The Council of the European Union has adopted a recommendation outlining a common framework for the gradual transition of displaced Ukrainians out of temporary protection. The measures aim to support sustainable return and reintegration in Ukraine when conditions allow, while also facilitating access to other residence statuses for those eligible. The recommendation provides guidance on voluntary return, reintegration support and information systems for displaced persons.

Red Cross Flanders has opened 156 new cases this year concerning families who lost contact due to war, violence or migration, involving 337 individuals. The organisation works to reconnect families separated under these circumstances. Currently, 671 cases remain open in Flanders, while the international Red Cross network manages over 250.000 cases worldwide. Efforts cover more than twenty countries, including Ukraine, Afghanistan and Congo.

From 18 August 2025, new rules for family reunification enter into force in Belgium. They do not apply to all applicants. Some cases continue under the old rules, others transition to the new rules in 2027, while certain applications are immediately subject to the new framework. This article explains who is affected and how the rules will change.

The Belgian Chamber of Representatives has adopted new legislation modifying the conditions for family reunification under the law of 15 December 1980. The changes introduce stricter income requirements and modify waiting periods for certain categories of foreign nationals, particularly those benefiting from international or subsidiary protection. The legislation was approved with a majority vote during a plenary session and aims to regulate access to family reunification, a principal legal pathway for foreign nationals to join family members in Belgium.

On 11 June 2024, the European Commission proposed to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing Russia's aggression against Ukraine for another year, from 5 March 2025 to 4 March 2026. The Council still needs to formally adopt the proposal.

During a joint webinar, experts from the European Migration Network and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development highlighted the positive trends characterizing the labour market integration of Ukrainians, including employment rates and their progress, main sectors of employment, and most common policies and measures for facilitating labour market integration. They also identified the difficulties and remaining challenges in this domain.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Belgium has granted temporary protection to 93.343 Ukrainians, with a sharp decline beginning in 2023 and continuing into 2024 and early 2025. As the number of arrivals has slowed and the focus shifts to integration efforts, both the Flemish and Walloon governments plan to gradually reduce reception capacity for beneficiaries of temporary protection in the coming months.

Eurostat published today data referring to the attribution of temporary protection status based on the Council Implementing Decision 2022/382 of 4 March 2022. On 31 August 2023, almost 4.2 million non-EU citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, had temporary protection status in EU countries. 

At their meeting on 13 June 2025, EU Home Affairs Ministers reached a political agreement to extend by one year, until March 2027, the temporary protection for people displaced from Ukraine. They also discussed ways to improve readmission cooperation with third countries and endorsed new priorities for the Schengen area.

Op 4 juni 2025 heeft de Europese Commissie voorgesteld om de tijdelijke bescherming voor ontheemden die vluchten voor het conflict in Oekraïne te verlengen tot 4 maart 2027. Met dit voorstel wil de Commissie juridische zekerheid bieden aan de begunstigden en de lidstaten door een consistent beschermingsniveau in de hele Europese Unie te behouden. Daarnaast stelde de Commissie een pakket maatregelen voor om een gecoördineerde overgang uit de tijdelijke bescherming te faciliteren.

De conferentie zal de toekomst van Oekraïense ontheemden na tijdelijke bescherming verkennen en beleidsmakers, experts en belanghebbenden samenbrengen om strategieën voor beleidsovergangen en integratie-uitdagingen met betrekking tot werkgelegenheid te bespreken, best practices te delen en de rol van de diaspora te onderzoeken bij het ondersteunen van langdurige oplossingen.

Myria, het Federaal Migratiecentrum, waarschuwt dat de maatregelen die de federale regering aankondigde in het “Paasakkoord” het recht op gezinsleven schenden. De instelling maakte in een persbericht van dinsdag bekend dat ze haar opmerkingen heeft gedeeld met de regering en hoopt op een constructieve dialoog.

On 5 February 2025, the Belgian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) took part in a roundtable in the Senate, focusing on the abandonment of sexual mutilation. The Group for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation (GAMS) inter alia stressed that it has limited visibility on individuals arriving in Belgium through family reunification, making it more difficult to raise awareness and monitor cases of female genital mutilation in the country.

According to figures released by the Immigration Office, 20.724 decisions resulted in the granting of visas for family reunification in Belgium in 2024, compared to 18.738 in 2023 and 15.901 the year before. The increase concerns several categories, in particular family reunification with a refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection.

De nationale conferentie van EMN Finland voor 2024 onderzoekt de stand van zaken en de toekomstperspectieven van de situatie van Oekraïners in Finland en in EU-landen. De conferentie richt zich op de uitdagingen van integratie in een situatie waarin personen die tijdelijke bescherming genieten zich tussen twee landen bevinden. De conferentie probeert deze personen te ondersteunen in het spanningsveld tussen integratie en terugkeer.

Eurostat heeft gegevens vrijgegeven over alleenstaande minderjarigen die tussen maart 2022 en september 2024 tijdelijke bescherming kregen in 21 EU-lidstaten en alle EFTA-landen. Oostenrijk, Nederland en Litouwen hebben in absolute termen de meeste statuten van tijdelijke bescherming verleend aan alleenstaande minderjarigen sinds maart 2022. België heeft in dezelfde periode tijdelijke bescherming verleend aan 1600 alleenstaande minderjarigen.