From Temporary Protection to Permanent Temporariness: Displaced Ukrainians in Germany and the USA after Russia’s 2022 Invasion

Abstract This special issue situates the mass displacement of Ukrainians following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 within the broader shift from temporary protection as an exceptional crisis response to a durable feature of forced migration governance. Focusing on Germany and the USA—two major destinations in Europe and North America with longstanding Ukrainian diasporas—the contributions collectively demonstrate that, although displaced Ukrainians received preferential admission under temporary protection regimes in both countries, their prospects for long-term settlement and integration remain determined by uncertainty as both a legal condition and lived experience. The articles examine how displaced Ukrainians navigate temporary protection regimes, welfare institutions, labor markets, private sponsorship arrangements, and transnational family obligations while drawing on diaspora networks, community organizations, and digital infrastructures. In doing so, they highlight the agency of displaced Ukrainians in shaping their own migration and integration trajectories despite the constraints imposed by conditions of prolonged temporariness.