The FeMiPol project (Integration of female migrants in labour market and society. Policy assessment an1d policy recommendations) is funded by the EU’s 6th Framework Programme. It explores and analyses the impact of integration policies affecting new female migrants in EU countries, with the aim of developing recommendations for appropriate policies. The project spans eleven European countries: Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Despite features which reflect specific differences in national socio-economic, political and historical backgrounds, a comparative overview of the countries under consideration reveals a certain level of convergence in national policies, due to a common European policy framework as well as global migration structures and processes. This convergence, however, is largely influenced by the core dilemma of the EU migration policy’s oscillating between control measures and integration rhetoric. National policies also tend to cluster along the north south division, as well as the division between old and new European countries. One common characteristic among several northern European countries is the importance placed on restructuring the welfare state, combined with the increasing preference for a temporary labour migration regime, restrictions on family reunification, as well as an upsurge in assimilationist integration policies. In southern European countries, the unstable legalization of undocumented migrants is a common trait. New member countries are, for the most part, in the early stages of migration and integration policy development. While EU policy is of great importance for their national policies, as it is shown below, it does not always improve the situation of female migrants. Based on the policy analysis conducted in the first phase of the project, in this first Policy Brief we give an overview on migration and integration policies that affect female migrants in each of the European countries under investigation, focusing particularly on the most recent political and legislative developments.