Cabinet backtracks again: third-country nationals from Ukraine are allowed to stay for the time being | Asylum

The past year was messy for the third-country nationals from Ukraine. Third-country nationals are people who stayed in the war-torn country on the basis of a temporary permit. They were initially subject to the same policy as other refugees from Ukraine, but the government decided to reverse that last summer. The third-country nationals therefore had to apply for asylum or leave.

The Council of State, the highest court in the Netherlands, ruled in January that the outgoing cabinet could change the rules for third-country nationals. But then legal proceedings were held again and it turned out that there was uncertainty about one sentence of the decision.

This led to the Council of State reversing its earlier judgment. The highest court in the Netherlands also saw that the rules could be interpreted in several ways and that is why we now have to wait for the decision of the highest court in Europe.

Hundreds of third-country nationals who had already gone to court were therefore allowed to stay until there is a decision from the European court. Outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg is now extending this line to all third-country nationals who were still in the Netherlands. They may stay for the time being, he writes in a letter to the House of Representatives.

Some municipalities had already sent third-country nationals away from municipal reception facilities. In his letter, Van der Burg emphasizes that these municipalities did this “lawfully” at the time. It is not known how many third-country nationals are still living in the Netherlands.