Nearly 10,000 eastern European immigrants are living in Oxfordshire but many will choose not to settle here, new research suggests.

Figures released yesterday estimate 9,478 Poles, Czechs, Estonians, Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Slovakians and Slovenians (from the 'A8' group) are living in the county.

But the findings, published by the think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), indicate about half those that once settled here have now left.

The IPPR believes 1.5 per cent of Oxfordshire's 631,900 population is made up of immigrants from the eight countries (the A8) which joined the EU in May 2004.

Its figures show 10,055 people from those countries registered to work in the county between May 2004 and December 2007, but the IPPR said this underestimated the real numbers of immigrants in the area.

Self-employed workers are among those not required to register.

Piotr Kwiatkokiski, 34, moved from Warsaw, in Poland, to the city three years ago and now works for Champion Recruitment in Oxford.

He said: "I think the wave of Polish people coming here is stopping because most of them are already here.

"I think a lot of people are also going back. I plan to go back to Poland, but it's hard to say when at the moment."

The researchers said there were 17 per cent fewer official work registrations from A8 nationals in the UK in the second half of 2007, compared with the same period in 2006.

Poles, who made up the 13th largest immigrant group in the UK before 2004, are now the largest foreign-national group in the country.

In Oxford, the IPPR said 12 out of every 1,000 residents are Polish workers.

Maria Balchan, 51, also from Poland, first visited Oxford in 2000, when there was only a small Polish community, and settled here four years ago.

She lives in Botley and works in a pharmacy.

Ms Balchan said: "I think Polish people come here for the opportunity to work, but also because it is a very friendly and cosmopolitan city."

Hanna Darowska, 43, came to England 15 years ago and now runs a Polish Saturday school at St Aloysius Primary School in Woodstock Road, Oxford.

She said: "We opened the Saturday school in May 2003 with 18 children.

"Our biggest intake was last September, when the number of children grew to 70.

"I would say between 30 and 50 per cent go back within a year."

Keith Slater, board member of the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, said eastern European workers filled many jobs and warned of labour shortages if large numbers returned home.

He said: "We have a lot of building developments coming up in Oxford, such as the new Westgate Centre but where is the workforce going to come from?"