The number of immigrants to the Netherlands reached 32,000 in the first three months of 2008, up 6,000 on the year-earlier period.

Some 20,600 of the new arrivals came from other European countries or were Dutch nationals returning home, according to figures published on Tuesday by the national statistics office CBS.
In the first three months of this year 3,500 Poles came to the Netherlands bringing the total to 45,000, said the CBS. The number of Poles in the Netherlands has doubled since Poland joined the EU in 2007.