Asylum applications in the Netherlands have increased by more than 40 percent in the past year. This is evident from figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Monday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) were published. Most applications were made in the second half of the year.
In 2022, more than 35,535 people submitted their first asylum application in the Netherlands, the highest number since 2015. That was more than 44 percent more than the year before. In the second half of last year, 21,760 requests were received. In the first six months of 2022, there were still 13,775. After September, the month in which most asylum applications (4,435) were processed, the number of asylum applications decreased again. As in previous years, the majority of the people who applied for asylum are Syrians. More than 1 in 3 people who applied had Syrian nationality. Just like in 2021, Afghans (2,730) and Turks (2,685) made the most asylum applications after Syrians (12,640) last year.
Remarkable are the 1,060 applications that came from Ukraine last year. Most Ukrainians who came to the Netherlands in 2022 enjoy temporary protection under a European Union regulation and are allowed to stay in the Netherlands until March 4, 2023, so they do not have to submit an asylum application. A number of Ukrainians do not appear to fall under this scheme, which means that they still have to go through the asylum procedure. The number of requests from people with Russian nationality was 590. That is almost three times as many as in 2021.
Family members
Last year, almost 10,925 so-called family members came to the Netherlands, 8 percent more than in 2021. Family members who come to the Netherlands following the example of people with a residence permit. 7,240 Syrian family members traveled to the Netherlands last year, about 12 percent more than in 2021. According to the Dutch Council for Refugees, an average of one family member per status holder – a refugee with a residence permit – comes to live in the Netherlands.
Part of the government’s policy was to temporarily limit family reunification for status holders without a home. This family reunification measure was closed a few months ago by the cabinet in an attempt to deal with the asylum reception crisis. Judgments of various judges put this measure under legal pressure, so that the cabinet had to drop that restriction at the beginning of January.
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