The Netherlands receives asylum seekers much faster than neighboring countries, the State Secretary wants to intervene

The Netherlands still approves many more asylum requests than neighboring countries Belgium and Germany, De Telegraaf reports. Not only do many war refugees come to our country, asylum seekers are also more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt here. Outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) wants to change that.

Nearly 410,000 people were granted asylum in the 27 countries of the European Union last year. That is an increase of 7 percent compared to 2022, according to Eurostat figures.

Germany, the largest member state, took in the most people and accounts for 37 percent of all approved asylum applications in the EU. France (13 percent) and Spain (13 percent) follow at a distance. These three countries are together responsible for 63 percent of all approved asylum applications in 2023. The Netherlands is in seventh place.

But when it comes to the acceptance rate, the Netherlands stands alone. Last year, 80 percent of asylum applications were approved. By comparison, France approved only 31.4 percent of applications. Neighboring countries Belgium (44.7 percent) and Germany (62.2 percent) also grant significantly fewer asylum requests.

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Romania, Iceland and Sweden are the strictest. Less than 30 percent of asylum seekers receive shelter there. In 2022, the percentage in the Netherlands was even above 80 percent.

Benefit of the doubt

An important reason is that the Netherlands receives many war refugees, such as people who have fled from Syria. They are considered “applicants from countries of origin with a high approval rate,” the Ministry of Justice wrote in the annual report ‘The State of Migration’.

But there is also another cause. Due to growing backlogs, IND employees have increasingly given asylum seekers the benefit of the doubt in recent years instead of conducting investigations first, the newspaper writes. Outgoing State Secretary Van der Burg wants to change that.

He wants the IND to follow an example from agencies in other EU member states, he writes in a letter to the House of Representatives. The minister wants the burden of proof to lie with the asylum seeker “as much as possible”.

‘Not to compare’

D66 Member of Parliament Jan Paternotte wonders whether the figures can be compared with our neighboring countries. “The Netherlands receives far fewer asylum applications than Germany and Belgium. Those countries are more popular with asylum seekers than the Netherlands,” he says in Good Morning Netherlands on NPO 1.

Moreover, says Paternotte: “I think this is because in Germany they often approve more asylum requests in the second instance. At first it is rejected, but later people are still given asylum status.”

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Paternotte is happy with the European migration and asylum pact, which was concluded at the end of last year. “It was really high time. We need to work together much more strongly to secure that external border and to ensure that you can receive real refugees, war refugees.” People who are granted asylum in the Netherlands should find work more quickly, the D66 MP believes. “The reason it is difficult for us to accommodate many people is that many asylum seekers are forced to sit still, while we have many jobs.”

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