As a reaction to the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the European Union decided  to grant temporary protection to Ukrainians (and their family members) as well as stateless persons and third-country nationals with an international protection status (and their family members) in Ukraine, fleeing the war. This temporary protection status allows its beneficiaries to gain – among others – direct access to education, the labour market and social benefits in the EU member states. The granted temporary protection is valid until March 2025; the maximum duration possible for this type of residence status.  In Belgium, both politicians as well as the wider population have been welcoming persons fleeing the war in Ukraine by setting up various initiatives and implementing policy adaptations to (for example) provide shelter or to facilitate swift access to essential services. 

Compared to other persons who fled to Belgium, persons seeking protection from the war in Ukraine are subject to a different immigration governance system. For example, they are granted a temporary protection status upon (a relatively swift) registration,  which provides access to essential services on the basis of their temporary residence status. Hence, unlike persons seeking international protection in Europe, Ukrainians do not need to wait for a decision following an (often ‘lengthy) asylum procedure.  Moreover, beneficiaries of temporary protection are not subject to the Dublin system, whereby persons seeking international protection may be sent back to their EU member state of first arrival. This means that they can choose the country in which to obtain temporary protection, and they can move on to another member state and renew their temporary protection status there, for example to reunite with family.

It should, however, be noted that concerns have been raised with regards to the future developments of the temporary protection status. As said, the status facilitates residence in an EU member state for up to 3 years. Based on the EU acquis, this status does not provide the possibility for residence beyond this period of time, unless the person applies for residence under another status, such as an international protection status. However, these applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and the outcome may therefore be unpredictable. Moreover, the Commissioner-general for Refugees and Stateless Persons will only process an application for international protection after the temporary protection status has ended, which implies that people run the risk of becoming irregular in the meantime. Despite the fact that persons fleeing the Ukrainian war currently have direct access to services upon registration, they arguably live in constant insecurity due to the unpredictability and temporariness of their residence status.

From a policy perspective, the Belgian government has adopted additional measures to facilitate the welcoming and inclusion of Ukrainians into the Belgian society and to ensure that essential services are provided efficiently to persons fleeing the war in Ukraine. For example, the Belgian job agency Actiris has decided to assist Ukrainian jobseekers in English, while other newcomers that reach out to the job agency may only be assisted in French or Dutch.  Additionally, a special option for address registration was made available at the municipal level, so that local households could accommodate persons fleeing the war in Ukraine without this registration having an influence on possible social benefits that either family may receive. Hence, while they could register at the same address, this did not have any consequences for the number of social benefits for each households.  In short, the arrival of persons fleeing the war in Ukraine has enabled certain policy changes that were not possible until then.

While the political and social support to welcome persons fleeing the war in Ukraine has been heart-warming, the laws and policies – both at the European and the Belgian level – do raise questions in terms of equal treatment when compared to persons seeking/with an international protection status in Belgium. At the same time, these laws and policies create an opportunity to learn whether and how the inclusion of persons with an international protection status could be organized differently, possibly in a better way. Therefore, this research aims to assess this case study on these two elements; 1) whether the Belgian policies regarding access to education, employment and housing for beneficiaries of temporary and international protection are a violation of the right to equal treatment, as well as 2) how the inclusion of persons with international protection can be better organized by drawing on the case study of reception and inclusion policies of Ukrainian newcomers in Belgium.