There are currently few requirements for family reunification; an income requirement only applies to regular applications, for example for those who want to have a foreign partner come to the Netherlands. The cabinet now also wants to look at housing, not only for regular, but also for asylum migrants. This would mean that recognized refugees can only bring their families to the Netherlands once they are in a normal home.
No home
There are still 15,800 recognized refugees, so-called status holders, in asylum seekers’ centers because municipalities have no housing available for them. It is one of the causes of the stalled asylum system. In recent weeks, family members who reported to Ter Apel for family reunification ended up in crisis emergency shelters.
The Dutch policy for family reunification largely resembles that in other EU countries, although it is already stricter in some respects. For example, the Netherlands, together with Belgium and Hungary, is the only country where parents of adults are not eligible for family reunification.
Politically flammable
Earlier, State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Foreign Affairs) announced that he wanted to deport asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies more quickly by declaring them undesired, stopping asylum applications for travelers through and abolishing living allowances for asylum seekers from safe countries. In addition, the reception for ‘safe migrants’ is being cut back. However, the measures still need to be worked out further and by both Houses.
The question is whether the tightening of the rules for family reunification will hold up legally. It is also one of the reasons why Van der Burg has not announced the plan before – the ministry is still testing the plan for legal feasibility. The ‘right to family life’ is a given in the European Convention on Human Rights. In the coalition, the noses are not all in the same direction yet.
In the governing coalition, the asylum crisis is now seen as just as extensive and politically flammable as the nitrogen crisis. The removal of authority from municipalities over the reception of asylum seekers, as announced by Van der Burg, is particularly sensitive.