For about the past 15 years, civic integration policies have been implemented in some European countries as an alternative or a new strategy to improve integration. The logic of civic integration is to ‘treat migrants as individuals who are depicted as responsible for their own integration’. It refers ‘to the legal framework applying in a country aimed at the participation of immigrants in the society by proficiency of the language and general knowledge of the host country, including its cultural values’. Those policies are linked to the concept of participation in society and more generally to the concept of ‘citizenship’.

In many EU countries, the integration requirements held to be compulsory are imposed as a prerequisite for receiving a residence permit, citizenship and other social rights. Those civic integration policies are thus, most of the time, part of other policies such as immigration, social welfare and citizenship policies.

The integration requirements described as ‘civic requirements’ generally imply a minimum level of knowledge of the national language and knowledge of the host country and its values. Those requirements are usually evaluated through integration tests. In some cases, migrants have to attend integration courses and do not have to pass a test at the end of the integration process. As the case may be, requirements and the way they are drawn and issued (strictly or leniently) differ depending on the country and the right or status at stake. In most cases, if an applicant does not respect those integration requirements, she is penalised and sees her rights or status refused. In some countries, migrants can instead be fined or have their social benefits reduced.

It has already been underlined in the literature that those policies result in direct and indirect differences in treatment, favouring certain migrants while hindering others. Scholars and NGOs have in particular addressed the differences in treatment on grounds of nationality and ethnic origin under discrimination law. Among others, they have denounced the exemption of OECD nationals from passing integration tests to get a Dutch family reunion visa. But it is striking that, most of the time, little attention is paid to the social and economic situation of migrants even though this is a determining factor in civic integration policies.