Legal hurdles mount for Ukrainian families as Belgium rejects newborns

In 2025, Belgium tightened the rules governing the granting of temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees. While adult Ukrainians generally continue to receive this status — along with access to social benefits — relatively without difficulty, children born after February 24, 2022, are increasingly being refused temporary protection.

The justification cited by authorities is that these children “did not live in Ukraine” prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to foreign media reports.

As a consequence, Ukrainian refugee families whose children were born after the outbreak of the war are often required to undergo a complex family reunification procedure. Within this framework, parents may be asked to provide proof of income, even though many do not have stable earnings. Children who are denied temporary protection remain in Belgium without health insurance and, in some cases, face the risk of deportation.

Across the European Union, Ukrainian refugees are granted temporary protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive (Directive 2001/55/EC), which is binding on all member states. The directive, adopted in 2025, enabled EU countries to receive and accommodate millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war. However, implementation varies from state to state, resulting in differences in access to employment, residence rights, healthcare, and, in certain countries, social benefits.

According to Belgium’s migration service, approximately 93,000 Ukrainian refugees are currently residing in the country. Most report being satisfied with their circumstances and would consider remaining in Belgium even after the war ends.

At the same time, refugees say Belgium applies particularly strict scrutiny when assessing applications for temporary protection. During the first ten months of last year alone, 2,380 Ukrainians were denied protection in Belgium — a sharp increase compared with 2024, when 883 refusals were recorded.

One of the most stringent criteria enforced by Belgian authorities is proof of permanent residence in Ukraine before February 24, 2022. On this basis, officials have increasingly refused temporary protection to Ukrainian children under the age of four who were born to refugee mothers after the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Formally, the authorities argue that these children did not reside in Ukraine before the war because they had not yet been born.

Ukrainian mothers affected by these decisions say they struggle to understand the reasoning behind the refusals. They emphasise that denying protection leaves their young children without medical insurance and legal documentation.

Pieter van Roeyen, a lawyer with the human rights organisation Caritas in Belgium, confirmed in comments to journalists that EU legislation allows for a more flexible approach toward Ukrainian refugees. However, he noted that “at present, the Belgian government is choosing a more restrictive interpretation of the law.” Although he does not have precise statistics on the number of refusals, he said his organisation encounters such cases on a weekly basis, sometimes several times a week.

“In these difficult situations, we have to submit applications for new visas or obtain new residence permits for the children. In cases where the issue arises at the municipal level, we attempt to intervene and have seen some positive outcomes. But the process is not always transparent, and we do not consistently receive feedback,” van Roeyen explained.

By Tamilla Hasanova