How effective is integration policy for the structural and sociocultural integration of recently arrived refugees? A quasi-experiment in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Over the last three decades, integration has become a salient political issue in most European countries. However, the nature of migration has drastically changed from predominantly family and labor migration to refugee flows from countries suffering unrest, particularly Syria, since the summer of 2015. Refugees with residence permits now form a large but distinct immigrant group who may face more or different problems during their integration than more traditional migrant groups. As a result, there is a growing need for knowledge of appropriate and effective approaches to refugee integration. Yet, the fundamental question of how specific policy types influence the policy target group has rarely been addressed in integration studies. In the current study, we break new ground by examining the extent to which recently arrived refugees’ structural and socio-cultural integration is shaped by integration policy. We focus on the municipal level to examine a meaningful link between policy and refugee integration in the context in which refugees negotiate their everyday lives. The study takes place in the municipality of Rotterdam; the second largest city in the Netherlands, which features two largely parallel integration programs varying in scale, resources, and intensity. We employ a quasi-experimental design using the representative two-wave Bridge panel survey (Nwave I&II = 1004, response rate 85%) containing detailed information on predominantly Syrian refugees who were surveyed from the moment they were granted asylum status up to two years later. After accounting for treatment assignment bias using coarsened exact matching (L1 = .28), random effects analyses show a significant increase over time in refugees’ language proficiency, identification, self-reliance, paid employment, and participation in volunteer work. However, we did not find a significant interaction effect showing that refugee integration developed more quickly in the more intensive integration program. We discuss possible explanations for our findings and advance policy interventions that aim to foster refugees’ integration in the host society.