The term for consideration of asylum applications is increased to 15 months

As the number of pending asylum applications in the Netherlands is about to hit a record high, the government has decided to take two steps. Firstly, the influx of refugees will be limited (more on this in our article). Secondly, the migration service (IND) will be able to consider asylum requests longer - the maximum time for making a decision on them is now not six, but fifteen months.

Anti-crisis decision of the government

The Netherlands is experiencing one of the biggest migration crises in recent history. Already in the summer it became obvious that the migration service works with overload. Therefore, August 26 the government has decided give the IND an additional nine months to decide on the asylum application. On September 26, this change was published in the Government Gazette - Staatscourant van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden.

Refugee claim statistics

The IND aims to make decisions on asylum applications as quickly as possible in order to provide asylum seekers with clarity about their future in the Netherlands. However, for such a large number of applications, as was filed this year, the resources of the migration service are not calculated.

The total influx of refugees (excluding temporarily displaced persons from Ukraine) this year reached 29.114 people. In August the influx of asylum seekers amounted to 4795 persons. Among them is a fairly large number of minors who arrive in the Netherlands unaccompanied. The main refugee data for August is as follows:

• The top five countries of origin of asylum seekers are: Syria (2265), Afghanistan (474), Turkey (415), Yemen (228) and Eritrea (211).
• 1038 people entered the Netherlands under the family reunification procedure.
• The number of applications for asylum from minors was 588 (compared to 452 in July).
• There were 115 repeated applications for asylum.

New deadline for processing applications from asylum seekers

The change in the deadline for processing applications from refugees will apply only until January 1, 2023. The renewal applies to the following types of applications to the IND:

• first;
• repeated;
• appealed statements (zij-instroom na beroep).

The review period will be extended from six to fifteen months if it has not already expired on September 27, 2022, and for all new applications submitted before January 1, 2023. To change the deadline for decisions on asylum requests in the Netherlands after 1 January 2023, a new separate government decision will be required.