Specific challenges during the above-mentioned transition stages primarily affect:

1. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who turn 18. This is because they:

• have to move into an adult facility. They no longer benefit from extended basic care, usually receive less pocket money, are no longer entitled to German language classes, and get far less social support. If young asylum applicants do an apprenticeship, their basic care is reduced.
• can no longer reunite with their parents.

2. Beneficiaries of international protection upon obtaining this status. This is because:

• refugees are signed out of basic care four months following the decision. Those granted a residence permit on humanitarian grounds lose such care within two weeks, leaving them without health-insurance coverage.
• refugees often experience a 1-2 month gap in financial support since they can only apply for needs-based minimum benefits once they have a private address. The benefits are paid retrospectively, but it is difficult to bridge this gap without savings – particularly at a time when they have to move to private housing, which involves additional expenses. Many fall into a debt spiral, obtaining credits with interests rates reaching 50 %.

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum procedures in 2015/16 were lengthy. Experts and beneficiary respondents indicate that people had to wait one year or longer for their first asylum interview. Age-assessment procedures took months, extending the duration of asylum procedures.
• Long waiting times, particularly in combination with restricted access to work and education, have negatively affected mental health (and vulnerability to crime). The long waiting times also made reunifying with their families practically impossible for unaccompanied children who reach adulthood during the asylum procedure.
• Information on the asylum procedure was not always sufficient or provided in an understandable way.

Promising practice in country

• App by Erste Group, Caritas and Diakonie, providing service addresses and basic information on the asylum procedure.
• START project Vienna, providing information in various languages on topics such as education, family life, social affairs, and asylum law in Austria.

Illustrative quotes

“It took such a long time. I came in 2016, then I waited for such a long time for the first interview, then a negative decision came, but only after one and a half years. I don’t know if I will get a [positive] decision, it’s very difficult. I can’t do anything. I would love to work, but I can’t. I can’t do anything in the city.” (Asylum applicant from Somalia)

“We had simply a note. They [(i.e. police)] told us to fill it out. We then gave our passports; they took our passports and filled out the data which was in the passports. We simply signed and we did not know at all what we were doing there. There was an interpreter, but he did not explain anything to us. We did not ask at all and, as I mentioned, we were new here and we do not know how the system works here. It was all weird to us. We thought if we simply sign everything they want, then everything will be fine.” (Asylum applicant from Syria)

“I have the impression that people who are under 18 years of age aren’t invited to interviews. There’s often the idea – I don’t know if there’s something to it – that it partly has to do with family reunification or with the fact that young people get a special protection, and that it’s a bit easier for the state to issue a negative response, or maybe to deport when they are adult.” (NGO expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should examine asylum claims within a reasonable time period, while allowing for sufficient time to prepare a case and to seek legal and other assistance, also in times of large numbers of arrivals. To do so, they should ensure that sufficient financial and human capacity from qualified professionals can be made available at short notice so as not to exceed the time limits set out in EU law. […]
• Factors contributing to lengthy proceedings should be minimised, in particular if the factor lies within the remit of the authority and if the applicant is a child. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Procedures are lengthy due to the two-stage procedure involving the Austrian embassy in the country of origin and the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) in Austria; the workload and staff resources of the responsible authorities; as well as practical obstacles.
• Practical obstacles include missing documents; tight deadlines; the non-recognition of traditional marriages before Islamic clergymen; and the suspension of family reunification for subsidiary-protection status holders for three years after they are granted protection, which in practice excludes unaccompanied child beneficiaries of subsidiary protection aged 16 and 17 from reunifying with their parents, as they will have turned 18.

Illustrative quotes

“The amount of times you email and talk on the phone with various embassies and and and, those are such straining procedures, everything is always questioned, every document that someone submits is doubted, and in this distanced context, foreign authorities and our embassies, who are mostly extremely unwilling, that’s an extremely straining procedure. What obviously has changed – that was the amendment […] – that you can only submit the application within three months after recognition of asylum abroad, obviously that does have an impact because people have an immense amount of stress because they partly live in countries where there are no embassies, because they are closed because the circumstances there are that way, and you need to time it extremely well so that they can do it – and then there is always the problem with embassies, that you don’t get appointments, and, and, and.” (Lawyer)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees.
• EU Member States should implement the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgment in A  and S  v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, C‑550/16, 12  April 2018, and ensure eligibility for family reunification of third-country nationals who are below the age of 18 at the time of the asylum application but who, in the course of the asylum procedure, attain the age of majority.

Key challenges for integration

• First reception centres were at peak times overcrowded and lacked privacy and hygiene. This negatively affected (mental) health as well as school performance. It also led to threatening behaviour and violent incidents. Applicants are not allowed to leave the district of the facility until they are admitted to the asylum procedure.
• Unaccompanied children may spend several months or even years in first reception centres before they are admitted to the asylum procedure and transferred to basic care facilities of the regions, which provide child-specialised accommodation and social support. The child and youth welfare agency only then assumes guardianship. According to some experts, the asylum authorities delay admitting unaccompanied children to the asylum procedure until they turn 18.
• Refugees and humanitarian permit holders face unrealistic deadlines for leaving the basic care facilities once they are granted a protection status (four months and two weeks, respectively).
• Main challenges in finding private housing are the lack of affordable housing, deposits and other starting costs, discrimination on the housing market, and the exclusion from public and subsidised housing based on status or requirements in terms of residence. Consequently, hidden homelessness, overcrowded, precarious housing situations and exploitative rental arrangements occur. Finding and sustaining private accommodation without employment is rarely possible.
• Housing solutions that best facilitate integration are those that allow residents to have regular and normal contact with locals. Accommodating asylum applicants in separate buildings makes this difficult.

Promising practice in country

• City government in Vienna supporting individual housing for asylum applicants admitted to the asylum procedure. This has been the best arrangement to foster integration, does not require finding an alternative once protection is granted, and entails lower public costs than organised facilities.
• In Upper Austria, the housing agency Vöckla-Ager (Wohnungsagentur Vöckla-Ager) provides a link between landlords and tenants, to find affordable housing for people at risk of poverty who are disadvantaged on the housing market. These include single parents, families with several children, migrants and refugees, as well as nationals with low income or precarious jobs.
• In Upper Austria, Caritas provides a starting service called „I-C-E – Integrations-Caritas-Express” to support refugees and subsidiary protection status holders during the first two years upon receiving protection status, including support in finding housing.
• NGOs subletting apartments: in Vienna, Caritas and other NGOs provide “starter apartments” (Startwohnungen) for protection status holders, which means that the NGO rents apartments and then sublets them to members of the target group.

Illustrative quotes

“But it is a lot more difficult for the group with humanitarian residence. They are often immediately taken out of basic care, it is immediately stopped. Within two weeks, that is a very short time frame and affects many young people who are willing to work and able to work, but who in this short time simply cannot find a job and also no apartment. That’s the problem, and they also don’t have any entitlement to Needs-based Minimum Benefits, that’s the critical point.” (Legal counsellor)

“This room does not only belong to me, it belongs to everyone else also. You cannot say, yes I want to sleep in my room, the room does not belong only to me. The other also, they want also what they want to do. I cannot say - I had school, during that time that I went to school, every night I wanted to go to sleep and they were up very late. I had problems with the others but I could not say, because I myself had school and they did not have school, I have to get up early. They have to understand but - They do understand that, but they do not want that.” (Asylum applicant, stateless)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• [...] EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paperwork. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until completion of the education cycle, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues to support the young person during the transition period. […]

Key challenges for integration

• In Upper Austria, the reductions of social assistance for refugees and subsidiary-protection status holders have negatively affected their access to private housing.
• Subsidiary-protection status holders are practically excluded from needs-based minimum benefits and often remain in or return to basic care facilities due to a lack of stable employment. This, in turn, precludes them from receiving family and subsequently childcare allowances as well as free public transport for school children.
• Practical obstacles to accessing social assistance relate to a lack of awareness of entitlements, complicated procedures, language barriers, frequent legal amendments, overly strict and inconsistent interpretation of requirements by some district authorities.
• Limitations to social benefits have led to unaffordability of private housing; prioritising work over education, since responsiveness to job offers is a condition for receiving social assistance; as well as to increased vulnerability to crime.

Promising practice in country

• Support services provided in various languages regarding entitlements and help with the procedures (Caritas, START Vienna, the Integrationshaus Vienna, the MOZAIK). The Caritas and START Vienna services also accompany the transition from basic care to needs-based minimum benefits once a protection status is granted.

Illustrative quotes

“Then also these constant legal amendments, the differing execution. Some authorities are simply much more, not so much in Upper Austria, but some are more relaxed when it comes to documents – Others require everything, where I already ask myself, why is that being demanded. Actually it’s not necessary. Then recently we also had information, where I really thought that a system must be behind that, that – so there were different clients from different district authorities, who got the same information, that they only are entitled to 20 euros because of the cap. So always the same amount was mentioned, 20 euros, even though it was different clients. And that they don’t need to file an application for that. Which is of course fatal, because firstly it was not true. They would have been entitled to more. And secondly, I can’t know that beforehand. It’s not easy to calculate a cap. Also if I have computer software, first I need to enter all the data. There it is also tried a little to prevent clients from filing an application in the first place.” (Social assistance focus group participant)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that refugees receive all social welfare benefits they are entitled to under EU law. They should consider providing the same entitlements to subsidiary protection status holders in need of support.
• EU Member States should remove practical obstacles that impede access to social welfare benefits – for example, by providing information in clear, accessible and non-bureaucratic language and offering language support, where needed. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Mental health services are available only upon admission to the asylum procedure.
• Lengthy asylum procedures and, in case of unaccompanied children particularly, frequent relocations negatively affect mental health.
• Practical obstacles to effective therapy result from long waiting times, the lack of secure long-term status, lack of coverage by health insurance, and the lack of therapists who speak the relevant languages.

Promising practice in country

• In Upper Austria, a special accommodation for asylum applicants and subsidiary-protection status holders with mental health problems offers in-house support by specialised professionals who speak the languages of the target group.
• The NGO Hemayat – Support Centre for survivors of war and torture (Betreuungszentrum für Folter- und Kriegsüberlebende) in Vienna offers psychotherapy to the target group in their native languages. However, sufficient services are not offered, resulting in long waiting lists.

Illustrative quotes

“Sleep disorders – the main topic here – nightmares, screaming at night, everything is simply too dense, there are simply too many people in one room, where others have nightmares at night too, and for people with sleep disorders it’s a huge topic of bunk beds and other people who live so close.” (NGO expert, commenting on first reception facilities)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In line with the social determinants of health approach, the conditions in which people grow up, work and live strongly contribute to their individual health status. When developing their policies to address mental health issues for asylum applicants and status holders, EU Member States should acknowledge that mental health problems also result or are magnified by gaps relating to the provision of different services, such as education, housing and income, which are necessary for successful integration. […]
• EU Member States should provide early and clear information to applicants and status holders about where and how they can seek help for their mental health problems in a language they can understand. EU Member States should ensure that all those working with asylum applicants and status holders, such as police officers, immigration officials or guardians and social workers, are appropriately trained to detect signs of potential mental health problems and refer them to medical authorities. […]

Key challenges for integration

• The discontinuation of measures that effectively addressed diverse skill and education levels puts at risk integration into various educational pathways. The reduced availability and limited duration of preparatory classes, for example, complicates the integration of asylum seekers beyond compulsory school age into secondary, vocational and tertiary education pathways. The option – for asylum applicants who do not manage to finish compulsory schooling after the 9th school year – to pursue a voluntary 10th school year was discontinued. This has made it impossible for applicants with lower educational backgrounds to complete mandatory education, in turn making practically impossible their integration into vocational training.
• Subsidiary protection status holders prioritise low skilled work over further education because the extension of their restricted residence permits positively considers employment.
• Children attending Austrian schools often experience discrimination by other pupils.

Promising practice in country

Counselling by intercultural teams and solid skills assessments effectively facilitated the transition from mandatory education to further training, education or work. This included, for example, competence clearing and counselling provided by the Bildungsdrehscheibe and educational services offered by START Vienna.

Illustrative quotes

“The university offers very nice things, like integration programmes, sample courses, and so on. Only our [asylum holders with secondary school qualification] can’t make use of any of that, because the Job centre says: you need to be available for the labour market and you only get primary care if you are available for the job market. That’s why you can’t be students, because as soon as you are students, you are not available for the labour market anymore. And my evaluation is that now with the refugees the same thing happens as in the 1990s with the refugees from Bosnia, that they are employed far beneath their actual qualification, because they don’t get the chance – or only a very limited chance – that they find work in an area in which they are trained.” (Teacher)

“The first term in the polytechnic school was difficult; the people were unfriendly to me. The teachers were all right but the students were unfriendly. The teacher then spoke to the police and next term it was alright. They always said something bad to me and sometimes also attacked my body. Once during the break I wanted to walk in-between two tables and a student came and pushed one table to the other and I was in-between, and I had such pain. And nobody sees it, other children play or went outside. And I did like this [doubles over in pain] and he said to the other students: hey, she has her period today. Hoho, everyone laughs. And I have no evidence or witnesses that he did that and I couldn’t say anything. Then I told my councillor.” (Unaccompanied child)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] To improve effective enrolment of persons in need of international protection into education, EU Member States should increase their efforts to facilitate access to post-compulsory education, notably secondary education.
• EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes. Schooling in reception centres should be only a temporary emergency measure. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum applicants no longer have the possibility to start an apprenticeship and were not allowed to finish an apprenticeship if they received a negative asylum decision.
• The reduced duration of residence permits and the uncertainty of stay negatively affect beneficiaries’ possibilities to get or keep a job or apprenticeship.
• Language acquisition was difficult due to insufficient and insecure funding, courses offered being insufficiently advanced for some individuals, as well as traumatisation of participants. Women face specific barriers relating to cultural backgrounds and care obligations.
• Getting diplomas recognised is a long, complicated and expensive process. The Austrian authorities rarely recognise elementary education obtained abroad.

Promising practice in country

• Pro Lehre project by the Chamber of Commerce, Caritas and other NGOs, referring young people from Vienna to vocational training in western regions of Austria with the support of trained local volunteers/buddies.
• b.mobile – Fachkräftepotenzial nutzen supporting refugees and subsidiary-protection status holders aged between 18 and 30 to access apprenticeships country wide. A preparatory course offers an internship in the relevant company.

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should consider granting asylum applicants access to vocational training as early as possible. Access restrictions, if implemented, should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay.
• EU Member States should take steps to help asylum applicants and status holders overcome practical obstacles to accessing vocational training. This would mean providing effective counselling, offering opportunities to validate prior skills and creating other incentives that promote broad use of vocational training. In this regard, EU Member States should make full use of EU funds.
• In line with Article 28 (2) of the Qualification Directive, which requires Member States to facilitate the appropriate assessment, validation and accreditation of the prior learning of beneficiaries of international protection who cannot provide documentary evidence of their qualifications, EU Member States should increase efforts to improve the efficiency of their procedures to recognise previous educational attainment, including in the absence of documentary evidence. Such procedures should be simple and free of charge. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Risk factors to become a victim or perpetrator are similar and interconnected. These include, for example, uncertainty of stay, restricted or no access to education and work, lack of contact with Austrian society, and interaction with offenders or threatening groups.
• Pressure to earn money fast – resulting from family, smugglers or to be able to renew residence permits – can be a major factor for involvement in criminal activities.
• Experts and refugees reported experiences of discriminatory behaviour by the police.
• Effective prevention measures are those that foster integration – primarily access to work and education, safe housing and long-term perspectives. For young persons, a stable reference person is important.
• Nearly all interviewed experts considered women from this group to be particularly exposed to the risk of THB, SGBV and domestic violence.

Promising practice in country

• Refugee Contact Officers in Upper Austria: specially trained officers regularly visit basic care accommodation for asylum seekers, providing information on the criminal justice system and victim protection. This effectively built trust with the inhabitants and operators of the facilities and helped prevent crime.
• The Network Democracy Culture and Prevention is a broad-based communal strategy in Vienna against extremism, using already existing facilities and structures in the field of supporting, counselling and educating children, adolescents and adults. The network deals with all types of group-based ideologies of devaluation and anti-democratic movements and attitudes. It puts an emphasis on the protection of children.

Illustrative quotes

“Here in [city in Upper Austria], there are many youths, for instance Afghans, who sell drugs. I cannot imagine that they create the drugs themselves. They are simply exploited.” (Subsidiary-protection status holder from Syria)

“I do have the impression that the police, when they come to us, to the quarters, they are extremely unfriendly and somehow also condescending, and you also notice that here the interpreting support is missing, and that they still somehow make fun of them, you can tell by the way they speak.” (NGO expert)

“I was insulted at in McDonalds at [train station in Vienna]. They insulted me in English, I understood it. They said: the Blacks should get out of Austria. There are so many here.” (Asylum applicant from Somalia)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

[…] EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime. […]

While good practices exist in nearly all thematic areas, one of the main challenges to integration remains the low capacity of accommodation facilities – for unaccompanied children, asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection alike – with negative implications on education, access to work, as well as vulnerability to crime as victims. Unaccompanied children have faced specific challenges in connection with age assessments and procedures to verify if the child is unaccompanied (procédure d’évaluation de la minorité et de l’isolement familial).

Social support has been crucial to overcoming difficulties of access and integration obstacles more generally. However, specific challenges during the above-mentioned transition stages primarily affect:

1. Unaccompanied children turning 18.
   • during the asylum procedure, as they lose the right, granted under child protection law, to access the labour market. This deprives them of financial resources and negatively affects their integration prospects in general.
   • as beneficiaries of international protection, as they no longer benefit from supporting measures, often finding it impossible to find accommodation and continue schooling.
2. Beneficiaries of international protection upon getting an international protection status, as they faced:
   • financial bottlenecks due to practical obstacles to accessing the labour market and social benefits (e.g. delays in issuing residence permits, lack of awareness among professionals, employers’ reluctance to hire beneficiaries of international protection), making it difficult for them to find housing.
   • lack of information on available support measures, which hinders their integration.
   • insufficient language classes until March 2019, which made it difficult to reach language levels that are sufficient as a criterion for accessing employment and social benefits.

Key challenges for integration

• Long waiting times for pre-registration, depending on the prefecture, delayed access to asylum procedures and accommodation leading to precarious situations, according to experts and confirmed by interviewed applicants and beneficiaries of international protection.
• Other practical obstacles have included the absence of systematic and precise information, lack of legal support, language obstacles and the lack of interpreters.
• Unaccompanied children faced delays in age assessments and procedures to verify if they are unaccompanied and for the appointment of guardians.
• Unavailability of language classes, work possibilities and social benefits during the asylum procedure made it difficult for applicants to start their integration process.

Promising practice in country

• Prefectures issuing receipts for residence permit applications to beneficiaries of international protection immediately when they are notified that international protection is granted and even if civil status documents are pending. Beneficiaries can thus sign their Integration Contract at once and follow the compulsory civic and language training as defined in the contract.

Illustrative quotes

“It is a system that is extremely perverse: meaning that people are asked to integrate, but they are not given the opportunity to do so. [...] There is this compartmentalization: there is the phase before where everything is blocked when they have requested asylum, as if it was an illness, and the phase after when anything is possible but you have got too far behind. When you have waited 2 years and done nothing during these two years, you have not given the person the ability to be able to do something." (NGO expert)

"I went there to try to get an appointment for the Prefecture, but since there were lots of people and everything, I spent at least 3 to 4 weeks sleeping outside [the PADA] try to get into the association and get an appointment. […]” (Refugee from Central Africa)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] Factors contributing to lengthy proceedings should be minimised, in particular if the factor lies within the remit of the authority and if the applicant is a child. Appropriate resources to quickly appoint competent guardians should be ensured.
• […] EU Member States should ensure that applicants with good prospects of receiving protection can already start their integration process during the asylum procedure to make the transition from being an applicant to being a status holder as easy as possible. This should include participation in language classes and effective access to education, healthcare, vocational training and the labour market as early as possible.

Key challenges for integration

• Lack of information, difficult access to embassies, and lack of knowledge among social workers on the asylum procedure represent key barriers to family reunification.
• As applicants had difficulties to understand the definition of family members, many attempted to reunify family members who did not qualify for family reunification.

Promising practice in country

• Training of local actors working with unaccompanied children on family reunification, provided by the Red Cross with funding by the Ministry of Interior.

Illustrative quotes

“And there is also the idea that in the process of reunification, ultimately it is still the French embassies and consulates in the countries of origin that have the final say. So, we have to deal with the contexts, and for example for 7 months the embassy in Kabul has been closed." (Social worker)

“I did not know. I did not know where to do it, where to go. It was really […] and I was also focused on school. I went straight to school, school certificate and everything, I had a lot of things on my mind, in addition to my mother and everything, and I did not know where to go. She (my mother's friend) accompanied us, for example, to the Prefecture, that's why I did not know at first. And also, I did not know people who could advise me, we had only her." (Subsidiary protection status holder from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Homelessness increased due to a lack of sufficient places in the reception system. Asylum applicants often experienced unsuitable living conditions and difficulties in accessing social services in emergency shelters.
• Unaccompanied children often stayed in hotels or other inappropriate facilities. At age 18, arrangements are interrupted unless the young adult receives a Young Adults Contract extending child welfare services, which has been difficult in the Bouches-du-Rhône and Hauts-de-France regions.
• Frequent transfers have negatively affected asylum applicants in terms of instability and difficulties in starting the integration process.

Promising practice in country

• “Young Adult Contract”, providing child welfare support beyond the age of 18 until 21, including education and psychological support.
• “Sliding lease system”, whereby NGOs rent and sublet a flat to beneficiaries of international protection, providing also social and administrative support. When the beneficiary is sufficiently independent the beneficiary becomes the tenant (Marseille).
• “100 for 1” initiative, supporting the rent for a family through private donations.

Illustrative quotes

"You have a housing stock that cannot absorb all the flows, with the migration pressure that we have seen. And today we can have situations of people who unfortunately have not been accommodated at all throughout the procedure.” (Local housing and social welfare authority expert)

"Of the 10 kids I currently have in class, I have 6 of them who are supported by Child Welfare because they are children, and who took a very long time to be recognized as children, and who slept on the street for a certain period of time, and once they were recognized as children, as part of the winter [accommodation/tenancy] protection system (trêve hivernale) an emergency shelter was set up, they are therefore accommodated in premises which are not adapted." (Teacher)

“They sent us to another hotel where we stayed for about 6 months, and during those 6 months we felt like we were in a sort of prison, even though it was a hotel. The conditions which we were in were not acceptable. For example, we were given food, we were given transport tickets, and that's all. There was no school, there were no other contact” (Unaccompanied child asylum applicant from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should develop adequate contingency plans to be prepared for future situations of large-scale arrivals. Such plans should also consider the use of multipurpose facilities, which can be flexibly adapted to the needs. Contingency plans should form part of long-term strategic planning of migration governance at all levels, including the central, regional and municipal levels. [...]
• EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paperwork. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until completion of the education cycle, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues to support the young person during the transition period. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Allowances for asylum applicants were considered to be low and often paid late, negatively affecting living conditions and increasing the risk of homelessness.
• The lack of social benefits available for beneficiaries of international protection younger than 25 is an obstacle to finding accommodation and negatively affects their integration process.
• Available benefits are difficult to access due to a lack of awareness among professional actors, information and support provided to beneficiaries and language proficiency. Difficulties in producing documents, such as those showing the civil status of applicants to claim family allowances, constitute an administrative barrier to accessing several allowances.
• Long waiting times for renewals of the residence permit receipts causes the suspension of social benefits payments.
• The long duration of age assessments and procedures to verify if the child is unaccompanied delays unaccompanied children’s access to healthcare services.

Illustrative quotes

"A major issue is that for beneficiaries of international protection, accessing measures of general legal framework is often very difficult because they do not speak French. So a major issue is: how do we make measures of general legal framework work so that they are genuinely useful to them." (Asylum authority expert)

"People who are over 25 years old, they have the RSA (revenu de solidarité active) and they ask for housing immediately. And for me there is no RSA, so it's very, very difficult." (Refugee from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that refugees receive all social welfare benefits they are entitled to under EU law. They should consider providing the same entitlements to subsidiary protection status holders in need of support.
• EU Member States should remove practical obstacles that impede access to social welfare benefits – for example, by providing information in clear, accessible and non-bureaucratic language and offering language support, where needed. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Waiting times to access the asylum procedure cause distress and undermine asylum applicants’ mental health.
• Reception facilities and many schools lack a system for identifying and supporting specific mental health needs.
• Precarious conditions in certain types of accommodation facilities have a strong negative impact on psychological health.

Promising practice in country

• Since June 2018, a circular from the Ministry of Health encourages the regional public health authorities to implement preventive health appointments for every newly arrived migrant, including a first screening of mental health needs.

Illustrative quotes

"These are people who have been staying in the streets, who stay on the street for a while, and who arrive at the CADA (Centre d’accueil pour demandeurs d’asile) really tired, physically and psychologically exhausted, because the administration is complicated, and because they give them the run-around a bit, too." (NGO expert)

“The hardest thing was waiting. For sure, the waiting was very difficult, if I speak for myself personally, it threw me into a whirlwind where I could neither eat nor drink, I was just waiting." (Asylum applicant from Eastern Africa)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] When developing their policies to address mental health issues for asylum applicants and status holders, EU Member States should acknowledge that mental health problems also result or are magnified by gaps relating to the provision of different services, such as education, housing and income, which are necessary for successful integration.
• EU Member States should ensure swift and efficient identification, referral and treatment of mental health problems.
• […] EU Member States should ensure that all those working with asylum applicants and status holders, such as police officers, immigration officials or guardians and social workers, are appropriately trained to detect signs of potential mental health problems and refer them to medical authorities. […] 

Key challenges for integration

• The duration of age assessments and procedures to verify if the child is unaccompanied has delayed enrolment in school.
• Precarious living conditions have had a negative impact on the ability of children to focus on studies and education. Pupils worry about becoming homeless when they approach 18 years of age.
• Preparatory classes for non-French speaking pupils aged 16 to 18 have had insufficient places, particularly in the Bouches-du-Rhône and Hauts-de-France regions, leaving children without schooling options. Available classes last too briefly to adequately prepare pupils for joining ordinary classes at age-appropriate levels.
• These difficulties, as well as a lack of choice concerning educational and vocational orientation, have negatively affected pupils’ mental health and prospects for vocational training and social inclusion.
• Procedures for identifying illiterate children were not in place or adapted to non-French speakers.

Promising practice in country

• The Emergency Accommodation Centre in Ivry (Ȋle de France) set up a school as part of the national education system under the authority of the Paris local education authority, allowing children to be schooled immediately.
• Private schools offered places to newly arrived pupils with the support of NGOs, to mitigate the lack of capacity in the preparatory classes (“adapted units”) within public schools (Lille and Marseille).

Illustrative quotes

"There is a big impact, because we can only receive and support these young people to the extent that we are certain that they are children, and not on the basis of a claim. Meaning the schooling process can only start when we have a temporary placement order or a juvenile court order." (Local education authority expert)

“We see it every year. And we have kids who, when they are approaching 17 years and 8 months or 9 months, they are freaked out. They are less and less… because they are thinking about:  Right, I will find myself on the streets'. The teachers warn them.” (Teacher)

“I know a lot of people here who did the same thing as me, who returned to a class 2 or 3 years lower, who were forced to redo all the years of high school [...].” (Unaccompanied child refugee from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In accordance with Article 14 (2) of Directive 2013/33/ EU, Member States must ensure that children entering a Member State are included in (compulsory) education within three months.
  […]
  EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes. Schooling in reception centres should be only a temporary emergency measure.
• EU Member States should enhance support to mainstream schools hosting refugee children, with additional resources and training for teachers, especially in areas where the arrival of refugees is a new phenomenon or where there is a high concentration of refugees.
  […]
  EU Member States should increase efforts to address school disruption of children in need of international protection turning 18. To this end, for children who are close to completing their studies when they turn 18, transfer to adult facilities could be postponed until completion of their education cycle. They should receive support for their transition to adulthood, including sufficient income to avoid having to drop out of school to work.

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum applicants rarely get work permits, often leaving them, once they get international protection, without sufficient resources to finance housing and exposing them to risks of exploitation.
• Main obstacles limiting also beneficiaries’ possibilities to integrate in the labour market are precarious living conditions, lack of accommodation and lack of language knowledge as language classes are not available during the asylum procedure. Another factor are delays in issuing residence permits upon granting an international protection status as employers often do not recognise the “receipt” that confirms that the issuance of a residence permit is in process.
• Due to the absence of social benefits for people under 25, young adults usually leave higher education to work because they need the financial resources.
• Access to universities is particularly difficult due to the lack of support programmes for the inclusion of beneficiaries of international protection.

Promising practice in country

• Zara's 'Youth Project' provides recruitment sessions for young people without academic or professional qualifications to support their social and vocational integration.
• The Garantie Jeune is a nationwide scheme for young people under the age of 25, which was also opened to beneficiaries of international protection. For one year, the programme offers a monthly financial contribution and training on relevant themes (language, health, administration, transport, vocational integration, etc.), helping the individual to handle these issues independently.
• The HOPE project is a public-private partnership enabling young beneficiaries of international protection to integrate through access to vocational training and integration into the labour market. It offers accommodation for the duration of the project, language training, paid vocational training, as well as administrative and social support.
• A call for proposals has financed innovative projects helping young asylum applicants enter the labour market (60 in 2019) in coordination with the public employment service.

Illustrative quotes

"Because in the DNA [National reception system] there is absolutely nothing at the level of language learning. Everything will depend on the CADA [Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers], the partnerships of the social workers there, and the desire of each of these. It is really do-it-yourself.” (NGO expert)

"It [the receipt] means nothing to the company. It means nothing, because the residence permit is much more reassuring. Companies are used to seeing them. Whereas they are not at all familiar with receipts. The fact that there are these renewals to be done every three months or six months, it depends, it's not at all something that encourages the company to hire." (Employment services)

“I wanted to continue studying, but now I cannot. Because for a start, if I study, who will feed me?" (Refugee from Western Africa) "A young man from Eritrea…I know that when I met him he told me he was a hairdresser, so I asked him: and in fact, no, he had no contract, so he worked all day, 10 hours a day without a contract and he was paid almost nothing in fact. So, he was being completely exploited, and in addition to that he told me that the manager was very nasty with him, that it was going very, very badly." (Social/vocational integration adviser)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• As FRA pointed out in 2017 regarding migrants more generally, to improve their participation in the labour market and their overall social integration, EU Member States should provide general and specific job-related language courses free of charge also to asylum applicants. If limitations are implemented, these should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay.
• EU Member States should consider granting asylum applicants access to vocational training as early as possible. Access restrictions, if implemented, should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay.
• EU Member States should take steps to help asylum applicants and status holders overcome practical obstacles to accessing vocational training. This would mean providing effective counselling, offering opportunities to validate prior skills and creating other incentives that promote broad use of vocational training. In this regard, EU Member States should make full use of EU funds. […]
• In order to facilitate access to higher education institutions, EU Member States should consider boosting measures to facilitate linguistic and financial support.

Key challenges for integration

• Homelessness, precarious living conditions in certain types of accommodation facilities, and the lack of social, educational and psychological support are key factors increasing the vulnerability to becoming victims of crime, in particular for children and young adults. Experts most commonly reported cases of gender-based violence.
• Lack of access to the labour market for asylum applicants can be a risk factor exposing them to labour exploitation and dangerous working conditions, according to experts.
• Difficulties in accessing education increase vulnerability to crime as victims.

Illustrative quotes

“Sleeping on the street itself is also an important vulnerability factor, for everyone but even more so for children and women. It is very much centred around the train station at night, and in particular there are unaccompanied children who have had to sleep on the streets, unaccompanied children who had also order of placement from the children's court, but who nevertheless slept on the streets, and when they slept at the station they were approached with offers of money, but in exchange for sexual services.” (NGO expert)

“In fact, what is really annoying for young people is that they do not have [...] they have no help when they are under 25. So because of that they have to work illegally let's say, and when you work illegally, well they take advantage [of you]. Sometimes you are not paid, sometimes you are poorly paid, sometimes you are ill-treated [...] So yes." (Refugee from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime.
• To give effect to their rights under Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, EU Member States should take effective measures to facilitate reporting of crime by asylum applicants and international protection beneficiaries who have been victims of crime. Such measures should address the specific obstacles that may discourage these persons from reporting crimes committed against them.
• EU Member States should raise awareness among police forces of the standards applicable to police stops and the damaging effect of discriminatory profiling practices on community relations and trust in law enforcement.

Compared to other Member States, FRA’s research found that Germany stands out as having the most comprehensive policy to integrate asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection into the higher education system. Concerns regarding integration prospects relate to lengthy asylum procedures and legal and practical barriers to family reunification for beneficiaries of international protection.

Specific challenges affect:

1. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who turn 18 during the asylum procedure or shortly afterwards. This is because:
   • Processing asylum applications of unaccompanied children can take longer than for adults. This happens both because interviews are put on hold pending the appointment of a guardian and/or assessments of the child’s age and specific needs in the asylum procedure. Due to a higher number of persons involved, e.g. representatives, youth welfare authorities, guardians and the special guarantees for children, their asylum procedures may take longer than that of other applicants. At the same time, many of these special guarantees and support are lost once children become adults.
   • The change from a youth welfare facility to shared accommodation upon turning 18 often results in a significant drop in care and support. This can overwhelm adolescents.
2. Beneficiaries of international protection upon obtaining this status as they, like other third-country nationals, need to undergo specific, sometimes lengthy procedures to obtain a residence permit. Some rights and benefits are subject to such a permit, which might again delay integration prospects.

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum procedures in the selected locations in 2016 and 2017 were lengthy, but significantly decreased again in 2018 to a national average of 7.5 months. Due to the high number of appeals in 2016, the duration of appeal procedures increased from an average of 7.8 months in 2017 to 12.5 months in 2018.
• Long asylum procedures in Germany resulted from high numbers of applications, the complexity of procedures, and a lack of interpreters. Countries of origin or the educational and professional backgrounds of applicants can also play a role in the length of the procedure. The processing time for unaccompanied children can be longer than for adults. This can be either because it takes a long time to appoint a legal guardian, who has to submit the application on behalf of the child, or because of lengthy procedures in relation to assessing age and/or child-specific needs.
• The legal status of asylum applicants affects their right to work and to access education beyond compulsory schooling, training and social benefits. The uncertainty about the outcome of proceedings, the fear of return, and the absence of family and friends can affect integration prospects, mental health, and make some vulnerable to becoming victims or perpetrators of crime. Precarious legal status has a particularly strong effect on integration during the transition from childhood to adulthood, which is when the support of competent professionals, such as social workers, guardians or lawyers, is most needed.
• Once international protection is granted, the person needs to undergo specific, sometimes lengthy procedures to obtain a residence permit. Some rights and benefits are subject to such a permit, which may again delay integration prospects.

Promising practice in country

• Handbook Germany is a mobile app. It provides information for asylum applicants by means of short videos and articles on the asylum procedure, housing, health, employment, vocational training, childcare and university studies. The app is available in seven languages.

Illustrative quotes

“From my point of view, there is an important sense of helplessness, so people try to receive information from various places which provide different information, this leads to confusion or to wrong ideas.” (NGO expert)

“This is not an experience, it is suffering [...] a struggle because you need to wait between 30 and 40 days to register, they give you a number and this number needs to be shown on the screen. The screen works every day from 8.00 until 18.00. I remained 35 days like this [...] waiting for the number to show up.” (Refugee from Syria)

“[I]n my experience [the country of origin] has very often an impact on the asylum decision […]. If I have a country of origin which usually does not infer subsidiary protection and refugee status or national ban on deportation, I reject the application more easily. Yes, because the adolescent is protected because he is a minor. Until he turns 18, it is not possible to deport him anyhow.” (NGO expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

EU Member States should examine asylum claims within a reasonable time period, allowing sufficient time to prepare a case and to seek legal and other assistance, including in times of large numbers of arrivals. To do so, they should ensure that sufficient financial and human resources, using qualified professionals, can be made available at short notice so as not to exceed the time limits set out in EU law.

Factors contributing to lengthy proceedings should be minimised, in particular if the factor lies within the remit of the authority and if the applicant is a child. Appropriate resources to quickly appoint competent guardians should be ensured. The guardianship system should be an integral part of the national child protection system, and must operate within the national legal child protection framework.

EU Member States should ensure that applicants with good prospects of receiving protection can already start their integration process during the asylum procedure to make the transition from being an applicant to being a status holder as easy as possible. This should include participation in language classes and effective access to education, healthcare, vocational training and the labour market as early as possible.

Key challenges for integration

• Legal and practical barriers have made family reunification increasingly difficult. For example, Germany suspended family reunification for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection between March 2016 and July 2018. Since August 2018, every month, a maximum of 1,000 visas can be issued for family members of sponsors who have subsidiary protection status. As of the beginning of 2020, in many months the quota had not been met.
• Germany has not yet implemented the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgment in A and S v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, C 550/16, 12 April 2018. In that case, the court ruled that, in line with Directive 2003/86/EC, “a third-country national or stateless person who is below the age of 18 at the time of his or her entry into the territory of a Member State and of the introduction of his or her asylum application in that State, but who, in the course of the asylum procedure, attains the age of majority and is thereafter granted refugee status must be regarded as a ‘minor’ for the purposes of that provision.”
• Practical obstacles to family reunification related to difficulties in accessing diplomatic missions in non-EU countries, producing the documents required, and high costs besides visa fees, are some of the practical obstacles people face when they want their families to join them. Guardians play a crucial role in supporting unaccompanied children and their family members to collect the required documents.
• Family reunification is recognised as one of the key mechanisms for better integration of migrants and refugees. The absence of family members and worries about their well-being may hinder effective participation in language courses, school and training, and may be an obstacle to finding a job. It might trigger aggression, drinking problems and difficulties in forming stable relationships, and might ultimately make young people more vulnerable to mental health issues and criminality.

Illustrative quotes

“They [young people] have no motivation any more [...] in the beginning, the young people were so motivated. They wanted to attend three courses a day. Learn German as fast as possible [...] if you have waited for too long, for two years, and you are still not sure if you will see your family again, when you will see them again, what motivates you to learn the language? For whom? For your social worker? No.” (NGO integration manager and lawyer)

“I feel like I can watch them becoming old and grey and skinny. […] And we know of […] clients who went back [to Syria] because they said: ‘I can no longer bear the separation.’” (Lawyer)

“[My parents] went to Lebanon from Syria. It [the journey] was a torture for them [...]. They finally reached the embassy but turned back to Syria with big disappointment because the child is 18 years old now. [...] [Travelling] to Turkey was extremely dangerous [...] they travelled while Idlib was under inten sive bombing, they stayed 11 days there [at the border, not being able to enter Turkey]. I suffered a lot during those 10 days. They tried to cross borders but they could not until we paid smugglers [...] to transfer the family from Idlib to Turkey, two months ago [...] the costs were high but more importantly the journey was not safe [...]” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees.
• EU Member States should implement the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgment in A. and S. v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, C 550/16, 12 April 2018, and ensure eligibility for family reunification of third-country nationals who are below the age of 18 at the time of the asylum application but who, in the course of the asylum procedure, attain the age of majority.

Key challenges for integration

• Municipalities had to rent and set up emergency accommodations. Compromised hygiene and privacy, limited leisure activities and tensions among residents affected residents, including children. Asylum applicants are generally not allowed to live in private accommodation, which prevents leading a normal life.
• Housing situations of unaccompanied children, according to experts interviewed at the selected locations, rarely met youth welfare standards due to the limited capacities. Facilities offered limited pedagogical work and care. They also prioritised language and cultural skills over pedagogical qualifications when hiring staff. Youth welfare facilities have in practice been preferred over foster families, despite the more individual support the latter can offer.
• The change from a youth welfare facility to shared accommodation upon turning 18 results in a significant drop in care and support, which overwhelms adolescents.
• Young refugees face risks of homelessness and specific obstacles to find housing when: getting international protection status, becoming a self-payer (i.e. leaving the social welfare system) and, for unaccompanied children, when turning 18 and when reunifying with family.
• Challenges to find individual housing have included the limited duration of residence permits, prejudice against the target group, insufficient language skills, financial burden and administrative regulations.
• The number and frequency of transfers have made integration difficult as each relocation requires the individual to get used to the new area, inhabitants, social workers and possibly school, and repeat administrative steps. Integration has further hinged on the provision of social counselling, privacy and individual housing.

Promising practice in country

• An initiative led by the Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth prepared minimum standards for the protection of refugees in reception facilities. The Ministry financed 100 full-time coordinators for violence prevention responsible for developing protection measures in specific facilities.
• Buddy and sponsorship programmes smoothing the transition from youth welfare to adult support systems, e.g. initiative “Schluesselbund” in Bremen connecting housing sponsors with young adult asylum applicants and refugees with the support of the youth welfare authority.
• Neighbourhood integration projects, e.g. BENN, promoting dialogue between long-standing and new residents and active citizenship.

Illustrative quotes

“My mother and my father found it very difficult, for example, the bathrooms were at the end of the buildings [...] the bathrooms were open-pit cabins we used to bathe in, but the men [...] used to peek from the windows or so we used to try to go in the evenings [...] it was really scary [...].” (Child subsidiary protection status holder from Syria)

“I am so annoyed when I read in the media that an adolescent costs so and so many hundred thousand Euros per year, an unaccompanied minor, […] Yes, well, if you [put] them in mass housing facilities, these homes or in flats that are not supervised – they are more expensive and no one looks after them. […] Accommodation in a youth welfare institution costs around € 3500 to € 5000 per month; […] A foster family costs € 500 for alimony plus € 300 to € 600 care allowance for the parents. And still the youth welfare offices prefer it much more to accommodate the children in shared housing, […] The youth welfare office does not have to deal with them anymore. The caretakers manage everything. They receive a lump sum, full stop, and once a year the support conference takes place. Then again, a very committed foster father or foster mother turns up on the doorstep and wants private tuition, wants sport classes, wants that, he needs to learn how to swim, wants this, and wants that. This is simply annoying and time-consuming, although it is much cheaper.” (Guardian)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should develop adequate contingency plans to be prepared for future situations of large-scale arrivals. […]. Contingency plans should form part of long-term strategic planning of migration governance at all levels, including central, regional and municipal levels.
  […]
  EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paperwork. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until completion of the education cycle, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues to support the young person during the transition period.

Key challenges for integration

• Various actors provided information on social assistance. However, the lack of clear information on the complex system resulted in a risk of destitution, causing persons to miss deadlines. Challenges specifically related to language, comprehensibility of administrative language and, in some cases, fear of authorities.
• The complex division of responsibilities within and between regions reinforced the challenges resulting from a lack of clear information. This led to situations where protection status holders unknowingly breached the residence restrictions, subsequently lost their social benefits and went into debt. Allocation to local welfare offices based on date of birth rather than address resulted in long distances to responsible offices in one city. Unaccompanied children lost their benefits if they did not relocate and continued living and attending school in the state of arrival.
• Procedures become particularly complex when asylum applicants are granted international protection and when unaccompanied children turn 18, leading in some cases to gaps when deadlines could not be met, e.g. switching from asylum applicants’ benefits to unemployment benefits. Children who turn 18 or reunify with their family generally lose youth welfare benefits, such as counselling, social support and housing, unless continued support is considered necessary, according to the Social Code, Book VIII, section 41, and switch to general welfare or asylum seekers’ benefits.

Promising practice in country

• Unaccompanied children who turn 18 may benefit from an extension of youth welfare benefits, depending on the regional authorities, according to the Social Code, Book VIII, section 41, generally until the age of 21 and in individual cases beyond this age.

Illustrative quotes

“I follow these cases [children who had to relocate to another state] from time to time, when teachers come here with someone, and say he doesn’t cope. He does not have an apartment, he does not have any money, he has nothing. This is the aspect where the social welfare system in […] fails. But it is quite intentional, because it is about enforcing the distribution [to other federal states].” (NGO expert)

“[P]articularly because of the language, sometimes we receive letters from the Jobcenter saying that we need to apply this application [...] or a paper is missing [...] I don’t know what papers and I need to ask a person who has experience or went through the same experience in order to tell me what to do [...].” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Syria)

“[H]onestly, I was not informed, I even did not know about the child benefits until my mum arrived. The Jobcenter suspended my salary and told me: if you don’t get child benefit, we don’t give you money. No one informed me about any of this, I needed to go and ask the [social workers] at the shelter but no one came to me and explained things to me […].” (Refugee from Syria)

FRA opinions

• EU Member States should ensure that refugees receive all social welfare benefits they are entitled to under EU law. […]
• EU Member State should remove practical obstacles that impede access to social welfare benefits – for example, by providing information in clear, accessible and non-bureaucratic language and offering language support, where needed. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Lengthy procedures, separation from family, and feelings of isolation and loneliness have a significant negative impact on applicants’ health. These result in, for example, disrupted sleeping patters, anxiety and deteriorating psychological problems. Anxiety, post-traumatic stress and depression are higher among refugee populations than the general population.
• Germany provides asylum applicants with fewer healthcare entitlements than status holders. For the first 18 months of their stay, applicants have access to only “necessary treatment”, such as “of acute diseases or pain”. Mental health treatment can be covered under exceptional circumstances, if essential to safeguard health.
• No formal legal or policy framework or specific procedures for the identification of victims of torture are in place.

Promising practice in country

• The ‘Minimum standards for the protection of refugees and migrants in refugee accommodation centres’ – introduced in 2017 – include standards for the protection and support of persons requiring particular protection. They provide, in annex 3, specific guidance for the implementation of these standards for traumatised persons.
• Staff counselling asylum procedure are specially trained in identifying vulnerable persons and dealing with the special needs of persons with mental illness.
• Interpretation for healthcare, including mental health care, is covered if required for treatment.
• The ‘advice café’ (Beratungscafé) in Bremen offers young persons support and advice concerning day-to-day matters. This may include help in doing homework, applying for a job, housing or social benefits, or reading or writing official correspondence, e.g. invoices for electricity or mobile phones. The project specifically supports young people phasing out – or never having benefited from – youth welfare support, independently of their status as asylum applicant or beneficiary of international protection.

Illustrative quotes

“[I]f we are living in private housing, this would improve my psychological health a lot, and would show me that this country is easy. But not having private housing, making me feel that this country is very difficult and makes my mum feel desperate/hopeless, and the country it is not easy to live in. [...] I have seen many of my friends, as Arab families who live in private housing, they seem happy and feel at ease and they love the country because they are settled in private housing [...].” (Child subsidiary protection status holder from Syria living with family at a larger housing facility)

“It was very energy draining [...] you need to always wait and wait and wait [...] this caused inner distress, because of the residence, whether we are allowed to stay or we will be deported, will they give us only one year residence? Will we be able to find private housing? Will I adapt? This inner stress controlled most of my reality [...]” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Syria who arrived as an unaccompanied child)

“[T]he long waiting time is not only a long waiting time, which decides about the future, existence of an individual, […] the person is under extreme emotional psychological stress and pressure. But this has to do with the fact that they have no rights and have no access to the educational system, to other systems” (NGO expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In line with the social determinants of health approach, the conditions in which people grow up, work and live strongly contribute to their individual health status. When developing their policies to address mental health issues for asylum applicants and status holders, EU Member States should acknowledge that mental health problems also result or are magnified by gaps relating to the provision of different services, such as education, housing and income, which are necessary for successful integration.
• EU Member States should ensure swift and efficient identification, referral and treatment of mental health problems. They should have mechanisms to ensure that the results of the needs assessment under Article 22 of the Reception Conditions Directive are followed up and support continued once protection status is granted. They should apply the EASO Guidance on reception conditions of 2016: operational standards and indicators.
• EU Member States should provide early and clear information to applicants and status holders about where and how they can seek help for their mental health problems in a language they can understand. EU Member States should ensure that all those working with asylum applicants and status holders, such as police officers, immigration officials or guardians and social workers, are appropriately trained to detect signs of potential mental health problems and refer them to medical authorities.
• EU Member States should strengthen national and local capacity to respond to mental health needs and ensure that mental health workers are trained to work specifically with migrants and refugees. They should provide interpretation services free of charge, including by exploring options for video interpretation. The quality of healthcare services provided to migrants should be closely monitored.

Key challenges for integration

• A specific challenge was the recruitment of additional teachers. Around 20,000 additional teachers were required in view of the 325,000 additional pupils expected according to the Standing Conference in October 2015. In addition, many of the teachers newly working with refugee children needed in-service training and professionalisation in language teaching and intercultural issues to be prepared for the new challenges.
• The regular schooling system as well as language classes and integration courses were under stress in 2015/16, leading to prolonged waiting times (up to one year) in individual cases until education could be accessed.
• Quality and duration of preparatory classes and language courses, which were sometimes insufficient to acquire a B1 level of language knowledge, made difficult the transition from preparatory classes to regular classes. Nevertheless, most schools offered additional language classes, including after the transition to regular classes.
• Timely and systematic assessments of the students’ qualifications to place them in the right course was not always possible. Consequently, new arrivals could not receive schooling in accordance with their level of education and instead were placed where spots were available. Delays in school enrolment increase drop-out rates and distress.
• Children accommodated in temporary or first reception facilities rarely have access to regular schooling since they cannot register, as required for school allocation, as it is unclear if they will remain in the federal state.
• Transfers and changes in housing or schools have resulted in long commutes, making access to schools burdensome and expensive as transportation costs have not been covered for refugees or asylum applicants in all locations researched.

Promising practice in country

• Social and pedagogical support at school, student buddies, social workers and mentors at youth welfare institutions, as well as voluntary mentors and guardians facilitate the integration process.
• Länder and the municipalities invested substantial financial resources in additional education and training to facilitate the integration of young refugees in educational pathways. Many Länder already had proven concepts and structures in place, e.g. Bremen.
• Parallel attendance of language classes and regular classes in selected subjects has facilitated the transition to regular classes.

Illustrative quotes

“[…] I always get top marks. Suddenly, you find yourself unable to overcome this level, you feel like you can’t do it. Something that affects you deeply, it makes you feel like a failure, so it was very hard on me and I wanted to get rid of this feeling […].” (Child from Syria commenting on transition from language to regular classes)

“[We studied] to the 11th grade [...] but we were out of school for three years, there is a gap, we can’t, we forgot everything related to Math and English, everything [...].” (Refugee from Syria)

“I knew no one, I had no German friends nor Syrians, […] so I wasn’t feeling well psychologically […] I felt lonely […] yes, I was going to the library and getting Arabic books […] Sometimes, I stopped eating for days, I just had no appetite. I was doing groceries, cleaning the house, going out […] despite all of this, I was feeling lonely, I don’t know, I felt it was really difficult. […] I came here; I went out from a jail to another jail. I was expecting that I would start school quickly, get friends, and be smiling. This all turned out the opposite, I had no friends, I had no school, and I was always home […]. All things accumulated and pressured me, it was really difficult, I attempted suicide […]”. (Subsidiary protection status holder from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In accordance with Article 14 (2) of Directive 2013/33/ EU, Member States must ensure that children entering a Member State are included in (compulsory) education within three months.
  […]
  EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes. Schooling in reception centres should be only a temporary emergency measure.
• EU Member States should enhance support to mainstream schools hosting refugee children, with additional resources and training for teachers, especially in areas where the arrival of refugees is a new phenomenon or where there is a high concentration of refugees.
• EU Member States should establish contingency plans for the quick integration of refugee children into schools in order to be able to quickly and adequately respond to future arrivals of asylum-seeking children.
• EU Member States should increase efforts to address school disruption of children in need of international protection turning 18. To this end, for children who are close to completing their studies when they turn 18, transfer to adult facilities could be postponed until completion of their education cycle. They should receive support for their transition to adulthood, including sufficient income to avoid having to drop out of school to work.

Key challenges for integration

• Germany offers mandatory integration and job-related language training for beneficiaries of international protection and to some extent and voluntarily for applicants from countries of origins with recognition rates exceeding 50 %. Refusal of protection status holders to participate in such courses can be punished with benefit cuts.
• Applicants who applied for asylum after 31 August 2015 may start vocational training (or take up employment) three months after the submission of their asylum application for the duration of the asylum procedure, if they are not required to reside in a reception facility and do not come from countries considered ‘safe countries of origin’. Despite the legal entitlement, multiple practical obstacles limit the potential for integration vocational training offers. Also, lack of available places, lack of choice and lack of information about training options constituted major challenges.
• Recognition of qualifications was considered a slow, expensive and complicated process, depending on the type of profession, the awarding institution and the country of origin. The lack of physical copies of diplomas and geographical and residence restrictions, which apply to protection status holders for three years, constitute barriers to tertiary education.

Promising practice in country

• The entry qualification measure (Einstiegsqualifizierung) enables individuals who are no longer subject to general compulsory schooling to pursue a 6 -12 month internship with an employer with the purpose of transferring into vocational training at the end of the programme. The measure is open to adolescents and young adults more generally; individuals with a protection status have unrestricted access; asylum applicants can participate after three months of stay.
• Advice on recognition of qualifications provided by the chamber of employees, the education authority, the Federal Employment Agency (e.g. MYSKILLS test), the IQ network and online advice on foreign diplomas by the central agency for foreign education systems.

Illustrative quotes

“They [the school] were trying to direct us towards one direction, vocational training, I did not like this because they trapped us in specific fields in vocational training, in handicrafts, blacksmith, carpenter, painter […] I was doing my high school in Syria, I wanted to continue university and now I downgraded to vocational training and said let’s do salesman, and they [the school] wanted me to do carpenter and blacksmith […].” (Refugee from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should provide general and specific job-related language courses free of charge also to asylum applicants. If limitations are implemented, these should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay.
• EU Member States should consider granting asylum applicants access to vocational training as early as possible. Access restrictions, if implemented, should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay. EU Member States should take steps to help asylum applicants and status holders overcome practical obstacles to accessing vocational training. This would mean providing effective counselling, offering opportunities to validate prior skills and creating other incentives that promote broad use of vocational training. In this regard, EU Member States should make full use of EU funds. In line with Article 28 (2) of the Qualification Directive, which requires Member States to facilitate the appropriate assessment, validation and accreditation of the prior learning of beneficiaries of international protection who cannot provide documentary evidence of their qualifications, EU Member States should increase efforts to improve the efficiency of their procedures to recognise previous educational attainment, including in the absence of documentary evidence. Such procedures should be simple and free of charge.
• In order to facilitate access to higher education institutions, EU Member States should consider boosting measures to facilitate linguistic and financial support.

Key challenges for integration

• Although 64 % of the general population in Germany in October 2017 agreed with the statement that immigrants worsen crime problems, official statistics do not show a correlation between the increased arrivals in 2015–16 and the overall rate of crime. Instead, the overall number of offences reported in 2017 was the lowest in 25 years. However, Germany only started in 2017 to explicitly cover international protection beneficiaries in these statistics.
• Risk factors of becoming a victim or perpetrator of crime are similar. According to the experts interviewed, they include insecure or unsafe housing, lengthy asylum procedures, lack of access to employment and education as well as in some cases absence of family, coupled with individual factors, such as those related to age, mental health or gender.
• Most common crimes the target groups become victims of are theft, violent crimes, sexual and gender-based violence and hate crime. More than three quarters of offences where the perpetrator was an ‘immigrant’ in Germany in 2017 concerned theft, fraud and other property crime, or violent crime, and the most significant increase over the period of 2014–17 concerned drug-related crimes.
• Although the approach of the police towards the target group has improved in recent years, e.g. in terms of training and enhanced cooperation with stakeholders, discriminatory treatment by police officers and lack of access to the justice system remained common concerns.
• Effective preventive measures include information on rights and duties as well as access to support when needed.

Promising practice in country

• In Bremen, meetings of case managers, the youth welfare authority, police, teachers or migration authorities on cases of children in conflict with the law are organised to consider at an early stage how to provide tailored support measures, such as pedagogical support, change of accommodation or drug rehabilitation. Source: Law enforcement authority, Bremen, Germany.

Illustrative quotes

“Actually, it is always the same, foreigners basically have, no matter where they are from, always bad experiences with the police. […] Foreigner themselves coming to us […] is very rare.” (Law enforcement expert)

“The presence of family members plays a big role for this group, but mostly the family is absent. Those who come with family are always less of a problem than those without family.” (Law enforcement expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime.
• To give effect to their rights under Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, EU Member States should take effective measures to facilitate reporting of crime by asylum applicants and international protection beneficiaries who have been victims of crime. Such measures should address the specific obstacles that may discourage these persons from reporting crimes committed against them.
• EU Member States should raise awareness among police forces of the standards applicable to police stops and the damaging effect of discriminatory profiling practices on community relations and trust in law enforcement.

Despite some good practices supporting fundamental rights across the thematic areas, many challenges have stemmed from the lack of adequate housing, further complicated by the consequences of the economic crisis and the intention of many arrivals to move elsewhere, with negative implications on (mental) health, education, access to work, as well as vulnerability to crime as victims.

Responses addressing difficulties in relation to adequate accommodation and education have often been upset for the reasons outlined below.

1. Unaccompanied children who turn 18
   • who are asylum applicants are transferred to the main section of the camp, unless NGOs provide alternative accommodation;
   • who have a protection status are generally left to find their own accommodation, without any or with very limited transitional support to cushion the sudden stop of child protection benefits.
2. Upon getting international protection status, beneficiaries
   • have to leave the reception facility within 30 days (after 31 May 2020), with limited integration prospects and a high potential for homelessness and destitution;
   • received insufficient support to facilitate the transition to private housing or their integration into the labour market, as envisaged in the national strategic plan for integration, which – with the exemption of HELIOS project – is pending adoption since July 2018.

Key challenges for integration

• In 2016/17, first instance asylum procedures took several months or up to a year, mainly due to continuous arrivals of asylum applicants and a lack of case officers, interpreters, infrastructure, agreed procedures and security measures. The long waiting time negatively affected refugees' mental health and integration and increased their vulnerability to become victims of crime and exploitation, particularly for those staying in hotspots on the islands.
• For unaccompanied children, procedures took longer due to delays in the registration of their applications or in some cases due to protracted family reunification procedures under the Dublin Regulation. Many children absconded during the procedure and fell victim to exploitation.
• Despite many positive initiatives, information on the asylum procedure has been not always accessible or complete, and too complicated when provided upon arrival.
• Absence of a functioning guardianship system in practice for unaccompanied children.
• Access to the public healthcare system remained difficult for asylum applicants due to obstacles to get a social security number.

Illustrative quotes

“When I arrived in Greece, the police held me directly in […] a detention facility without giving me food or anything. Initially, I stayed in the detention centre for 6 months. Question: Did anyone tell you about your rights to ask for asylum or something else? Answer: No.” (Asylum applicant from Pakistan)

“When I arrived, I was with my family, we were together. My family got documents and left for Athens. I stayed here. Now my family has gone, I've stayed here on my own. I’m on my own for a year now. I still haven't received a reply as to the asylum and I am waiting. I am waiting for a year now for this answer. I’ve been in Greece for two years, here on the island.” (Asylum applicant from Afghanistan)

“Yes it was very difficult because when I needed to apply for the residence permit I had to go to the police but they didn’t accept me. I was sleeping outside the police station for 15 days. And then, they accepted me.” (Refugee from Eritrea)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should examine asylum claims within a reasonable time period, allowing sufficient time to prepare a case and to seek legal and other assistance, including in times of large numbers of arrivals. To do so, they should ensure that sufficient financial and human resources, using qualified professionals, can be made available at short notice so as not to exceed the time limits set out in EU law.
• Factors contributing to lengthy proceedings should be minimised, in particular if the factor lies within the remit of the authority and if the applicant is a child. Appropriate resources to quickly appoint competent guardians should be ensured. The guardianship system should be an integral part of the national child protection system, and must operate within the national legal child protection framework. EU Member States should ensure that applicants with good prospects of receiving protection can already start their integration process during the asylum procedure to make the transition from being an applicant to being a status holder as easy as possible. This should include participation in language classes and effective access to education, healthcare, vocational training and the labour market as early as possible. 

Key challenges for integration

• In view of increasing numbers of requests for family reunification under the Dublin procedure, understaffing in the asylum services led to delays and expiry of deadlines.
• Long waiting periods for family reunifications under the Dublin procedure, which depending on the Member State could last up to 18 months, made integration difficult as applicants continued living in uncertainty. They also affected mental health negatively, particularly of unaccompanied children, resulting in cases of self-harm and attempts to leave the country irregularly.
• Family reunifications in Greece have been rare, according to experts, also due to delays by Greek embassies and consulates in issuing entry documents and visas.

Illustrative quotes

“This actually doesn’t apply to Greece. Numbers are almost non-existent. That is, based on recent report for the past 1.5 years, 13 people came to Greece. And that was by exception. The process has been dragging on since 2008 when the legal framework was set up.” (Lawyer)

“There is an impact on their psychology. It is a time that they remain in a country with their life put on pause. I mean they put a pause in their life because they expect it to restart after they reunite with their family. Because their trip delays for so long, they do not participate in anything. They wait until the time they move to Germany to reunite with their family and start their life again. This time of waiting has a negative impact on their psychology. We have many examples of infliction of self harm.” (Guardian)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees.
• EU Member States should implement the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgment in A and S v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, C550/16, 12 April 2018, and ensure eligibility for family reunification of third-country nationals who are below the age of 18 at the time of the asylum application but who, in the course of the asylum procedure, attain the age of majority.

Key challenges for integration

• There has been insufficient adequate accommodation for adults and children. Applicants have stayed in overcrowded emergency shelters for months, located in geographically restricted and often remote areas, under very poor conditions, putting their health and safety at risk and providing limited opportunities of contact with locals. Most children are not attending schools and adults have no prospect for acquiring a job. On the islands, the level of overcrowding has exceeded the capacity of facilities by multiple factors, resulting in undignified, unsafe and unhygienic conditions. Open camp-like facilities on the mainland and the islands were not officially regulated, and operated without appointed directors, adequate staff, internal regulations or minimum standards.
• Children are particularly at risk of becoming victims of crime as they often abscond due to the poor conditions pending transfers and, in hotspots, often stay with unrelated adults as specific safe-zones are overcrowded (Moria).
• Upon turning 18, children lose all child specific support; while applicants are usually transferred to adult facilities, beneficiaries of international protection in most cases have to find their own accommodation.

Promising practice in country

• Programs proving specialised accommodation for young adolescent unaccompanied boys who turn 18, such as the Programme 18+ organised by the NGO Iliaktida.

Illustrative quotes

“Basically, it has nothing to do with the location of each facility. It has to do with actions implemented by each facility. I mean, if a facility is in the centre of Athens and implementing certain actions involving the beneficiaries which have an impact on society, this will also have an effect on their integration. For example, if they have a bazaar giving away clothes from donations and if this event is open to everyone or say if they have a film screening at their premises, or a celebration to which the neighbours are invited, this will bring interaction with the locals; these actions favour integration and help make acquaintances with people from the facility.” (Coordinator of an accommodation facility)

“And here’s the irrational thing: once you are legally recognised as having all rights [that Greek citizens have], in practice you lose all your rights. Due to the current emergency situation, asylum seekers are entitled to accommodation and to a series of benefits. Immediately upon their legal recognition as refugees, they lose every right they had before and they enter into a ‘grey area’, where there are huge problems regarding accommodation and employment.” (Social welfare authority)

“In fact, there are no transitional settings. So, children who live in camps are treated like children until just one day before they turn 18, and they are put in the safe zones; however, they might be transferred to another camp area with adult men because suddenly they are considered adults. This is a serious issue, and there are no transitional settings. Because children who are 17-18 years old should continue to be in education in some way, like in post-secondary education, they should be integrated, they should be with their peers; they are in a quite different life stage than an adult.” (Social welfare authority)

“At that time (when he arrived in Greece) I was sick and because of my conditions they give me accommodation. Because I couldn’t sleep at night because there were unexpectedly starting fights and they were making fires…my mind…I was not comfortable…I was all night sitting outside so I could run away if something happened…That’s why they give me accommodation. I was speaking with the psychologist and then they transferred me to [another accommodation].” (Refugee from Eritrea)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should develop adequate contingency plans to be prepared for future situations of large-scale arrivals. Such plans should also consider the use of multipurpose facilities, which can be flexibly adapted to the needs. Contingency plans should form part of long-term strategic planning of migration governance at all levels, including the central, regional and municipal levels.
• The availability of adequate facilities near the border should be an integral component of national strategies for integrated border management, which Member States are obliged to draw up under the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.
• EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paperwork. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until completion of the education cycle, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues to support the young person during the transition period.
  […]

Key challenges for integration

• The extended exposure to very poor living conditions while restricted on the islands, uncertainty about the future, and lack of access to schools or work, resulted in or exacerbated severe mental health issues.
• Many applicants suffer from depression, trauma, insomnia, loneliness and are scared for their lives due to dangerous situations in the camps. Many young people seek medical help, which remains insufficient.
• In spite of trained asylum officers, mental health issues make it difficult for applicants to participate and share their stories in asylum interviews, which may result in inaccurate decisions.

Illustrative quotes

“Difficulties exist and what extends the time to resolve the issue, creates a psychological burden. It starts with anger, frustration, sadness, and can end up in depression and wild behaviour.” (Integration focal point)

“Interviewee: “I dealt with many problems. We are all humans. I have survived from the cold and the heat, but this is too difficult for anyone.
Interviewer: All these difficulties prevented you from attending language classes or anything else?
Interviewee: All these problems have tired me. I can’t sleep during the night and I am taking pills.
Interviewer: Do you see a doctor?
Interviewee: Yes, a psychologist.
Interviewer: Is he/she helpful?
Interviewee: Yes. But she doesn’t give me enough drugs.” (Asylum applicant from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In line with the social determinants of health approach, the conditions in which people grow up, work and live strongly contribute to their individual health status. When developing their policies to address mental health issues for asylum applicants and status holders, EU Member States should acknowledge that mental health problems also result or are magnified by gaps relating to the provision of different services, such as education, housing and income, which are necessary for successful integration.
• EU Member States should ensure swift and efficient identification, referral and treatment of mental health problems. They should have mechanisms to ensure that the results of the needs assessment under Article 22 of the Reception Conditions Directive are followed up and support continued once protection status is granted. They should apply the EASO Guidance on reception conditions of 2016: operational standards and indicators.
  […]
  EU Member States should strengthen national and local capacity to respond to mental health needs and ensure that mental health workers are trained to work specifically with migrants and refugees. They should provide interpretation services free of charge, including by exploring options for video interpretation. The quality of healthcare services provided to migrants should be closely monitored.

Key challenges for integration

• Different policies regarding children’s access to public schools are applied depending on the child’s location (i.e. mainland or islands) and type of accommodation facility. The majority of children on the Eastern Aegean islands do not have access to formal education.
• Children face obstacles in accessing schools, including due to administrative obstacles or remote locations of camps. Even in Athens, it is difficult for children to commute to schools that are located far from their homes.
• Education is interrupted when children are transferred from one place to another.
• Where access to schools is possible, children’s personal situation, uncertainty about their status and future and mental health issues often prevent them from participating. Some children lack motivation since they expect their stay in Greece to be temporary.
• The schooling system is understaffed and lacks teachers specialised in teaching children from different cultures. Level and equivalence of schooling are difficult to establish. Students thus enter at grade levels based on their age rather than on evidence of years of schooling.

Illustrative quotes

“I don’t think she attends school, she lives in the Kara Tepe camp, and her parents won’t allow her to move around unaccompanied. So, she only participates in informal education, doing courses with me in the camp, although she would have performed extremely well if she had attended formal education. Given that she is in the camp and not allowed to go out alone, she does not participate in formal education, so I think that’s important.” (Lesvos focus group on education)

“In the past, when my family was here, I would go to work three times every day, I helped during breakfast, along with the team, we were serving breakfast and I was going to classes. Since my family left, this broke my heart, I can't go to the courses and I can’t help with jobs.” (Asylum applicant from Iran)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In accordance with Article 14 (2) of Directive 2013/33/ EU, Member States must ensure that children entering a Member State are included in (compulsory) education within three months.
• To improve effective enrolment of persons in need of international protection into education, EU Member States should increase their efforts to facilitate access to post-compulsory education, notably secondary education.
• EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes. Schooling in reception centres should be only a temporary emergency measure.
• EU Member States should enhance support to mainstream schools hosting refugee children, with additional resources and training for teachers, especially in areas where the arrival of refugees is a new phenomenon or where there is a high concentration of refugees. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Common obstacles to vocational training are the lack of language proficiency, bureaucratic requirements, e.g. the need for a special insurance, and limited information on and availability of courses.
• Due to the economic crisis, job opportunities have been limited and many people arriving in Greece consider themselves in transit. The uncertainty of stay and obtaining the required tax identification numbers are other difficulties. At the same time, measures for entering the labour market are important to avoid or limit black market recruitment and labour exploitation.
• There has been no system for recognising the qualifications of the target group.

Illustrative quotes

“I remember an initiative we tried to have with Iliachtida about a year ago, I think, to find some children interested in learning a trade. I.e. it could be here in Lesvos, in Agiaso. Carpentry was a very popular option. This area is famous for this trade. So, we tried to introduce the trade to small group of children who already had a basic knowledge from their countries so that they could learn these skills. But we faced many bureaucratic barriers, because the children had to have special insurance, had to be accompanied by an adult. So, even such small initiatives failed.” (UNCHR)

“No, but what I have seen is two other women, one was hairdresser and the other seamstress like me. The one who was hairdresser had a three years old kid and it was very difficult for her to go to work and come back to the camp with the child. She worked for three months somewhere and for those three months they paid her only 50 Euros.[…]” (Asylum applicant from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• As FRA pointed out in 2015 regarding migrants more generally, to improve their participation in the labour market and their overall social integration, EU Member States should provide general and specific job-related language courses free of charge also to asylum applicants. If limitations are implemented, these should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay. […]
• EU Member States should take steps to help asylum applicants and status holders overcome practical obstacles to accessing vocational training. This would mean providing effective counselling, offering opportunities to validate prior skills and creating other incentives that promote broad use of vocational training. In this regard, EU Member States should make full use of EU funds.
• In line with Article 28 (2) of the Qualification Directive, which requires Member States to facilitate the appropriate assessment, validation and accreditation of the prior learning of beneficiaries of international protection who cannot provide documentary evidence of their qualifications, EU Member States should increase efforts to improve the efficiency of their procedures to recognise previous educational attainment, including in the absence of documentary evidence. Such procedures should be simple and free of charge. […]

Key challenges for integration

• The police clarified that the presence of migrants and refugees in urban settings has not led to an increase in criminality. In some camps, and particularly in the overcrowded hotspots, where applicants experience extremely poor and unsafe conditions, serious crime – including gender-based violence – affected some as victims or perpetrators. The situation of women and children has been particularly precarious.
• Experts confirmed that factors increasing the risks of becoming a victim or perpetrator of crime include: uncertainty about the asylum procedure, the length of stay in camps, living conditions and geographical restrictions, lack of contact with the receiving society, psychological problems, unemployment and financial difficulties, as well as the absence of a support network, such as family.
• Some refugees report feeling unfairly treated by the police (e.g. perceived resistance to registering reports of rape by refugees) or experiences with police blaming groups presumed to be more aggressive for conflicts in the camps without sufficient evidence.

Promising practice in country

• The Department for Combating Racist Violence of the Hellenic Police has visited refugee communities and participated in NGO events to increase the reporting of racially motivated crimes.
• The program “REFRAME”, run by KETHEA MOSAIC and IOM, counsels and refers refugees with addiction problems and gender violence issues to treatment facilities. The programme also supports refugees to engage in activities that permit them to gain autonomy and cover their own needs (such as food, shelter and clothing) to minimise risks of violence and abuse.
• Organisations working at the local level organise work teams on gender violence in Moria and Kara Tepe.

Illustrative quotes

“All unaccompanied children arriving in Greece at the moment are victims. They present the psychology of the victim. They have fled their country and arrived in a foreign country. They are all victims of smuggling; they have been exploited during their journey from their country to Greece. There is no child that we (in the guardianship network) have met that hasn’t been a victim of their smugglers. Abuse may have been physical or financial, more money that they were asked to give or their life was threatened or they fell victims of financial or sexual abuse or threats to their family. From the time they fled their country these children have been victims.” (Guardian)

“Yes, I have a lot of experiences. When I was in the camp they stole all my things. When your things were stolen and you were going to the police they didn’t accept you even if you knew the person who has stolen your stuff. They [the police] didn’t care about me. And also when I came here [in the city centre]. It happened also 3 days ago, I was in a café. Some Algerians came to me and then one of them was speaking to me and I was paying attention to him and the other stole all my stuff. So there is a lot of problems but we can’t do anything for this […].” (Refugee from Eritrea)

“I was in this camp that has a big tent that we split up with blankets. And my brother there […] on the container for the juveniles. It was like a prison. He was not allowed to go out because he is a minor. Every time I tried to see him, they told me I can’t see him. I watched him through the door. But he could not get out. And my brother told me that they were taking drugs where he stayed. And they said to him many times, "Do you want to try?” There they talk only with the knives, they do not speak with the tongue.” (Asylum applicant from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime.
• To give effect to their rights under Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, EU Member States should take effective measures to facilitate reporting of crime by asylum applicants and international protection beneficiaries who have been victims of crime. Such measures should address the specific obstacles that may discourage these persons from reporting crimes committed against them.
• EU Member States should raise awareness among police forces of the standards applicable to police stops and the damaging effect of discriminatory profiling practices on community relations and trust in law enforcement.

Good practices were enacted in nearly all policy fields. In particular, Italy managed to prioritise the processing of unaccompanied children during the asylum procedure. It allowed beneficiaries of international protection to reunite with their families under favourable conditions. Compared to other Member States, Italy has managed to properly support the target group in accessing vocational training. The decentralised accommodation system (SPRAR system) proved to be a good practice able to ensure accommodation and support measures to asylum applicant and international protection beneficiaries. However, since 2018, reception under this scheme (renamed SIPROIMI) has been limited to international protection beneficiaries and unaccompanied children. For the latter category, the SIPROIMI has become the privileged reception system.

The beginning of the integration process was often delayed due to the length of asylum procedures. This also caused psychological distress to asylum seekers. In general, applicants and beneficiaries faced difficulties in accessing asylum procedures, social benefits and housing, mainly due to limited provision of information and cumbersome procedures. They also experienced several barriers to accessing the labour market, despite being entitled to work. The lack of ‘preparatory/introduction programmes’ in mainstream schools was a major barrier to successful integration into the education system.

Integration efforts may be upset at two specific stages, including:

1. Unaccompanied children turning 18:
   • Due to delays in appointing guardians and completing age-assessment procedures, unaccompanied children often turned 18 during the asylum process. This meant that they could no longer benefit from specific child-protection safeguards, including special procedural guarantees. Delays can cause distress and expose applicants to the risk of getting involved in criminal networks. 
     In this regard, Law No. 47/2017 represents a positive development. It introduces the establishment of lists of volunteer guardians for unaccompanied children within the youth courts and, pending their appointment, allows the manager of child-dedicated shelters to act as a temporary guardian and support unaccompanied children in the asylum and residence permit procedures.
   • Unaccompanied children who turn 18 are often obliged to leave shelters and are transferred to adult facilities. FRA findings show that young adults are not properly supported during the transition period and integration projects, including vocational training and education, are often interrupted. Thus, many children abscond just before reaching adulthood.
   • Young asylum seekers face difficulties in accessing the labour market when turning 18 due to delays in the conversion of the ‘residence permit for young age’ (permesso di soggiorno per minore età) into other types of resident permits for adults.
2. Upon getting international protection:
   • Once international protection status is granted, protection status holders are requested to leave the reception facility and look for individual housing. The lack of housing support measures in this delicate transition phase often leads to homelessness and informal housing. A promising development is Law No. 47/2017, which introduces the possibility for juvenile courts to entrust the care of unaccompanied children turning 18 to social services until the completion of the started integration program, up to the age of 21 years. 

Key challenges for integration

• Long asylum procedures (up to 10-12 months). Asylum applicants live in a precarious situation discouraging them from starting the integration process. For unaccompanied children, delays in the asylum procedure cause distress and increase the risk of absconding as well as vulnerability to crime.
• Unaccompanied children who turn 18 during the asylum procedure are deprived of specific support measures (i.e. services provided by local authorities in charge of assisting them or guardians’ support).
• The temporary residence permit issued once the asylum application has been lodged in principle entitles asylum seekers to work (after 2 months) and to access health and other services. However, lack of awareness of the rights of asylum seekers among public authorities as well as employers de facto limits their access to the rights and benefits to which they are entitled (e.g. birth/child support) and to the labour market.
• Information provided on the asylum procedure is not systematic and varies in quality.

Promising practice in country

• Immediate identification and registration of unaccompanied children in a first-level specialised facility to accelerate the appointment of guardians and the beginning of the asylum procedure (Rome).
• A weekly day dedicated to asylum claims lodged by children, established by the police headquarter. All the different steps, which adults usually do in separate moments, are condensed into one day (Milan).
• “Welcome Kit”: the Authority for the Protection of Childhood and Adolescence (Autorità garante per l'infanzia e l'adolescenza) offered a child-friendly information kit made of illustrated cards, providing basic information on the children’s rights and on the asylum procedure.

Illustrative quotes

“The length of the procedure to obtain a residence permit, to receive or face an auditioning with the Commission is a crucial issue because [...] it is a system that encourages the creation of vulnerability, since it causes for an indeterminate time a feeling of uncertainty to these people and this does not help them imagining their individual project in Italy and this means that they do not invest in learning Italian or in creating social bonds. […]” (Expert taking part in national focus group)

“I wasn’t helped by anyone […] The only information I received was from the guys I met in the park, they are the ones who told me that I had to go to the police headquarters to apply for asylum […]” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should examine asylum claims within a reasonable time period […].
• Factors contributing to lengthy proceedings should be minimised, in particular if the factor lies within the remit of the authority and if the applicant is a child. Appropriate resources to quickly appoint competent guardians should be ensured. EU Member States should ensure that applicants with good prospects of receiving protection can already start their integration process during the asylum procedure to make the transition from being an applicant to being a status holder as easy as possible. This should include participation in language classes and effective access to education, healthcare, vocational training and the labour market as early as possible.

Key challenges for integration

• Access to the family reunification procedure was particularly challenging due to lack of adequate information and awareness about the functioning of the procedure among the young people interviewed.
• Access to the family reunification procedures was less challenging for refugees due to the more favourable provisions that apply to them.
• Issues with online procedures and difficulties in communicating appointments to the applicants (appointments are scheduled after several months and communicated via normal mail, not electronically) were other practical barriers to accessing the procedure, as well as difficulties in producing the required documents from the country of origin.
• Applicants from certain countries of origin, such as Eritrea and Somalia, had to meet additional administrative requirements (i.e. DNA tests).

Promising practice in country

• More favourable family reunification conditions, i.e. no need to fulfil income and accommodation requirements, to access family reunification extended beyond the minimum 3-month period from the granting of the refugee status required under EU law.

Illustrative quotes

“I never asked for information about the procedure, I wouldn’t know where to go, where to ask.” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Somalia)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Accommodation in large reception centres is usually a challenge due to unsuitable living conditions (overcrowding, lack of privacy, hygienic conditions, conflicts between national groups) and the geographical isolation of the centres, which limits the possibility to reach educational facilities and/or find employment.
• Due to unavailability of sufficient places in dedicated reception facilities at peak times of arrival, unaccompanied children are often hosted in reception facilities together with adults and no proper measures are enacted to support the transition to adulthood. This increases the risk of absconding and interrupts the integration process.
• The frequency of transfers between reception facilities and the lack of awareness concerning the timing and location of such transfers negatively affects integration.
• The absence of systematic housing support measures for beneficiaries of international protection increases the risk of homelessness, informal housing, inadequate living conditions (e.g. lack of hygiene, overcrowding) as well as exploitative situations.
• For beneficiaries of international protection, practical barriers to finding individual housing mainly arise due to discrimination by landlords who are reluctant to rent to third-country nationals in general, lack of regular work contracts, and high rents.

Promising practice in country

• Access to co-housing projects in apartments shared by protection status holders and semi-autonomous apartments for young adults (Reggio Calabria).
• Third-level reception system (following the granting of protection status) developed in Rome, providing temporary housing solutions in small apartments to facilitate the transition period.
• Financial contribution by the reception centres for the rent and mediation activity with landlords.
• Flats rented at a reduced price to protection status holders willing to live in towns at risk of abandonment; apartments empty for a long time offered to asylum applicants and protection status holders.

Illustrative quotes

“Being transferred when turning 18 is a serious problem. The centre’s staff perceives that all work that has been done goes wasted […] the children don’t understand and neither do we because laws and rules cannot define a person’s life.” (Guardian)

“You need to have a regular and long-term work contract to rent private accommodation that’s why I haven’t looked. Many guys have to leave the reception centre and they can’t find a solution, this is a problem, and they end up living on the streets. Because they leave the reception centre without having a job and therefore they can’t afford to pay rent and they end up on the streets [...]” (Subsidiary protection status holder from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paperwork. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until completion of the education cycle, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues to support the young person during the transition period. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Beneficiaries of international protection received insufficient information on available state benefits and eligibility criteria, despite being entitled to the same access to state benefits as nationals. This results in very few applications among this group.
• Cumbersome procedures, diverse local administrative practice, as well as language barriers complicate access to social benefits for asylum seekers and protection status holders.
• The temporary residence permit issued for asylum applicants is not associated with an alpha-numeric code (‘codice fiscale’), which is often requested to apply for health and other services.
• Delays in the appointment of guardians constitutes a specific obstacle for unaccompanied children to access local social services because the guardian needs to be involved in all decisions concerning the child – including the authorisation to apply for social services.

Illustrative quotes

“As far as I know subsidiary and international protection holders have the same rights as Italian citizens and they are therefore entitled to all forms of social benefits. This thing isn’t widely known and so – despite the fact that it’s required by the law – in practice they can face many obstacles.” (NGO expert)

“Barriers exist and they mainly concern language proficiency because this unfortunately is one of the issues less coped with, that is the presence of cultural mediators/interpreters in public services […].” (NGO expert)

“The child who had lost a leg was a minor. As long as he was in hospital there was no way for him to get a residence permit […]. The hospital could not give him a declaration of hospitality […] and to this day he still doesn’t have a disabil¬ity allowance, and without that you can’t get a prosthesis other than by paying for it […]. From a legal point of view there was no way out.” (NGO legal assistant)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that refugees receive all social welfare benefits they are entitled to under EU law. […].
• EU Member States should remove practical obstacles that impede access to social welfare benefits – for example, by providing information in clear, accessible and non-bureaucratic language and offering language support, where needed. […]

Key challenges for integration

• The distress caused by the delays in the asylum procedures negatively affect mental health, especially for unaccompanied children.
• Some reception centres (such as CAS) often lack adequate support for the most vulnerable individuals, such as those needing psychological support and assistance.
• Frequent transfers to new reception centres affect mental health and risk re-traumatising asylum seekers.
• Similarly, the obligation for unaccompanied children who turn 18 to transfer to adult facilities can cause frustration and distress.

Promising practice in country

• The “Milan Vulnerabilities Network” aims to foster cooperation among healthcare professionals in sharing good practices and in the management of vulnerable and complex cases.
• Activities developed by the Italian Refugee Council aimed at raising awareness on available social services.
• Local Healthcare Department Project (FARI 2) - Rome 1 (Azienda Sanitaria Locale Roma 1) providing for an individually tailored recovery project, including health and psychological assistance.

Illustrative quotes

“We had a service user who was lynched. Two or three years ago he had an episode of decompensation, he destroyed some cars and they had to take him away because the people were about to kill him […] Mental health issues, whether you’re in the care of specialised services or not, lead to a double form of stigmatisation, due to belonging to a category (that of migrants) and that of people in suffering.” (Local housing authority expert)

“[…] There is a real lack of awareness on behalf of social health workers and this should be tackled. It would be fundamental to have policies of this kind, because this is the real starting point […] another crucial aspect is that of providing sufficiently specialized training allowing professionals to recognise early risk signals for mental health issues.“ (Local social welfare authority expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] When developing their policies to address mental health issues for asylum applicants and status holders, EU Member States should acknowledge that mental health problems also result or are magnified by gaps relating to the provision of different services, such as education, housing and income, which are necessary for successful integration.
• EU Member States should ensure swift and efficient identification, referral and treatment of mental health problems. […]
• EU Member States should strengthen national and local capacity to respond to mental health needs and ensure that mental health workers are trained to work specifically with migrants and refugees. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Waiting times for enrolment of children in compulsory school are sometimes long (in some cases between 8 and 18 months).
• Delays in school enrolment and in the asylum procedures discourage asylum applicants from investing in education.
• A few unaccompanied children attended education programmes in reception centres (and not in mainstream schools). This might have detrimental effects on integration.
• Public secondary schools often refuse to enrol children who are over 15, and therefore not subject to compulsory schooling, if they do not speak Italian, according to the experts interviewed. As a result, these children become the responsibility of the adult education system – CPIAs (Provincial Centres for Adult Instruction). CPIAs have proven to play a crucial role in offering a range of training and education opportunities, including language acquisition. However, access to such educational facilities depends very much on the housing facility where the child is living and there are issues with lack of awareness.
• Lack of ‘preparatory classes’ in schools lead to limited understanding of teachers and drop-outs.
• Limited involvement and support of the guardians in unaccompanied children’s educational choices.
• In the absence of social welfare provisions, post-secondary education is often interrupted due to the necessity to earn money.

Promising practice in country

• Opportunity to combine a paid work experience with upper secondary school education pursuant the legislative reform of the education system in 2015.
• FAMI project "Multiannual training plan for managers and teachers of schools with a high incidence of foreign pupils", with a financing of 4,000,000 Euros, involving a total of 1,000 heads of school and 10,000 teachers.
• “Accompanying through teaching Project” in Milan offering secondary-school diploma, extra hours of teaching and practical workshops introducing students to some professional areas.
• Enrolment of unaccompanied children in ordinary schools and leisure activities with Italian peers to foster integration.
• Support by staff of reception facilities in accessing education.

Illustrative quotes

“[I]f you arrive aged 16 and you don’t speak Italian, you can’t access public state schools […] you have to have some requisites […] I would venture to say that even in those years of mandatory education it’s like this. We have asylum seekers and protection holders who are at the age of mandatory education who have not managed to access state schools because these have a tendency to refuse access.” (Language teacher)

“I have obtained the lower secondary-school grade, but I am not sure I will continue because working and attending school at the same time is not easy. I am not sure I can continue studying [...] If a person lives on his own and has to earn a living, it is crucial to find a job. If you find a job to live, you can consider going to school. But if you don’t have a job, you’d better forget school.” (Humanitarian protection status holder from Western Africa)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• In accordance with Article 14 (2) of Directive 2013/33/ EU, Member States must ensure that children entering a Member State are included in (compulsory) education within three months
• To improve effective enrolment of persons in need of international protection into education, EU Member States should increase their efforts to facilitate access to post-compulsory education, notably secondary education.
• EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes. Schooling in reception centres should be only a temporary emergency measure.
• EU Member States should increase efforts to address school disruption of children in need of international protection turning 18. To this end, for children who are close to completing their studies when they turn 18, transfer to adult facilities could be postponed until completion of their education cycle. They should receive support for their transition to adulthood, including sufficient income to avoid having to drop out of school to work.

Key challenges for integration

• The procedure for recognition of titles and qualifications obtained abroad is unclear or too complicated, experts as well as people in need of international protection say. Obtaining the original certificates from the country of origin is often problematic.
• There is no national standardised language acquisition programme for adults; language courses offered in reception centres differ in quality and frequency. Teaching methods are often not considered adequate by the experts interviewed.
• FRA findings show that there are barriers to accessing vocational training and the labour market due to delays in the asylum procedure.
• Employers often refuse to hire asylum applicants as they are not aware that their temporary residence permit entitles them to work.

Promising practice in country

• CIMEA - Centro di Informazione sulla Mobilità e le Equivalenze accademiche: office run by the Government providing support in the recognition of diplomas.
• “Let’s Qualify Us”: information provision system on procedures for the recognition of diplomas and qualifications and for the promotion of cooperation among stakeholders. • On-line portal developed in Milan, offering information concerning Italian courses offered in the municipality.
• “INSIDE”: pilot project run by the Government aimed at promoting more than 600 apprenticeships for beneficiaries of international protection in the SPRAR/SIPRIOIMI system.
• The Municipality of Milan Employment Service provides for intermediation activities between candidates and companies, including an individually-tailored integration project based on a preliminary skills assessment.

Illustrative quotes

“[Residence permits for asylum seekers or protection holders] exist, it’s true, but it’s not the majority, so some¬times it happens that the employer comes across them for the first time and is not able to recognise them; some¬times they [employers] ask you: ‘Is this OK to work? It’s not written here! It doesn’t say residence permit for work reasons, he can’t work!’[...].” (Employment service expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should take steps to help asylum applicants and status holders overcome practical obstacles to accessing vocational training. This would mean providing effective counselling, offering opportunities to validate prior skills and creating other incentives that promote broad use of vocational training. […]
• […] In line with Article 28(20 of the Qualification Directive, which requires Member States to facilitate the appropriate assessment, validation and accreditation of the prior learning of beneficiaries of international protection who cannot provide documentary evidence of their qualifications, EU Member States should increase efforts to improve the efficiency of their procedures to recognise previous educational attainment, including in the absence of documentary evidence. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Lengthy asylum procedures increase vulnerability to crime due to the perceived precarious status.
• The transition from the reception system to individual housing in precarious/informal situations increases the risk of getting involved in criminal activities, in particular for young adults.
• The lack of adequate education and work opportunities, the inadequate living conditions and the geographical distance of some reception centres are among the factors increasing vulnerability to crime.
• Victims of a crime are often reluctant to report the case to the police due to lack of trust towards police authorities.
• In reception centres offering insufficient specific support, women and girls as well as already identified victims of trafficking in human beings may be at risk of being recruited by criminal organisations.

Promising practice in country

• Protocol signed between the police and the child protection service to provide an accurate and immediate age assessment procedure in order for the child to start the integration process as soon as possible and to avoid the risk of involvement in criminal activities.
• A grid developed by the child neuropsychiatric service allowing for the early observation of potential risk signals and the development of an appropriate response.
• Training programs for local police officers on the first approach with newly detected unaccompanied children and for the first-level reception centers’ staff to identify human trafficking victims.

Illustrative quotes

“It’s hard to have someone coming to one of our teams to publicly condemn a crime, whether is theft or violence, I don’t have enough facts and statistics to answer […] (because) there is lack of trust from these people towards the institution.” (Police officer)

“I have this friend, we used to live together in a reception centre for unaccompanied, he turned 18 and he didn’t have anything. He wanted to eat, he wasn’t working [...] if somebody says to you, I’ll give you money, come here and do this, it’s easy, and it’s what you need. He worked with them and then the police stopped him and now he’s in prison for drug dealing. […]” (Subsidiary-protection status holder from Central Africa)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime.
• To give effect to their rights under Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, EU Member States should take effective measures to facilitate reporting of crime by asylum applicants and international protection beneficiaries who have been victims of crime. Such measures should address the specific obstacles that may discourage these persons from reporting crimes committed against them.

Specific challenges during the above-mentioned transition stages primarily affect:

1. Unaccompanied children who turn 18 in Sweden. This is because they:
   • abruptly lose access to the support system, including guardians, social workers and caretakers at accommodation facilities. Getting and understanding information on all relevant issues – asylum, social benefits, educational options – is particularly difficult for them, preventing adequate access to rights.
   • in those cases where their asylum claim is rejected, they lose their right to stay in the country when they reach majority – although since June 2018, the possibilities to stay have increased for certain children who arrived before November 2015.
   • fear no longer being able to reunify with their parents and siblings if they are granted refugee status or permanent residence permits when they are 18 or older.
   • are generally transferred to another facility and location, as the Migration Agency assumes responsibility, unless the municipality allows them to stay. The moves involve a decrease in living standards and support, as well as a discontinuation of care and social contacts. Transfers have specifically affected (mental) health, vulnerability to crime and school attendance. Some 18 year olds become homeless as they do not want to move. Adult benefits are not always sufficient to cover the commuting costs needed to ensure continued access to education, e.g. pupils no longer receive bus cards upon transfer to a Migration Agency facility.
   • cannot enter national study programmes in upper secondary school as asylum applicants, if they have not yet attained certain eligibility criteria; they are also not eligible for adult education (including vocational and labour market training) until they are 20 unless they reside in Sweden.
2. Beneficiaries of international protection who are not assigned to and/or do not receive the support of a “municipality of introduction” upon obtaining protection status. This concerns beneficiaries of international protection who had arranged accommodation privately as applicants as well as beneficiaries who moved to a municipality of their choice at their own initiative.

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum procedures were lengthy in 2015/16. During the procedure, adult applicants are not offered education and have limited work possibilities. Child applicants feared not being able to reunify with their family if a decision is delayed until they turn 18. The protracted uncertainty has undermined mental health, particularly of children, and integration in general.
• Information provided on the asylum procedure varies in quality and has often been insufficient. Experts themselves have been unsure due to frequent changes in law and policies. Applicants often did not trust or could not absorb or understand the information provided, also due to difficulties with interpretation. Usually they could not meet their legal counsellor before their asylum interview, according to interviewed experts. Subsidiary-protection status holders who receive a shorter residence permit than refugees and were, until July 2019, not entitled to family reunification were rarely informed of the possibility of asking for a review of their asylum decision to examine whether they would qualify as refugees.
• All caseworkers examined asylum applications by children, whereas in the past a few specialists would work on them. In spite of targeted training provided to all caseworkers, gaps remained. Persons who turned 18 during their flight or the asylum procedure are interviewed as adults, although they may not be able to explain the reasons for their flight as coherently as is expected from adults.
• Delays in asylum procedures particularly affected unaccompanied children whose age was re-assessed during the procedure. Experts criticised the medical age-assessment method most commonly applied since March 2017 for being carried out by non-specialised doctors and not (sufficiently) considering the assessment by social services of the social and emotional development of the person concerned.

Promising practice in country

• Guardianship network in Luleå offering mutual help to find information and support from volunteer psychologists and lawyers; lawyers help guardians understand changing legal practice. Psychologists provide support for individual and groups of guardians.
• Increase of state funding for “Early action for asylum seekers”, tasking county administrative boards in each region with coordinating and organising early integration measures for asylum applicants since January 2017.
• Language cafes in various parts of the country, e.g. by the Red Cross, municipalities, NGOs and churches, and “Focus on the future” programme. The latter invites asylum applicants to participate in activities 3-4 times per week, offering language courses as well as information on Swedish society and laws.

Illustrative quotes

"When people do not start their integration from day one, this will create passivity. When asylum-seekers have to spend years in asylum accommodation centres, they cannot practice their occupation and their skills may become dated." (Integration expert)

"Then I said to the interpreter that he didn’t interpret everything I said. And then the case officer asked him; 'Why are you not interpreting everything the guy is saying. He talks for a long time and you just translate it with a few words.' So, the interpreter said that the guy only repeats what he said before. And that was certainly not true. So, that led to problems." (Young man with subsidiary protection status from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should examine asylum claims within a reasonable time period, while allowing for sufficient time to prepare a case and to seek legal and other assistance, including in times of large numbers of arrivals. To do so, they should ensure that sufficient financial and human capacity, using qualified professionals, can be made available at short notice so as not to exceed the time limits set out in EU law. […]
• EU Member States should ensure that applicants with good prospects for receiving protection can already start their integration process during the asylum procedure to make the transition from being applicant to being a status holder as easy as possible.

Key challenges for integration

• Legal restrictions were widely criticised. The right of subsidiary-protection status holders to family reunification was amended in 2019, giving them the same possibilities for family reunification as refugees.
• Processing reunification applications took between 18 and 24 months in 2016-18, as the priority was the processing of asylum claims.
• Higher minimum maintenance requirements combined with the limited duration of residence permits made young refugees focus on finding employment, so as not to forfeit family reunification possibilities, deprioritising education and language classes.
• The long waiting times in the asylum procedure made it difficult to focus on education and work and negatively affected mental health.
• While reunification generally affects integration positively, some negative effects were also reported, e.g. additional burden of having to guide family members.

Promising practice in country

Municipal “introduction support” units for families reunifying with their unaccompanied child, which alleviate the children’s burden of having to guide their family members in daily life (Göteborg).

Illustrative quotes

“I can say that the new maintenance requirement that was added with [the introduction of] the temporary law has made investigations on family reunification more complicated. I know that case workers, who I have talked to, spend a lot of time looking at evidence on whether persons have sufficient funds, if their incomes are enough to cover the maintenance requirement and so on.” (Asylum expert, national level)

“Their families are either in refugee camps or in conflict areas. They [the families] turn to the person that’s sitting here in safety: ‘You're having it all, and we're under all this suffering’. […] It's breaking these people down, psychologically breaking them down. They can’t cope. I think I could say that 90 percent of those persons I’ve met in this situation have said: ‘I can’t focus. I can’t learn the language. I can’t go to school. I attend school just to get the Introduction benefit, but I don't understand what the teacher is saying’.” (Integration expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should implement family reunifications in a swift and affordable manner, limiting bureaucracy to a minimum. They should promote equal treatment of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees.
• EU Member States should implement the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgment in A and S v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, C-550/16, 12 April 2018, and ensure eligibility for family reunification of third-country nationals who are below the age of 18 at the time of the asylum application but who, in the course of the asylum procedure, attain the age of majority.

Key challenges for integration

• Conditions at the large accommodation centres for adults and families have been unsuitable, particularly for accompanied children and young persons who turn 18. Some centres were located far away from police, healthcare centres, social services and the Migration Agency, which often overburdened staff at these centres. Identifying vulnerabilities or children in need at the centres was difficult.
• Some municipalities of introduction had to set up temporary solutions, particularly for single adult men, or paid other municipalities for exceptionally accommodating protection status holders.
• Homelessness and exploitative housing situations have been problems. These resulted due to housing shortages in most regions; the discontinuation of support by the municipality after the two-year “introduction period”; and other obstacles to finding private housing, such as language barriers and lack of information on housing agencies.
• The frequency of transfers has negatively affected integration. Transfers were sometimes carried out with little or no notice and support.
• Facilities housing unaccompanied children have lacked competent staff. Foster homes could not be monitored at times of high arrivals. Municipalities had little capacity to work with accompanied children.

Promising practices in country

• Adults and families granted international protection are assigned to a municipality of introduction responsible for arranging housing.
• Allowing unaccompanied children to remain in the municipality once they turn 18 has had clear positive effects, including on mental health.
• Independent living arrangements provided in combination with social services support to persons turning 18; social services’ talk providing information and guidance on transition to adulthood and assessment of extra needs (Luleå) • Municipal housing company having offered 25 % of vacant flats to newly arrived refugees (Luleå).
• Several civil society initiatives preventing segregation.

Illustrative quotes

“The social services didn’t have any possibility to monitor the foster homes. They had to give the children a place to sleep. So, you found horrible, incredible stuff [...]. However, a year later, the social services found time to monitor these families. [...]. According to the law, each accommodation must be monitored and approved.” (Guardianship expert)

“Later on, when so many arrived, a lot of staff was hired really quick. They weren’t prepared for what they were supposed to do, and this was of course quite difficult. The staff was unprepared and unaccustomed with their tasks. Sometimes, their only qualification was that they could speak the same language as some of the unaccompanied children.” (Local social work expert)

“They place these people in smaller villages and earn money from housing them for a shorter period. And then they close down the accommodation centre and the Migration Agency decides to move them far away from there. In the worst case, a person can be taken out of school in the middle of the semester in the middle of their ongoing education and be placed somewhere else.” (Education expert)

“I think that the best thing during the whole asylum process was when I could live with a family. It helped me a great deal, because I believe you succeed both with the language and to get to know society and the culture and so on. I think that’s the best you can get when you come here as a youth.” (A boy with subsidiary-protection status from Afghanistan)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should design their refugee housing policies taking into account how housing may affect education, employment and other aspects of life. They should actively support reception and housing practices that promote social inclusion, avoid segregation, and reduce transfers from one facility to another to a minimum. They should encourage and financially support public administrations, including municipalities, as well as civil society initiatives and housing providers, including through the effective use of European Union funds.
• In accordance with the 2017 Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration, EU Member States should support unaccompanied children in their transition to adulthood, including when leaving care. Support measures could entail preparatory measures to support the child’s autonomy, through encouraging independent living and managing the demanding paper work. If a transfer to an adult facility is required, authorities should consider delaying the transfer until the end of the school year, and ensure there is an assigned social worker who continues supporting the young person during the transition period. […]  

Key challenges for integration

• Low allowances for asylum applicants. Unchanged since 1994, the amount does not cover all needs, e.g. commuting costs to ensure continuity of education in case of transfers.
• Information on social benefits is difficult to understand in case of insufficient Swedish language skills, illiteracy, or the inability to access or use a computer.
• Frequent legislative changes made even professionals, such as healthcare providers, unsure regarding whether certain benefits apply.

Promising practice in country

• “Refugee reception centre” set up at the municipality that informs beneficiaries of international protection of different benefits and provides a contact person for advice to each individual (Vänersborg).
• Five-week introductory course (“starting point”) set up by a municipality for beneficiaries of international protection assigned to them (Vänersborg).
• Social services using the programme “Klarspråk” (plain language) to explain decisions concerning social support in simple language (Göteborg).

Illustrative quotes

“The children who have been here for a longer period of time and who have been waiting for a long time have heard the information so many times that they are starting to understand it. But the children who come here now, no. It’s too much information from different people. So, I would say that they’ve got difficulties to take in the information. That’s my opinion. It’s of course depending a bit on age and background.” (Local social work expert)

“I applied for housing allowance (bostadsbidrag) and was granted it. It continued to come until my first residence permit expired and I renewed it. Nobody had told me that I needed to re-apply for the housing allowance as well. Then I had to pay the rent myself for three months. I was wondering why I had to pay the whole sum and I didn’t have any money left. When I asked, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, they told me that you’ve got to re-apply. Well, I didn’t know that.” (Woman with subsidiary protection from Syria)

“When they have been placed in the Migration Agency’s asylum accommodation centres, they receive significantly less money. And then it has been difficult for them to get to their school from the accommodation centre. If the school is situated in another municipality, you won’t get money for a bus card to the other municipality where the school is situated. So, it has been hard for them to attend school.” (NGO expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] EU Member States should remove practical obstacles that impede access to social welfare benefits – for example, by providing information in clear, accessible and non-bureaucratic language and offering language support, where needed. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Frequent transfers affect mental health negatively.
• Schools have insufficient special educational support available to them. Municipal school health units can only address minor problems.
• Young refugees often did not know to what kind of healthcare they are entitled.

Promising practice in country

• Healthcare centre for refugee medicine in Västra Götaland. However: rarely treating asylum applicants.
• Mobile trauma centre run by the Red Cross at large asylum accommodation centre, employing full time staff linked to the trauma centre in another municipality. However: long waiting times.
• Information kit for staff at accommodation centres, developed by the child and youth psychiatric clinic, with examples on how to handle sleeping routines, what kind of symptoms to look out for, when to contact a specialised NGO, and when to turn to the school or local healthcare centre. At the clinic, young persons receive informational material in the form of a cartoon in several languages, describing how to calm down physically in case of strong anxiety.

Illustrative quotes

“Every boy I know has trouble sleeping. Many of them have been to the healthcare centre and have been prescribed sleeping pills. Many of the boys have visited the social counsellors at school for support.” (NGO expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should provide early and clear information to applicants and status holders about where and how they can seek help for their mental health problems in a language they can understand.
  […]
  EU Member States should strengthen national and local capacity to respond to mental health needs and ensure that mental health workers are trained to work specifically with migrants and refugees. They should provide interpretation services free of charge, including by exploring options for video interpretation. The quality of health care services provided to migrants should be closely monitored.

Key challenges for integration

• Frequent transfers, prolonged asylum procedures and related mental conditions all undermined learning.
• Introductory language classes were insufficiently adapted to individuals’ knowledge level. Inaccurate and unrealistic assessments of prior knowledge further demotivated pupils if they did not manage to advance as expected. At some secondary schools, students were taught completely separately from Swedish children, further reducing opportunities to practice Swedish. Students have been under extreme pressure – and some unable – to finish the introduction classes before they turn 20, when they are no longer eligible to enrol in secondary education. Many have not been well informed of alternative educational pathways, for example municipality (Komvux) or adult (folkhögskolor) education or vocational training.
• Schools had too few teachers specialised in Swedish as a second language and too few study counsellors. Sudden transfers made it difficult for schools to prepare for the increase or decrease in pupils. Where teachers were able to actively support transfers, young people were more likely to continue their education at the new location.

Promising practice in country

• Municipalities allowing pupils to stay when they turn 18 or providing bus cards so that pupils can continue studying at their school;
• Municipalities investing in teachers’ skills to assess students’ subject knowledge rather than language skills to facilitate the students’ transition to regular study programmes at upper secondary level.
• Schools organising meetings with the teachers from language introduction programmes to share their experiences with methods that encourage students to regularly attend study programmes.
• Student guidance counsellors making sure that the relevant information about each student is passed on to the counsellor at upper secondary level where the student continues their studies. They also organise visits to the general adult education centre (Komvux) and courses in Swedish for immigrants. Furthermore, they help students to get in touch with the Swedish Public Employment Agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) and their introduction programme.

Illustrative quotes

“Those who already have a bad mental health status when they arrive, as many have, those who are relocated for example, they are already broken when they arrive. They have already been thrown from one place to another and have begun in new schools several times. They don’t have high expectations either on us or on themselves.” (Teacher)

“It was really sad when my friends started school and I wasn’t allowed to because I was over 18 when I arrived. I went to the upper secondary schools and thought that they might accept me, but they didn’t.” (A young man with subsidiary protection status from Syria)

“I really wished to continue to study at the school I attended before I turned 18, but when I turned 18 I was definitely not allowed to continue my studies. They said: ‘Well, you have to wait until you are granted a residence permit’. And then when I had my residence permit they said: ‘No, now you’ve gotta wait until you turn 20 and then you can start studying Swedish for Immigrants instead’. So, I’ve been out of school for over a year and then I could start Swedish for Immigrants.” (Woman with subsidiary protection status from Syria)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• […] To improve effective enrolment of persons in need of international protection into education, EU Member States should increase their efforts to facilitate access to post-compulsory education, notably secondary education.
• EU Member States should try to integrate children in mainstream education systems as early as possible. They should consider strengthening measures to facilitate the integration of newly arrived students into national school settings, such as through early individual assessment of knowledge and skills and preparatory classes.[…]
• EU Member States should enhance support to mainstream schools hosting refugee children, with additional resources and training for teachers, especially in areas where the arrival of refugees is a new phenomenon or where there is a high concentration of refugees. […]
• EU Member States should increase efforts to address school disruption of children in need of international protection turning 18. To this end, for children who are close to completing their studies when they turn 18, transfer to adult facilities could be postponed until completion of their education cycle. They should receive support for their transition to adulthood, including sufficient income to avoid having to drop out of school to work.

Key challenges for integration

• Asylum applicants were rarely exempted from work permit requirements and thus unable to access labour market programmes.
• Language acquisition and illiteracy were the main obstacles to finding work.
• Validation of diplomas takes a long time and may be impossible due to war situation in country of origin.

Promising practice in country

• A municipality assigns asylum applicants qualified as teachers to function as assistant teachers (Vänersborg).
• Municipality programmes combining ‘Swedish for immigrants’ course with internships on the local labour market.
• Young asylum applicants offer help with easy tasks in exchange for opportunity to practice Swedish.
• Combining the regular ‘Swedish for immigrants’ courses with special language classes focused on different professional lingo and trainee jobs at the same time, which has helped keep motivate the pupils in ‘Swedish for immigrants’.
• InVäst project: Gothenburg Region Association of Local Authorities (Göteborgsregionens kommunalförbund) supporting the quality development of the ‘Swedish for Immigrants’ programmes in the region’s municipalities.
• City of Gothenburg and region Västra Götaland offering counselling and support in job searches.
• Outreach programmes allowing refugees to visit different employers.
• Early validation of diplomas already during asylum procedure based on work-based tests. This was initiated by asylum applicants in the Restad Gård accommodation centre in Vänersborg, and then spread to other centres.
• “Integration and growth” (Integration och tillväxt) model in Norrbotten inventorising asylum applicants’ skills at an early stage and providing educational measures.
• “Extra jobs" (extratjänst) introduction programme in Gothenburg, providing full time employment for one year in occupations where there is a shortage of employees.
• “Entry agreements” subsidising employment of newly arrived persons for two years.
• Internships and Restart programme exempting employer from tax contribution.

Illustrative quotes

We have also experienced that the union has been a problem, that they say; “no, you can’t be an intern here because then you will take the job from someone else”. So, there are many obstacles. If you don’t have the four last digits [in your social security number], then they say; “Well, how are we going to pay you?” So there are complications and hitches, but they’re possible to resolve. (NGO expert)

I had a public counsel at the Migration Agency. When I wanted to talk to her about the ID-card from Afghanistan, she said: ‘we don’t accept this ID-card’ I really wanted to work, but I couldn’t, according to my legal counsel. […] I really want to study and work at the same time, but I´m not allowed to do so. (Asylum applicant from Afghanistan)

No, I don’t think that employers are reluctant to hire newly arrived persons. What was difficult for me was that I had no experience. So, for me to be able to find a job, I’d have to start with an internship. Not a regular job. Because I have applied for many different jobs, but they have said no because I didn’t have any experience. (Child refugee from Syria)

Well, I have no personal identification number for example. This other person has an identification number. So, it’s like he can trust that person more. There’s a difference. It’s a big difference. They may think that ‘this person has no personal identification number. He has nothing. This person has a personal identification number, he knows something. (Child asylum applicant from Somalia)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• As FRA pointed out in 2017 regarding migrants more generally, to improve their participation in the labour market and their overall social integration, EU Member States should provide general and specific job-related language courses free of charge also to asylum applicants. If limitations are implemented, these should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay.
• EU Member States should consider granting asylum applicants access to vocational training as early as possible. Access restrictions, if implemented, should only concern those applicants who are very unlikely to stay. […]

Key challenges for integration

• Absence of family members and interaction with offenders increased people’s vulnerability to becoming victims – in addition to unsafe housing conditions and a lack of possibilities to attend school or work.
• Education, housing conditions and uncertainty of stay were similarly the most important factors affecting the risk of getting involved in crime as a perpetrator.
• Experts agreed on the importance of schools for crime prevention.

Best practice in country

• Training of staff on crime prevention at accommodation facilities.
• Joint crime prevention programmes initiated by local social services and police, e.g. setting up an office in the city centre providing information, helping young people to set up appointments with psychologists and to find jobs.
• Information meetings at large asylum centres with police and social services.
• Continuing cooperation between police victims support services, social services and Migration Agency following an incident.

Illustrative quotes

“In this neighbourhood there are big families and they have too small flats, so the youths don’t get peace and quiet to study because they have many younger siblings. They cannot be at home – it’s too crowded – so they hang around the street corners and in stairwells. Then they form gangs and it’s easy for criminals to recruit them.” (Local housing expert)

“The most relevant factor that put the target group at risk of becoming involved in crime is if you of different reasons don’t get them to attend school.” (Guardianship expert)

FRA opinions

The following are extracts from relevant FRA opinions:

• EU Member States should ensure that support of relevant professionals, including social workers, guardians and youth welfare authorities, but also teachers and staff of reception facilities, is available to young asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such support may play a key role in addressing risk factors that make them vulnerable to crime. […]