A new flow of refugees from Ukraine prepared to pour into the West

After a massive missile attack on Ukrainian territory on Monday, cars filled with residents rushing to leave the city were pulled out of Kyiv in a western and northern direction. And if recently many of the Ukrainian refugees who had previously found themselves in Europe returned to their homeland, now we should expect a new huge wave of refugees to the EU countries.

Even before the start of the conflict, citizens of Ukraine enjoyed visa-free entry into the European Union for up to 90 days. Since February 24, the European Commission has for the first time activated the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), which provides immediate protection to those fleeing the fighting, as well as access to schools, health care and work for refugees.

The directive applies to all citizens of Ukraine and their relatives displaced as a result of the conflict. According to the rules, Ukrainian refugees are allowed to temporarily live and work in the EU countries. But in order to qualify for humanitarian status, they had to leave Ukraine after 24 February.

Refugees can apply for “temporary protection” in all EU member states, as well as in Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. They are promised the right to residence, access to housing, social security, medical care (including psychiatric care and psychological support for children), guardianship and safe accommodation for unaccompanied children and adolescents.

Also, “temporary protection” provides access to education and vocational training for children and adolescents, access to the labor market (but with a caveat: “depending on the policies of the EU countries in the field of labor market”), access to banking services (for example, opening basic bank account).

Refugees retain the right to move to another EU country prior to the issuance of a residence permit and the right to move freely in EU countries (other than the EU country of residence) for 90 days within a 180-day period after the issuance of a residence permit in the host EU country .

Refugees from Ukraine will be granted a temporary residence permit in the European Union for at least one year with the possibility of extension for another two years.

Non-Ukrainian third-country nationals and stateless persons, as well as their family members, will be protected by the TPD as long as they can prove that they have been legally resident in Ukraine and cannot return to their country of origin.

In some European countries, Ukrainian refugees were provided with free travel in public transport.

However, the “freebie” was not limitless. Since June 1, Ukrainian refugees have lost the opportunity to use public transport in the Netherlands for free. The exception was the railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen – it promised the bearers of the Ukrainian passport a free one-day ticket at the box office of major railway stations in the country. Since the beginning of the summer, free travel has been canceled in several other European countries (in a number of cities in Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland) – discounts were promised for refugees – and very significant ones – on travel tickets.

And the other day, the Austrian national railway operator ÖBB confirmed that Ukrainian refugees can continue to use public transport for free – but only until the end of October. People from Ukraine must present a travel document as proof of status in order to use the transport network. In addition, Ukrainian refugees can continue to use the services of the transport company Wiener Linien and public transport Verkehrsverbund Ostregion (VOR) free of charge until October 31. And from November, only Ukrainian refugees arriving in Austria for the first time will be able to travel free of charge. According to Die Presse, since the beginning of the conflict in February, the ÖBB has issued about 390,000 free tickets to Ukrainian refugees.

Those immigrants from Ukraine who are under the age of 18 are allowed to attend school in their countries of residence. Unaccompanied children, in accordance with the rules, are placed in the care of foster families, relatives or institutions run by government officials adapted to receive minors.

Refugees are also allowed to apply for jobs, receive vocational training and use their work experience to become self-employed. With regard to housing, Member States of the European Union must ensure that people have access to housing, either in reception centers or with European families willing to accommodate them.

By the way, if a Ukrainian refugee under “temporary protection” left Europe for his homeland and after some time decides to return to the EU before the end of the emergency, then he will again be entitled to this “protection”.

But this is on paper – in practice, many European politicians who see how refugees favored by the European Union move back and forth across the borders of the EU with their homeland become irritated. The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, said in late September that there was “tourism on a charitable basis among these refugees” in Germany. The head of the CDU accused many Ukrainians of “taking advantage of the system” by traveling back and forth between Germany and Ukraine. But then the politician was shamed – not least the Kyiv ambassador to Berlin, Andrei Melnik, who called Merz’s statements “nonsense” – and the center-right leader was forced to apologize on social networks for unsuccessfully chosen words.

Meanwhile, during the conflict, the same Germany accepted about a million Ukrainian refugees, who, after registration, can expect to receive a special status that provides them with the right to certain social benefits, medical care, accommodation and integration courses. But at the same time, the authorities of many German cities (especially small ones) have stated in recent months that the possibilities of municipalities to receive refugees have reached the limit.

However, as practice shows, European countries do not guarantee complete freedom for refugees from Ukraine, changing the rules from time to time. Thus, in August, the French authorities decided that those Ukrainians who are currently resettled in France due to the conflict in their country and have a temporary residence permit in France with the indication “beneficiary of temporary protection” must restore this status in six months after obtaining permission. And only after the completion of this process, Ukrainians will be able to enjoy the protection in France and the provided benefits. To renew their residence permit, these refugees must apply to the prefecture of the department of their place of residence.

Be that as it may, since the summer, the European media have been talking about a trend about the return of many refugees from the EU countries to Ukraine. Many people could not find a job, someone is confused by the language barrier. “We feel like we are in a trap,” Western media quote the words “returnees.” And a number of Ukrainian regions even quite recently seemed relatively safe. However, a new escalation of the conflict seems to again be able to increase the flow of those fleeing to the West.

Published map of missile strikes on the cities of Ukraine: from Zaporozhye to Lviv