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A new report by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has revealed that the Temporary Protection Directive had a positive impact on the countries to effectively manage the inflow of arrivals from Ukraine as over four million people displaced from Ukraine were offered immediate protection.
According to this report by EUAA, many operational and legislative developments occurred between February 24, 2022, to February 2023, which enabled national asylum systems from increasing requests and backlogs, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Some of the most important findings for this one-year period reveal that EU Member States bordering Ukraine, such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, became one-stop service points, where those seeking temporary protection were registered. Several countries worked closely with regional and local authorities to manage reception capacity on the second line, while NGOs coordinated with the national government and were able to access EUAA training services.
In addition, by activating the Temporary Protection Directiveseveral Member States showcased an openness to digitalization, such as Poland and Lithuania, introducing digital certificates, which enabled facilitating extensions to validity and reducing costs.
Austria has extended the validity of the residence permit until March 4, 2024, while Norway will renew expired residence cards automatically. Furthermore, Finland has also announced that all residence permits granted for temporary protection will be extended until March, the same as Belgium and Slovakia have announced.
On the other hand, in some countries such as Czechia, Estonia, France, Iceland, Sweden and Malta, Ukrainian nationals and those under the Temporary Protection Directive have to book an appointment which also serves as proof that the beneficiaries remain in the respective countries.
Furthermore, two-thirds of Member States had a consistent approach with third-country nationals as well as stateless persons residing in Ukraine. The country was removed from the safe country of origin list and no asylum applications were processed by Ukrainians. A consistent approach to handling protection needs has been missing from Europe’s international protection systems and temporary protection was successful.
“At the same time, and in the face of almost 28,000 asylum applications lodged by Ukrainian nationals in 2022, there were also limited examples of Dublin transfers being suspended in solidarity with countries on the frontline,” a press release by EUAA explains.
The authority previously revealed that almost one million asylum applications were filed to EU migration authorities in 2022, while Poland offered temporary protection status to 28,445 Ukrainians in January 2023. While Poland and Czechia recorded the highest number of temporary protection per capita, with the main beneficiaries being Ukrainian nationals.
The majority of Ukrainians that arrived in these European countries were adult women – 47 per cent as well as children, representing 34 per cent of the total.
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