The first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) was held in May 2022 to review progress on the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This paper looks back on this inaugural IMRF to document the formal processes that led up to the forum, from a civil society perspective, to inform engagement with future IMRFs. While recognising that the inaugural IMRF succeeded in regard to several measures, the paper concludes that more ambition is needed – for the IMRF itself as well as for implementation of the GCM – for it to deliver for migrants.