are accustoming themselves excellently to the new place,’ stresses Raghavender. ‘When arriving in Wroclaw, I thought that more people speak English here, but this turned out to be a problem. What I like very much about Wroclaw, is an efficiently operating public transport system, a large number of cyclists and a relatively low intensity of road traffic.

They have not seen so much snow before

In Wroclaw, the Balasubramanian family lives in the Krzyki district. They have already found their favourite spots in the city. They love walking in Park Szczytnicki. They often visit Wroclaw Aquapark. They like shopping in Wroclaw malls, particularly Magnolia. In their spare time, they visit Lower Silesia and Poland – for example, they have been to Warsaw, Krakow, Gdańsk, Sopot, Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba.

‘Winter is a new experience for us. We have never seen as much snow as in Poland,’ laughs Raghavender.

To visit his home in India, he has to travel by plane 14 hours via Germany or 22 hours via Warsaw. They visit their closest relatives twice a year.

A few tips for foreigners willing to work in Wroclaw

’Firstly, remember to bring your winter clothers, because if you arrive here in summer (which can be very hot in Wroclaw), you may not be prepared for winter in Poland. Secondly, there is excellent access to food products of various cuisines here. I am a vegetarian and I have no problems about that. Thirdly, you must remember that the local tax system is complicated – for example, salaries are divided in a specific way, and tax deductions are made. You must be familiar with these things.’

What after Wroclaw?

When asked about his plans, he says that everything depends on the company. He will certainly live and work in Wroclaw for the next three-four years. ‘We will develop our division,’ he stresses.

CRISIL GR&A

CRISIL Global Research & Analytics (GR&A) is the world’s biggest service provider in the field of advanced financial market research and analyses. As the leading performer of analyses, CRISIL GR&A supports commercial and risk management departments of leading international banks and other financial institutions. In addition, CRISIL GR&A carries out a wide range of research upon order and economic and marketing analyses in all possible sectors: IT, communications, medicine, pharmaceutics, consumer products or industry. CRISIL has its analytical centres in Poland, China, Argentina and India and co-operates with customers in all time and language zones.

How many foreigners are there in Wroclaw?

Accurate data are not known, because they change every month. In 2014, there were more than 4,000 foreigners and 3,670 foreign tertiary students in Wroclaw (according to the Central Statistical Office of Poland). Today the number of foreigners is even bigger. In 2015, only the County Labour Office in Wroclaw received 36,000 applications from employers (99% of them concerned Ukrainian citizens) who wanted to employ foreigners according to the simplified procedure (this refers to citizens of 6 states: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, who are allowed to work in Poland for 6 months during a period of 12 consecutive months without having to obtain a work permit).

The inflow of foreigners into Lower Silesia is confirmed by the data collected by the Citizen and Foreigner Affairs Department in the Lower Silesian Provincial Office, which issues work permits, temporary and permanent stay permits and long-term EU resident permits. In 2013, 2,121 work permits were issued; in 2014, this number grew to 2,268 and in 2015 to 4627. The Governor of the Lower Silesian Province does not keep registers of foreigners’ nationalities, but it is known what countries they come from; in 2013, temporary stay permits were received by 1,414 Ukrainians, 383 South Koreans and 175 Chinese citizens. In 2015, such permits were issued to 7,018 Ukrainians, 350 South Koreans and 264 Indian and Russian citizens.