The reception and integration of refugees from Ukraine in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary – the New Immigration Destinations of Central Europe

The aim of this article is to assess the policy response deployed by the Visegrad Group countries (Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia) during the humanitarian crisis of displacement following the beginning of the brutal Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in the light of the theoretical framework of New Immigration Destinations (NID). Such a framework is introduced and assessed as relevant to explain how the scant previous experience of public institutions and the wider society in addressing the needs of forced migrants, and migrants’ presence in general, impacts the reception and integration of refugees in the region. The paper explores the relevance of NID in the analysis of the forced migrants’ situation in Central Europe. The study is based on qualitative methods, including desk research, expert interviews in four analysed countries, and legislation analysis. The paper argues that in the wake of a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale, the lack of experience, coupled with scarce infrastructure, insufficient legal framework and resourcing, and poor coordination of different stakeholder groups’ engagement, impeded and delayed the implementation of the newly-established policy tools, and in some cases led to the lack of an adequate and timely state-coordinated response.