Several Member States updated their integration strategies in 2020 to match the EU Action Plan, so efforts in 2021 focused on implementing these new strategies. As a result, many legislative changes related to integration entered into force in 2021 or the beginning of 2022, while others were in the pipeline. 

At the country level, discussions on national forms of protection and regularisation measures came to the forefront in 2021, due in part to COVID-19 travel restrictions and the reduced possibility of implementing returns. Countries also addressed the increased use of status reviews of cessation and revocation grounds in previous years. Immediate protection was granted on humanitarian grounds, for example for Afghan evacuees and, more recently, for the first wave of persons fleeing from Ukraine (see Section 2). Cases were referred to the courts frequently throughout 2021 to provide guidance on family reunification. 

The number of studies from various stakeholders – national authorities, research institutes, think tanks, academia and civil society organisations – evaluating the efficiency and impact of national integration strategies continued to grow, and the reports provided useful insights to further improve integration approaches. While practical barriers persisted in many aspects of everyday life for beneficiaries of international protection, national authorities, often together with local authorities and civil society organisations, undertook initiatives to overcome these challenges, especially in the field of children’s education.