A few municipalities are deporting third-country nationals from Ukraine, but uncertainty remains | Asylum

Third-country nationals lived in Ukraine for, for example, their studies or work. They only had a temporary residence permit when they had to flee the war.

The third-country nationals initially fell under the same rules as other refugees from Ukraine, but in the summer of 2023 the ministry decided to change that. The group of around 2,540 people, mainly from Nigeria, Morocco or Algeria, therefore had to apply for asylum or leave the Netherlands.

Three quarters of a year later it is still not clear whether the group should have been sent away at all. And while the deadline for that actually expired today.

In principle, the ruling of the Council of State in January should have put an end to the case. The country’s highest court ruled that third-country nationals are indeed no longer entitled to protection as of March 4. They were then given another four weeks to apply for asylum or leave. The ministry also continued to adhere to that assessment.

But a few weeks ago, uncertainty arose again after dozens of third-country nationals went to court again. After the ruling, they received a letter stating that they had to leave. And although an appeal cannot normally be lodged against a ruling by the Council of State, the third-country nationals could go to court with that letter. The judge then looked at whether it was right for this person to be sent back on the basis of that document.

The several dozen lawsuits handled so far have resulted in different rulings. For example, the courts in Rotterdam, The Hague, Arnhem, Zwolle and Utrecht agree with ending protection for third-country nationals as of March 4. But the courts in Roermond, Den Bosch and Haarlem are not. The court in Amsterdam cannot reach an agreement at all and believes that the highest court in Europe should consider it.

Third-country nationals who have been told by the judge that they can stay or still have a legal case pending, may stay until a higher court has considered the case again. And that now leads to confusing situations: some third-country nationals must have left or applied for asylum, and others must not.

The municipality of Dordrecht started sending away about ninety third-country nationals from the shelter on Tuesday. The municipality of Meppel has also evicted someone from the shelter. It is not known where these people have gone now.

“We are dealing with a very complicated situation,” said outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) on Thursday. “Where the judge has said: ‘this person may not be deported until there is a ruling from a higher court’, we have to follow that.” This also applies to cases in which the judge has said that someone may be deported.

The ministry will explain how to proceed in a letter to municipalities on Tuesday evening. But it seems unlikely that it will now reverse the return of third-country nationals, as the lack of clarity has been going on for weeks.

However, the Council of State can now put a temporary stop to the policy. The highest court of the country can do that if it still wants to make a final ruling on this. A spokesperson told the news agency ANP that the Council of State will also provide more information on Tuesday evening.