The economic straits, job shortages and no means of support force many citizens of the former Soviet Union republics, Vietnam or Africa to leave their home countries and seek better opportunities in the “New Europe.” The money they earn and send back home is, in many cases, the only source of income their families have. These migrants live and work illegally in the new member states of the European Union, surviving in a foreign culture, on the brink of law, frequently rejected by and alienated from the society. They usually do not see their partners and children for years. The work they find is mostly physical, jobs they take are those nobody else is willing to do. They make no plans because in their world there is no future. They live day by day.

At the Border is a photo essay that describes the illegal labour markets in the new member states of the European Union (Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). The project has been developed by Sputnik Photos, the International Association of Photojournalists of the Central-Eastern European Countries, with the support from the European Cultural Foundation. Photographers participating in the project are Andrej Balco (Slovakia), Jan Brykczynski (Poland), Manca Juvan (Slovenia), Justyna Mielnikiewicz (Georgia), Rafal Milach (Poland), Domen Pal (Slovenia) Agnieszka Rayss (Poland), Filip Singer (Czech Republic).
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