Number of asylum seekers on waiting list down to 2,100, says State Secretary de Moor | Interior

According to de Moor, the measures to speed up the procedures and shorten the duration of the asylum reception are having an effect: the number of people leaving the reception centers is increasing, which means that more people on the waiting list are given a place. In addition, people have also been removed from the waiting list because they have received the decision on their asylum application and are therefore no longer entitled to reception, she explains.

For asylum seekers on the waiting list, 1,500 emergency reception places have been provided in collaboration with the Brussels region. Vulnerable people, families with children and unaccompanied minors are given priority.

Belgium has been struggling with an asylum reception crisis for months. Opening additional reception places in the cities and municipalities was not evident. In the meantime, various municipalities even want to close existing places, but that is not an option for State Secretary de Moor. “Unfortunately, due to the crisis, we don’t have the luxury of losing well-functioning centers. Not in Koksijde, not in Molenbeek and not in Spa. Closing a shelter currently means putting people on the street. And we cannot do that,” she told the Home Affairs Committee.

The Commission also discussed a budget adjustment on Tuesday that would increase the provision for the reception of asylum seekers to more than 900 million euros, a historically high amount. According to opposition party N-VA, “the cost of the government’s mismanagement of asylum and migration is getting out of hand”.