After Russia's occupation of Ukraine in 2022, the number of non-EU nationals legally residing in an EU country, so-called "third-country nationals", increased to 27.3 million or 6.1% of the European Union's population in 2023. About 73% of immigrants live in only four member states Germany (28%), Spain (16%), France (15%) and Italy (14%).

According to a new report from the European Court of Auditors, the actual impact of EU aid for the integration of immigrants remains to be seen, as member states' information on the effects achieved is not reliable.

The resources of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund allocated to integration measures (such as language training, career advice and measures to promote social orientation) in the programs of various member states amounted to around 1 billion euros for the budget period 2014- 2020 and almost doubled to around 1.9 billion euros for 2021-2027.

The additional resources of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund are managed directly by the Commission for Integration Measures. Other EU funds, such as the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the European Regional Development Fund and other programs such as Erasmus+, can also contribute to the integration of migrants and people with a migrant background.

"The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund should play an important role in supporting the integration of migrants in the EU. However, in the absence of legal requirements, member states do not continuously monitor actions to help migrants overcome barriers on the path to integration. As a result, the contribution of the Fund to the integration of migrants is difficult to assess", said Viorel Ștefan, ECA member responsible for the audit.

Auditors found that the EC reviewed member states' reporting, but the data provided was not always reliable. In Spain, for example, baseline data for all integration projects showed that the number of participants was twice the number currently reported in the EC.

The audit also found that member states generally did not match the number of migrants included in their national integration programs with the increase in AMIF funding. Moreover, the adaptation of integration measures to specific groups of migrants varied in the Member States that the auditors visited.

The auditors recommend that the EC, in cooperation with member states, identify financial gaps and increase the reliability of project data until the end of 2026, in order to better assess the impact of AMIF on integration paths.

Since 2004, the Council has emphasized the strategic importance of the regular integration of migrants and has defined 11 common basic principles for EU migrant integration policy. In 2016, the EC adopted an action plan for the integration of third-country nationals, which contains measures to support member states and other parties in their integration efforts.