The number of workers registered with the Home Office fell by almost 15 percent to fewer than 45,000 in the first few months of 2008 compared to the same time in 2007, according to official figures published on Tuesday. In March, that number was 12,000, which was half the monthly figure reported in October 2006.

However, the figures only reveal the inflow of registered workers and don't take into account numbers of temporary workers that might have returned home.

"Many people who should register do not do so as it costs over £100," said Jan Mokrzycki, president of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. "Fall in the number of people registering may give an indication of a more general trend but does it really? No one knows."

Mokrzycki believes that there really is no change since those numbers bear little relation to the actual figures.

Some 840,000 workers have been registered with the Home Office since Poland, including other A8 countries that joined the European Union in 2004, while some predict the inflow of migrant workers could be as high as two million. However, that figure has declined on a year-to-year basis.

Last month, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that an estimate of one million A8 migrant workers arrived in UK, but half of that number have already left the UK.

"A significant proportion of migrants that have returned home say that the time they chose to go home was pre-planned," stated the report. Sixteen percent said they always intended to return home after they earned enough abroad.

Polish migrants that have returned home are citing family connections as their reason for return. "We believe that the proportion of migrants that will stay in the UK in the long term is likely to be at the lower end of the range of predictions," concludes the report.

However, Mokrzycki does not think there is, yet, a huge turnaround with many more Poles returning than coming in. "The feeling is that there is a slight change at the moment, though the number returning will probably increase if unemployment in the UK increases and jobs are harder to find."

With the Polish economy strengthening, some worry in the UK that the jobs Poles filled across the country will be left empty, possibly causing problems for certain industries. Mokrzycki agrees that some economists are predicting such a scenario, but at the moment, this has not happened, yet.