Learning to welcome: integration of immigrant citizens in Latvia and Poland

The goal of the project is to analyse Latvian and Polish legislation and policy documents relating to integration of immigrants, and compare the situation in these two countries with the experience of other EU member states. In particular, the project focuses on access to labour market, anti-discrimination laws, public opinion and political participation, as well as conditions to receive the status of a long-term resident and family reunification. The analysis will be based on the Migrant Integration Policy Index (www.integrationindex.eu) 

The Migration Policy Group will help the Latvia and Poland country analyses to develop their methodologies and review European best practices on the issues relevant for the countries' areas for improvement.

This project strives to shift the focus of public and policy debates away from the question of whether our countries do or do not want immigrants. It recognises the reality that our countries already have and will continue to have immigrants, who governments should want and encourage to be active citizens. The project therefore poses a new question for public debate over whether our countries have developed clear integration policies to guarantee the rights and responsibilities of immigrant citizens and to promote welcoming host societies.

At the end of the project a publication will be published and disseminated in two international conferences in Riga and Warsaw.

Project partners are the Center for Public Policy PROVIDUS (www.policy.lv), the Institute of Public Affairs (www.isp.org.pl) in Poland, and the Migration Policy Group (www.migpolgroup.com) in Belgium.