Temporary protection for third-country nationals arriving from Ukraine has been extended until 04.09.2023.

After the Russian Federation unleashed an aggressive war in Ukraine, refugees from Ukraine began to arrive in Europe en masse. The European Union was faced with the urgent need to receive and accommodate these people, which required the adoption of the European Directive on Temporary Protection. At first, all refugees from Ukraine, regardless of their citizenship, fell under the status of temporary protection, but later new rules began to apply to citizens of third countries.

Initially, all refugees from Ukraine received temporary EU protection, valid until March 4, 2023 (more on this here). When considering the extension of this protection, the question arose that some of the Ukrainian refugees have citizenship of third countries, including safe countries. The approach to this category of refugees has changed. At first it was assumed that third-country nationals would lose their temporary protection status on March 4, 2023, but now the validity of the status for this category of refugees has been extended until September 4, 2024.

All third-country nationals will need to obtain a so-called O-document confirming their right to stay in the Netherlands. They will be notified of this need by a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Depending on the specific circumstances of the refugee, the validity of the O-document is until March 4, 2023 or September 4, 2023.

Those refugees who wish to remain in the Netherlands will have to go through the standard refugee procedure. All refugees from Ukraine apply for asylum when they make their stay in the Netherlands, however, decisions on these applications were temporarily not taken in accordance with the European directive. Now the applications of third-country nationals will be considered.

In total, there are 4660 third-country nationals in the Netherlands who arrived as refugees from Ukraine. The chances of obtaining full refugee status for these foreigners are highly dependent on the country of origin. First of all, applications from people from safe countries (about 1200 people) and citizens of Syria and Yemen will be considered. 

1. Residents of safe countries have practically no chance of being granted asylum: if they want to stay in the Netherlands, they should look for other ways to obtain a residence permit (through work, study, marriage, etc.). You can learn more about these possibilities here. 
2. Citizens of Syria and Yemen have a high chance of obtaining asylum, as these countries are recognized as dangerous to return. Applications of other third-country nationals who arrived in the Netherlands from Ukraine will be considered in the general manner.

Table of terms of stay of refugees from Ukraine under temporary EU protection and documents confirming this right:

 More about the O-document in our article. 

If you have problems applying for temporary protection status, get advice from our specialist.