Returning home is usually imagined as a joyful conclusion, a long-awaited reunion with family, friends, and familiar streets. But for millions of Ukrainians and people from other countries that were forced to flee Ukraine, “homecoming” is mired in red tape. Before they can reestablish their lives in Ukraine, they must first untangle a web of legal obligations in the countries they’ve temporarily called home: deregistering from migration systems, canceling leases, ending insurance contracts, and managing tax responsibilities.
For many, it’s not clear where to even begin.
That’s where the UFU Global platform can help. Created by United for Ukraine—an international non-profit founded by Ukrainians who experienced displacement—it is now the largest pan-European platform offering critical information and support to those displaced by the full-scale invasion. Known for its emergency relief coordination and trusted information hub serving displaced people across 30+ countries, UFU recognized the urgent need for reliable, practical legal guidance for those considering a return to Ukraine. In response, it launched the Homecoming Legal Guide, a multilingual legal resource tailored for displaced individuals navigating reentry from host countries back to Ukraine.
But building such a guide across multiple jurisdictions required deep legal expertise, and that’s where PILnet came in.
In the first phase of the project, through its refugee-led clearinghouse, PILnet mobilized a team of corporate in-house counsel to provide pro bono research and jurisdiction-specific analysis. Working alongside UFU, these legal professionals helped lay the groundwork for the guide, clarifying administrative exit procedures, migration deregistration, tax implications, insurance cancellation, and contract termination across several European countries.
As the project evolved, PILnet deepened its collaboration with UFU by coordinating pro bono legal support across additional jurisdictions. This growing partnership was spotlighted at a pivotal roundtable discussion, “Homecoming: How and When to Support Displaced Ukrainians on Their Way Back to Ukraine,” held at Freshfields’ Rome Office on July 9, 2025, ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference.
Speaking at the event, PILnet’s Forced Displacement Program Officer Yusra Herzi emphasized the role of pro bono in supporting displaced populations and building legal ecosystems that center voluntary choice. She highlighted how refugee-led legal organizations are essential actors in shaping dignified pathways for return and reintegration and underscored the collaborative efforts between PILnet and UFU in co-creating the Homecoming Legal Guides.
This partnership exemplifies how legal tools designed with both precision and empathy can help people navigate the complicated transition from exile to home. And as the needs of displaced communities shift, so too must the legal support that surrounds them.
This is pro bono that sees the journey through—in this case, all the way home.