Six judges diametrically opposed to each other regarding the fate of third-country nationals from Ukraine | Asylum

The courts in Utrecht and Rotterdam previously supported the decision of the Council of State. The State Secretary may indeed stop the protection of third-country nationals from Ukraine.

But not all courts agree. Last week, judges in Haarlem, Den Bosch and Roermond ruled that this was not allowed.

Third-country nationals from Ukraine are people who had a temporary residence permit when the war broke out. For example, they were there for work or study. They first fell, like other refugees from Ukraine, under the Temporary Protection Directive. As a result, they did not have to apply for asylum, they were given shelter by a municipality and they were allowed to work.

But outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg decided in the summer of 2023 that third-country nationals would no longer fall under the Temporary Protection Directive and would therefore have to leave or apply for asylum.

The question is whether the State Secretary was allowed to do that. The country’s highest court, the Council of State, ruled in January that Van der Burg could end the protection for this group on March 4 of this year. Third-country nationals must have left or applied for asylum by April 2 at the latest.

The group then received a so-called return decision in the mail. Although an appeal cannot be filed against the general judgment of the Council of State, a new lawsuit can be started against an individual return decision. That also happened.

These judges looked at individual cases to see whether it was right for someone to receive a return decision. Should their temporary protection be stopped on March 4? In order to be able to judge on this, the judges had to say something again about the judgment of the Council of State in January.

The main question is whether third-country nationals who were already within the scope of the directive may be deprived of that status. The courts in Den Bosch and Roermond say this was not allowed. The State Secretary was only allowed to say that third-country nationals who would still come to the Netherlands would no longer be covered by the directive. According to the other courts, this is not the case.

There is a good chance that the Council of State will now have to reconsider the future of third-country nationals from Ukraine. If an appeal is lodged against the court decisions, which has already happened in Roermond, for example, the case will end up back before the Council of State.

But that could take some time. There are still similar cases pending in, for example, the courts in Arnhem and Amsterdam. In addition, the ministry has not yet appealed in every case.

In any case, that process will not be completed before April 2, the date by which third-country nationals must have left or must have applied for asylum. For the time being, third-country nationals simply have to return or apply for asylum, says a ministry spokesperson. He does not want to anticipate what will happen in the event that the Council of State decides after that deadline that third-country nationals would be allowed to stay.

The third-country nationals who went to court in Haarlem, Den Bosch and Roermond are allowed to stay for the time being. This also applies to the people who are still waiting for their verdict.