As of August 5, the European Union has changed the conditions for granting temporary protection to certain Ukrainian citizens subject to military service. New applicants will be required to confirm that they have complied with the requirements of Ukrainian law, have been exempted from military service, or have legally left the territory of Ukraine.
The relevant provisions are contained in EU Council Implementing Decision No. 2026/1912, adopted on July 30 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on August 4, 2026. The decision entered into force the day after its publication.
The new restriction applies only to individuals who apply for temporary protection after the decision enters into force. Ukrainians who have already been granted this status in an EU country retain their rights, and the new rules do not apply to them.
To obtain temporary protection, a new applicant must confirm compliance with their military obligations in Ukraine. Evidence may include a passport with a stamp confirming lawful departure from the country, or a paper or electronic document confirming exemption from service or the fulfillment of relevant obligations. The decision will depend on the availability of documents confirming the legality of departure and the applicant’s status under Ukrainian law.
At the same time, the Council of the EU has extended temporary protection for Ukrainian citizens for another year—until March 4, 2028. Previously, the program was set to expire on March 4, 2027.
The Council of the EU explained that the new condition was introduced to simultaneously ensure protection for displaced persons and address Ukraine’s defense needs. EU member states agreed that, going forward, temporary protection should be granted only to new applicants who are fulfilling their military obligations in Ukraine.
Temporary protection grants Ukrainians the right to reside in EU countries, as well as access to the labor market, medical care, social security, housing, and education for their children.
According to the Council of the EU, as of the end of May 2026, approximately 4.38 million people who had left Ukraine after the start of the full-scale war were benefiting from temporary protection in the European Union.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that 8.4 million Ukrainian citizens are currently abroad.
“More than 8.4 million of our citizens are currently outside Ukraine. It is our duty to ensure that each of them knows: Ukraine remembers them and is ready to protect their rights,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.
Net migration to Germany fell to 235,000 people in 2025, compared with 663,000 in 2023, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW) published on July 28, 2026. Excluding the pandemic period, this is the lowest figure since 2010. Experts at the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center attribute the decline to several factors: a decrease in the number of refugees, the departure of workers from Central and Eastern European countries, a decline in migration from the Western Balkans, and an increase in emigration by German citizens themselves.
The largest net inflow from a single country in 2025 came from Ukrainian citizens, amounting to 89,000 people. A year earlier, the figure was 116,000. Ukrainians have a special status because they are admitted to Germany mainly under the EU’s temporary protection mechanism rather than through the standard asylum procedure. Further developments will depend primarily on the course of the war and the conditions of Ukrainians’ stay in Germany.
By the end of 2025, approximately 1.41 million Ukrainian citizens were listed in Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners. They became the second-largest foreign group after Turkish citizens.
The number of initial asylum applications fell from 329,000 in 2023 to 113,000 in 2025.
The inflow from Syria declined particularly sharply: the number of initial applications fell from 103,000 to 23,000. Over the same period, the number of applicants from Afghanistan decreased from 51,000 to 24,000, while the number from Turkey fell from 61,000 to 12,000.
At the end of 2025, the largest groups of people registered in Germany as being in need of protection remained citizens of Ukraine, at approximately 1.164 million; Syria, at 669,000; and Afghanistan, at 321,000.
IW links the decline in Syrian migration primarily to the change in the situation in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, as well as to the tightening of German and EU migration policies.
Another important change was the reversal of migration from the new EU member states.
In 2023, Germany recorded a net inflow of approximately 42,000 citizens from these countries. In 2024, 35,000 more people left Germany than arrived, while in 2025 the net outflow reached 45,000 people.
This group includes, in particular, citizens of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, and other countries that joined the EU from 2004 onward. Economists explain migrants’ return by the narrowing gap in wages and living standards, growing demand for workers in their own countries, and the overall ageing of the population of Central and Eastern Europe.
At the end of 2025, approximately 904,000 Romanian citizens and 840,000 Polish citizens were registered in Germany. Over the year, the number of Polish citizens declined by approximately 25,000, while the total number of EU citizens fell by 75,000.
In recent years, citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia have been actively recruited into the German labour market, including under special rules for the Western Balkans. However, their net migration has been steadily declining since 2022. In 2025, it amounted to approximately 39,000 people. IW warns that the potential for further recruitment of workers from the Balkans is also limited: the populations of most countries in the region are shrinking, while their own labour markets are facing staff shortages.
Against the backdrop of the overall decline, there are also opposing trends. Net migration of Vietnamese citizens increased from 10,000 people in 2023 to 19,000 in 2025.
At the same time, the number of residence permits issued to citizens of non-European countries for employment purposes increased by 33,000, or 13.6%, between 2023 and 2025. The number of permits related to education also rose by 33,000, or 15.3%. Thus, the inflow of students and skilled workers is currently declining significantly more slowly than humanitarian and intra-European migration.
The net outflow of German citizens increased from 74,000 people in 2023 to 97,000 in 2025. IW notes that negative migration among German citizens occurs regularly. However, growth of approximately 30% over two years may be an alarming signal, especially if qualified specialists are leaving the country.
At the same time, part of the statistics may relate to previously naturalised migrants who return to their countries of origin after obtaining German citizenship. It is difficult to assess the structure of this outflow precisely because the final destination country is not recorded for many of those leaving.
According to the Central Register of Foreigners, approximately 14.07 million foreign nationals were living in Germany at the end of 2025.
The largest groups were:
Approximately 5 million foreigners, or 35%, were citizens of EU member states. Another 4.6 million held the citizenship of other European countries, while approximately 4.5 million represented countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and other regions.
If not only foreign citizens but also migrants who obtained German citizenship and their direct descendants are taken into account, Germany had approximately 21.8 million people with an immigration history in 2025, representing 26.3% of the population. The largest groups by country of birth were people from Poland and Turkey, at approximately 1.5 million each; Ukraine, at 1.3 million; and Russia and Syria, at approximately 1 million each.
The decline in migration is occurring simultaneously with the mass retirement of the baby-boomer generation. According to a separate IW forecast, by 2036 the gap between older workers leaving the labour market and young people reaching working age could reach 4.3 million people. Economists consider a return to a mass inflow of workers from Eastern Europe unlikely. Germany will have to recruit specialists and workers with medium and lower levels of formal qualifications more actively from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other regions.
IW proposes accelerating visa procedures, reducing the tax and social burden on workers, and extending simplified labour migration mechanisms similar to the existing rules for the Western Balkans to new countries. Thus, this is not about the complete cessation of migration but about a change in its structure. Germany is receiving fewer refugees and workers from neighbouring European countries, while the economy’s need for foreign labour continues to grow because of the ageing population.
As of June 2026, approximately 3.9 million people in Ukraine remain internally displaced, according to a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“Although the proportion of internally displaced persons has remained at about 12% of the population since 2023, the report shows that the longer displacement lasts, the more difficult it is for families to meet their basic needs. Nearly seven out of ten internally displaced persons have been away from home for more than two years. This indicates the increasingly protracted nature of displacement in Ukraine,” the report states.
At the same time, people continue to be forced to leave their homes: in January–June of this year alone, approximately 132,000 people were forced to flee.
“Stable displacement figures should not be interpreted as a sign of stable living conditions. Many displaced families are depleting their savings, cutting back on essential expenses—including healthcare—and moving to less suitable housing in an effort to meet their basic needs. Long-term support remains essential to help people regain stability and make informed and voluntary decisions about their future,” said Dejan Keserović, Deputy Head of the IOM Mission in Ukraine.
According to the report, 87% of displaced families were forced to resort to at least one coping strategy to manage their situation. Most commonly, people spent their savings (75%), reduced their use of utilities (59%), and cut back on healthcare expenses (53%). One in five households also reported moving to lower-quality housing, and 17% reported being behind on rent payments.
Safety remains the main criterion in people’s decisions about the future: 82% of internally displaced persons indicated that they would like to return home only after hostilities have ceased. At the same time, an increasing number of people are considering the possibility of integrating into the communities where they currently live: the proportion of those interested in local integration rose from 51% in March to 58% in June 2026. This underscores the need to provide support to displaced families where they are, while also monitoring the risks of premature or unsafe returns.
Approximately 2.15 million people, or 56% of all internally displaced persons in Ukraine, come from territories that were fully or partially occupied at the time of the survey. They are more likely to face protracted displacement, significant hardships, and more limited opportunities for return.
“The report’s findings show why emergency assistance alone is not enough. People need long-term support in the areas of housing, livelihoods, access to healthcare, protection, and other essential services. This will help them make informed and voluntary decisions—whether to integrate where they currently live, move to another location, or safely return home when conditions permit,” IOM emphasized.
The report is based on the latest survey of the Ukrainian population, conducted by IOM from April 23 to June 30, 2026, with support from the Humanitarian Fund for Ukraine, the European Union, and the governments of Canada and Sweden.
Ukrainians in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) were set to lose their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) as of July 22, but a Massachusetts court temporarily suspended that decision the day before, according to Valeriy Chaly, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Cultural and Media Center (UKMC), who served as Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2015 to 2019.
“On July 22, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians with TPS status were set to lose their jobs in the U.S. Because initially there was one regulation, and then the president’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ (IBBBA) was introduced, and it shortened the validity period of the work permit—the so-called EAD—to July 22… In just one state, the matter went to court, and that court has so far temporarily suspended the decision,” Chalyi described the situation during a discussion organized by NV dedicated to lobbying and promoting Ukraine’s interests in the U.S.
The diplomat noted with regret that the new wave of Ukrainian refugees in the U.S. has so far been unable to unite and organize to defend themselves, and many advocacy organizations dealing with issues of American political and military support have also failed to provide assistance to Ukrainians.
“The situation for these Ukrainians in America is very difficult right now. But our government isn’t doing anything about it—not at all,” Chalyi noted, although, in his opinion, the vast majority of these Ukrainians will not return to Ukraine anyway.
He told the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency that the current TPS term for Ukrainians expires on October 19 of this year, and if it is not extended and a person does not have any other legal status, they will have to leave the U.S. According to Chaly, the decision to extend this status must be made no later than 60 days before its expiration, that is, by mid-August.
According to information on specialized websites, on July 21, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in the case of Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), issued an emergency injunction preventing the termination of EADs for TPS beneficiaries—including Ukrainians—effective July 22. A final decision on this matter is expected no later than August 5, 2026.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may extend TPS status for Ukrainians for 12 or 18 months; if DHS does not issue a decision by August 20 of this year, the status will be automatically extended for another 6 months.
According to the nonprofit organization Nova Ukraine, the cost of the initial TPS application is $510, while a TPS-based EAD costs $1,030, and the reduced fee under certain conditions is $560.
Current estimates indicate that more than 100,000 Ukrainians hold TPS status in the U.S.
As previously reported, the EU recently decided to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians for another year—until March 4, 2028—but to impose restrictions on granting it to those subject to military service.
The House of Representatives of Antigua and Barbuda has approved amendments to the citizenship-by-investment program that call for an increase in the mandatory period of physical presence in the country, regular independent audits, and stricter oversight of intermediaries.
The main change will be an increase in the minimum period of physical presence in the country for new citizens from five to 30 days. These days may be spent in Antigua and Barbuda cumulatively over the first five calendar years after obtaining citizenship, rather than annually. The requirement also applies to family members included in the application.
Until now, an investment citizenship holder could lose their citizenship if they did not spend at least five days in the country during the first five years. The amendments replace this requirement with 30 days.
The changes also provide for an annual independent financial audit of the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) and an operational audit every two years. The regulator will have the authority to set common standards for the five Eastern Caribbean states offering investment citizenship, vet agents, and revoke the licenses of intermediaries that do not meet the established requirements. ECCIRA is expected to begin operations in September 2026.
The reform is taking place amid increasing pressure from the European Union. In a letter dated June 25, 2026, the European Commission proposed that Antigua and Barbuda gradually phase out its citizenship-by-investment program by June 1, 2028. Brussels also demanded that individuals subject to EU sanctions be excluded from the program and that background checks on applicants of all nationalities be strengthened.
The government of Antigua and Barbuda emphasizes that it does not intend to shut down the program without securing comparable sources of revenue. Authorities cite revenue from the investment citizenship program as a vital component of non-tax revenue, which funds infrastructure, schools, healthcare facilities, and post-disaster recovery efforts.
The latest detailed statistics published by the CIU cover January–June 2024. During this period, 739 applications were received. The official report takes into account the country of birth of the principal applicant, so these figures cannot be directly equated with the number of passports issued. A single application may also include a spouse, children, and other dependents.
The largest number of applications in the first half of 2024 came from natives of:
China—90 applications, or 12.18%;
the United States—81, or 10.96%;
Nigeria—67, or 9.07%;
Lebanon—50, or 6.77%;
Turkey—44, or 5.95%;
Pakistan—32, or 4.33%;
the United Kingdom—25, or 3.38%;
Iraq – 22, or 2.98%.
Over the past six months, 19 applications were received from Ukrainian nationals, accounting for 2.57% of the total. The same number of applications were submitted by Egyptian nationals. India, Canada, and Morocco each accounted for 21 applications.
From the program’s launch through June 30, 2024, Antigua and Barbuda received 5,203 applications. Chinese nationals accounted for 1,117 applications, or 21.47%; Nigerians—496; the U.S. – 347, Lebanon – 342, Russia – 222, and Syria – 208. However, no new applications from natives of Russia and Belarus were registered in the first half of 2024.
The program has been in effect since 2013 and offers several participation options. The minimum non-refundable contribution to the National Development Fund is $230,000; investment in approved real estate starts at $300,000; and direct investment in a business starts at $1.5 million. Another option involves a contribution of at least $260,000 to the University of the West Indies Campus Fund. Government fees and background check costs are paid separately.
Extending the mandatory stay to 30 days does not change the minimum investment thresholds but increases participants’ actual expenses for airfare and accommodation. At the same time, regular audits and unified regional oversight are intended to increase the program’s transparency and help Caribbean nations maintain visa-free travel with European countries.
Antigua and Barbuda, Caribbean region, CITIZENSHIP, INVESTMENT, MIGRATION
