If you call OTTO Work Force, you will first be told: “For Dutch, press one.” The same message follows in Ukrainian. It is one of the ways in which the employment agency wants to be accessible to Ukrainian refugees. “The best way to integrate is to get to work,” says director Frank van Gool. That is why he is happy that from this month no work permit is required for Ukrainian refugees. This makes it easier for them to find work.
But the labor rules for asylum seekers and those for these Ukrainian refugees now also contain ‘a certain inequality’, says interest group VluchtelingenWerk Nederland. For asylum seekers from, for example, war zones such as Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, the future has stood still for a long time. While they also want to work, and there is a good chance that they will be allowed to stay in the Netherlands.
A spokesperson for the Council for Refugees mentions as an example a couple from Iran that has been in an asylum seekers center for three years. “They are political refugees. All they do is make a piece of art every now and then, learn Dutch via YouTube and go for a walk. Work would help them shift their minds.”
The distinction between Ukrainian refugees and other refugees from a war zone is based on agreements within the EU. The Temporary Protection Directive allows an exception to the normal asylum procedure. On this basis, Ukrainian refugees are entitled to temporary residence in the Netherlands, for at least one year, and they do not have to submit an asylum application. This also allows them to get to work quickly. An employer does not even have to apply for the usual work permit for them. Normally, the employer will only receive this permit if he can demonstrate that he cannot find suitable personnel within the European Economic Area.
Asylum procedure
This exception arrangement relieves the asylum procedure, say the Council for Refugees and Justice and Security. Waiting times had already risen sharply before the war in Ukraine. Officially, asylum seekers have to hear within six months whether the Netherlands recognizes them as refugees, but that now often takes more than a year. EU countries now host about four million Ukrainian refugees, of whom the Netherlands receives almost 19,000. With their arrival, waiting times would have increased even further.
Asylum seekers from war zones such as those in Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria must formally apply for asylum on arrival so that their background can be checked. For example, suspects of war crimes are not admitted.
“Understandable,” said an Amnesty International spokesperson. “But it remains very bitter that refugees other than Ukrainians have a much harder time at our borders.”
Perhaps, the spokesperson muses, the human rights organization should have argued for exceptions as early as 2015, when tens of thousands of Syrians fled to the Netherlands. “We have always said that all Syrians should be granted residence status.”
The comparison with Syrians is relevant, he thinks. Although their country could theoretically be declared safe again, most Syrians will receive a residence permit. So, as with Ukrainians, it is assumed that they will stay.
Solidarity as a core value
Peter Rodrigues, professor of immigration law at Leiden University, conducts research into discrimination and equal treatment, among other things. He calls it “evident” that there is unequal treatment between Ukrainians and refugees from other war zones. But he wouldn’t classify it as illicit or discriminatory. “There can be justifications for unequal treatment.”
In this case, that justification stems from European solidarity, says Rodrigues. “The war in Ukraine affects Member States of the European Union. For example, more than two million people have fled to Poland. Solidarity is a core value of the EU, other Member States are obliged to offer aid together.”
In addition to practicality, there are also political arguments for the exceptional position of Ukrainians. Justice and Security confirms: these kinds of agreements can only be made at European level, there must be sufficient support.
A condition for deploying the Temporary Protection Directive currently applied is a ‘mass influx’ of refugees. What is then ‘massive’ is not precisely defined. The EU Member States must label the number of refugees as such themselves. In 2015, the EU considered applying the directive to Syrian refugees, but member states were unable to agree.
European support
Rodrigues: “Some countries did not want to receive refugees with an Islamic faith at all. The considerations are not always purely humanitarian or human rights.”
Amnesty’s spokesperson agrees. In 2015 it was “much more difficult to find European support for the reception of Syrian refugees than it is now for Ukrainian refugees”.
Also read: ‘The Syrians on Lesvos are also in our region, aren’t they?’
Rodrigues advocates making the Dutch labor market more accessible for all refugees. The complexity of this should not be underestimated, he says, but neither should its importance for society. “Workers keep the economy going, and are desperately needed in today’s tight labor market. Moreover, working is an adequate way of integrating.”
Frank van Gool of OTTO Work Force also thinks it is a pity that it is taking so long for other asylum seekers. “But sometimes they are economic refugees, I think that makes a difference. Status holders must be able to start work as soon as possible.”
In the meantime, OTTO Work Force has had all employment contracts and work instructions translated into Ukrainian and onboarding managers appointed to accompany Ukrainian refugees. The employment agency did not do this before for other refugees. Van Gool: „We feel a connection with Ukrainians. We have seven offices in Ukraine and three thousand Ukrainians work in Poland through our temporary employment agency. I have spoken to many refugee families and want nothing more than for them to feel welcome here.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 5, 2022