Author
As of 15 December 2025, 79,497 people in the Netherlands were entitled to access reception conditions.[1] Less than half of them are staying at one of the 103 ‘regular’ reception centres by COA (38,693). The rest are hosted in one of the 212 emergency locations managed by COA (33,107) or other locations such as (crisis) management centres managed by a municipality (7,697). In 2025, almost 24% of the people entitled to receive reception by COA were beneficiaries of international protection (18,884). In 2024 this was a quarter and in 2021-2023, this was a third. These figures do not include displaced people from Ukraine. It is important to note that not only newly arrived asylum applicants are staying at (crisis) emergency locations. Asylum applicants who are already staying in the Netherlands awaiting the (start of) their procedure and beneficiaries of international protection can be also placed at (crisis) emergency locations. The large amount of beneficiaries of international protection staying in reception facilities by COA is due to a shortage in social housing usually provided by Municipalities after asylum has been granted. This is one of the reasons causing extra pressure on COA facilities and a greater dependency on (crisis) emergency locations.
Twice a year the COA predicts the capacity and the amount of places it will need in the upcoming period. As of 1 July 2025, COA was expecting to need 131,700 places until 1 July 2026. In its report, the COA foresees a shortage of 48,500 places on 1 January 2026,[2] using the official guiding that 96% of available spaces will be used for the required flexibility in resident placement policy.
On 26 August 2022, the (then) State Secretary announced several measures to address the reception crisis,[3] often referred to as the ‘asylum deal’. The most important measures were the prolonging of the time period of decision-making (WBV 2022/22), the suspension of family reunification, temporary cancellation of resettlement of refugees under the EU-Türkiye deal and the launch of the ‘Dispersal Act’ (Spreidingswet). On 10 October 2023, the Dispersal Act was approved by the House of Representatives, and on 23 January 2024 the Senate also approved the Act.[4] The ‘Dispersal Act’ aims to ensure that the municipalities will be responsible for providing sufficient reception places for asylum applicants (Article 6 paragraph 1), and to distribute the number of reception places fairly throughout the country based on socio-economic carrying capacity. The Law entered into force on 1 February 2024.
The law outlines the following time structure. Once every two years before 1 February, the Minister will announce in the capacity estimate how many reception places for asylum applicants will be needed in the following two years (Article 2 paragraph 1). These places are divided among the twelve provinces that will discuss with the municipalities how these places are divided. Before 1 September, the minister will decide on the basis of the reports from the provincial discussions what the minimum number of required reception places is for the next two years, which will be divided over the municipality designated in the decision (Article 5 paragraph 1). The financial system put in place is very difficult. Municipalities receive different amounts of compensations based on whether they offer accommodations before or after the minister announces the estimated capacity and on the number of years they provide the accommodation for.
In 2024, the Dispersal Act was implemented. The first deadline of the law was 1 July 2025, on which day municipalities were supposed to deliver 101,500 places. As of 1 July 2025, more than three quarters of 342 municipalities (partly) met the target or will do so soon, with 74,500 of the 101,500 places being realised. This means that not all municipalities were able to realise the required places under the law at that time. However, COA was positive that since the implementation of the law, 43 new municipalities opened new reception centres and a better distribution of reception locations was achieved. Additionally, 120 largely sustainable locations with 27,000 places were in preparation.[5] The former government held the position that it wants to repeal the Dispersal Act.[6] This is one of the reasons the required numbers have not been met yet. As explained by the provinces, the announcement of the intention to repeal the Act, shortly after its implementation, caused confusion and delays. Local officials often found themselves in a difficult position when trying to justify the intended reception locations to local residents,[7] and some municipalities refused to continue the search for locations due to the uncertainty surrounding the law.[8] The provinces urged politicians to continue the Dispersal Act in full, until sufficient residence capacity has been realised in the Netherlands. The new government coalition that was sworn in on 23 February 2026 has pledged to keep the Dispersal Act in place until there is sufficient permanent and flexible reception capacity.
Central Reception Centre (COL)
If an asylum applicant from a non-Schengen country has arrived in the Netherlands by plane or boat, the application for asylum must be lodged at the AC Schiphol, which is located at the Justitieel Centrum Schiphol (JCS).[9] The application centre Schiphol is a closed centre, which means that asylum applicants are not allowed to leave the centre (see Place of Detention). Asylum applicants are further not transferred to the POL after the application, as is the case for asylum applicants who entered the Netherlands by land and/or lodged their asylum application at the COL.[10] Vulnerable asylum applicants such as children do not stay at JCS.
Asylum applicants who enter the Netherlands by land have to apply at the Central Reception Centre (Centraal Opvanglocatie, COL) in Ter Apel, where they stay for a maximum of three days. The COL is not designed for a long stay. In 2024, the location of Ter Apel was at full capacity almost continuously, resulting in applicants being sent to ‘pre-registration locations’ all over the country and, on several occasions, asylum applicants sleeping on matrasses on the floor in portakabins on the Ter Apel grounds – see Criteria and restrictions to access reception conditions. An overnight ‘pre-registration’ or ‘waiting room’ location consisting of tents was opened and moved to several municipalities surrounding Ter Apel throughout 2024.[11] At this location, applicants arrive in the evening, sleep in large tents, and are brought back to Ter Apel in the early morning to spend the day there, regularly repeating this process several days in a row.[12] Other ‘pre-registration locations’ were in use in amongst other locations Assen, Amsterdam and Leeuwarden. There were reports of grossly unsatisfactory conditions in some of these ‘pre-registration locations’, amongst which underweight children due to inadequate food in Assen, severe overcrowding in Assen (700 residents with a capacity of 500) and a duration of stay far exceeding the intended short stay of approximately twenty days in both Assen and Leeuwarden.[13] The occupancy in Ter Apel dropped below the maximum of 2,000 people between November 2024 and September 2025, due to the opening of several emergency reception centres and the prevention of closures of existing locations. However, between September and December 2025 Ter Apel was above full capacity again on numerous occasions. [14]
In 2019 and 2023, the RVA 2005 was altered in order to allow for a different reception regime for asylum applicants whose request is dealt with in Track 1 (Dublin) and Track 2 (‘safe country of origin’ and ‘international protection in another EU Member State’).[15] Article 9(7) excludes these asylum applicants from financial allowances, which means that they are only entitled to frozen microwave meals. Article 19(3) states that these asylum applicants have to report their presence daily. However, this only needs to be applied to asylum applicants who are staying at reception centres that are suited for this scheme, ‘austere’ reception centres (sobere opvang).[16] The austere reception aims to make the Netherlands less attractive for individuals with a low-prospect asylum application and also serves to alleviate the overload on the asylum system.[17]
During the pilot period of 1 October 2020 up until 1 August 2021, 261 asylum applicants whose request was dealt within Track 2 stayed at an ‘austere’ reception centre.[18] This is a separate fenced building on the same site of normal reception centres in Ter Apel and Budel with extra security personnel that carries out room checks and checks upon entry and departure of the building. Asylum applicants also needed to stay in these facilities when they appealed the rejection of their asylum request.
After the pilot period asylum applicants whose request was dealt with in Track 2 were moved out of the fenced buildings in Ter Apel and Budel when their asylum request was dealt with by IND.[19] Vulnerable asylum applicants whose request is dealt with in Track 2 are exempted from staying at the fenced separate ‘austere’ reception building, but they receive an ‘austere’ regime at a normal reception centre. Both the asylum applicants staying at the separate ‘austere’ reception centres and the vulnerable ones have to report their presence daily, do not receive financial allowances and are given frozen microwave meals.
In July 2023, COA opened another ‘austere reception’ centre at Ter Apel, which is called the being-available-during-the-procedure-location (Procesbeschikbaarheidslocatie, PBL).[20] It has space for 50-100 asylum applicants and is aimed at asylum applicants who cause disturbances and have a low-prospect asylum application.[21] It consists of a fenced-off area at the Ter Apel location with reception places and limited outside space. Apart from the exemptions in the RVA 2005 for asylum applicants whose request is dealt with in Track 1 or Track 2 that were discussed above, there are no public regulations as to who is supposed to be housed in the PBL.
Concerns on the restrictions of the freedom of movement and the lack of a specific legal basis for these austere reception regimes have been raised by legal experts from the Dutch Council for Refugees.[22] On 1 March 2024, the Regional Court Groningen ruled that the placement of asylum applicants with low-prospect applications in the PBL constituted a restriction on the freedom of movement, as it requires the applicants’ presence at the fenced-off location every day, at almost all times (all day and night except for seven to eight o’clock in the morning and ten to eleven o’clock in the evening), throughout the entire asylum procedure.[23] The Court found no legal basis for such restrictions, and emphasised that Article 7(1) of the Reception Conditions Directive could not provide a legal basis for the restriction of freedom of movement, as it requires asylum applicants to have freedom of movement within a designated area that respects their private life and provides access to necessary facilities. The Court also noted potential infringements on fundamental rights, including the freedom of movement (Article 2 of Protocol 4 ECHR), the right to private life (Article 8 ECHR) and possibly the right to liberty (Article 5 ECHR). Following this ruling, the Minister announced that no asylum applicants will be placed in PBLs for the time being.[24] However, the Minister has announced that the PBL will be continued in an adapted version. In the new version of the PBL, there will be more freedom of movement: applicants will no longer be required to be present at the fenced-off location all day but will have to report to COA on location twice a day.[25] The Minister stated in 2024 that it intended to start implementing the new PBL when the occupation at Ter Apel has been lower than the allowed 2,000 people for at least a month.[26] As of 1 June 2025, the pilot PBL started in Ter Apel. The pilot foresees that people can be placed in the PBL if they cause one or more incidents with a medium impact at or outside the Ter Apel reception centre. This is also possible if there is a single incident with a major impact. This concerns people from the PBL target group (foreseeably low chance of asylum, Track 2) who are prioritized through the asylum procedure. People who arrived in another EU country and are therefore undergoing the Dublin procedure (Track 1) are not included in the PBL target group because the asylum procedure cannot be expedited in these cases. Applicants subject to the measure are required to remain in a restricted area at and around the Ter Apel reception centre 24/7.[27] As of December 2025, no applicants are residing in the PBL.[28]
Emergency locations (Noodopvang)
Emergency locations are temporary locations, managed by COA. Locations differ from sport and event halls, boats, cruise ships, pavilions, hotels, former schools, former office buildings and in former COVID-19 test locations. COA currently has 202 emergency locations housing 33,107 people.[29] Many of these locations house more than 500 people. For example, in 2022, two cruise ships in Amsterdam and Velsen both housed over 1000 people. The ship in Velsen was moved to Rotterdam in July 2023, the cruise ship in Amsterdam remains at the same location.[30] The reception capacity of both ships was increased from 1,000 to 1,500 people.[31]
Regarding living conditions, see Conditions in (crisis) emergency locations.
Crisis Emergency Locations (Crisisnoodopvang, CNO) or Temporary Municipal Reception Locations (Tijdelijke Gemeentelijke Opvang, TGO)
The first Crisis Emergency Locations opened in May 2022. Crisis Emergency Locations are managed by municipalities and Security Regions (Veiligheidsregio’s), and are even more temporary than emergency locations. In In 2024, Crisis Emergency Locations were renamed to Temporary Municipal Reception locations (TGO, Tijdelijke Gemeentelijke Opvang).[32] In this report, the terms are used interchangeably.
In 2020, COA created a guide for municipalities on managing CNOs.[33] In 2024, the Ministry of Justice and Safety provided municipalities with a new guide on managing TGOs.[34] Both guides state that very vulnerable people such as pregnant women, babies and elderly people should not be placed in CNOs – however, vulnerable people are still placed at these locations. In 2022, the Dutch Council of Refugees published a report for which 22 (crisis) emergency locations were visited and concluded that on 17 locations vulnerable people whose (medical) needs could not be taken care of were present.[35] This concerns individuals with severe physical or mental conditions, chronically ill individuals, and pregnant women. A particularly distressing case involved a man with cancer undergoing chemotherapy while staying in a (crisis) shelter in an event hall. In 2024, the Dutch Council for Refugees visited twenty (crisis) emergency locations and found similar issues. [36] In eleven of these locations vulnerable people whose special reception needs could not be taken care of were present. In eight out of twelve mixed-gender (crisis) emergency locations, women, children, and in one case LGBTQ+ individuals, feel unsafe during their stay due to inappropriate behaviour by other (male) residents. Additionally, obligations imposed upon the State in the Court proceedings of VWN versus the State are still being violated, particularly regarding the welfare of children and vulnerable people.[37] The total number of children in emergency locations and crisis emergency locations increased from approximately 6,600 in early 2025 to over 8,500 children in December 2025.[38] The total number of children (age 0-17) staying at COA locations as of 1 December 2025 was 19,920.[39]
Process Reception Centres (POL)
After this stay at the COL, the asylum applicant would normally be transferred to a Process Reception Centre (Proces Opvanglocatie, POL). However, this is not always the case since the start of the reception crisis. Asylum applicants can stay at all kind of locations during their asylum procedure, they might even be interviewed at the reception centre.
At the POL, the asylum applicant will take the next steps of the rest and preparation period and awaits the official asylum application at the application centre. As soon as the asylum applicant has officially lodged an asylum application, they receive a certificate of legal stay. Due to lack of capacity in the POL, the so-called pre-POLs have been opened. Often these are located at the site of an AZC, but the people staying at the pre-POL will have the same (limited) facilities as asylum applicants at the POL, so they will have different access to medical care and language lessons, and no weekly allowance. The Dutch Council for Refugees reported that the excessive waiting time in the rest and preparation period (up to two years) has serious consequences regarding the material reception conditions and mental health of asylum applicants. Among them, limited access to medical care, tension in the centres due to serious concerns about family reunification and a lack of facilities since the (pre-)POL is not designed for a long stay.[40] Additionally, The Dutch Council for Refugees and the Ombudsperson fear a set-back in integration possibilities for applicants since there is no or limited possibility to perform volunteer work or get access to language education.[41]
Centres for Asylum Applicants (AZC)
An asylum applicant remains in the POL if the IND decides to examine the asylum application in the Regular Procedure (within eight days). If protection is granted, the asylum applicant is normally transferred to a Centre for Asylum Applicants (Asielzoekerscentrum, AZC) before receiving housing in the Netherlands. If the IND decides, usually after four days, to handle the application in the extended asylum procedure, the asylum applicant will also be transferred from the POL to an AZC. In the current reception crisis, the reception process described above is not usually followed.
As discussed above, many beneficiaries of international protection are staying at AZCs: for more information on the housing backlog for beneficiaries of international protection, see Content of International Protection: Housing).[42]
The COA continuously requests municipalities to provide more AZCs that are available for long term.[43]
Enforcement and Supervision Location (HTL)
The Enforcement and Supervision Location (Handhaving en Toezichtlocatie, HTL) was set up as a special reception centre for asylum applicants who have caused tension or any form of nuisance at an AZC, for example by bullying other inhabitants, destroying materials, exhibiting aggressive behaviour or violating the COA house rules. Minors aged 16 or more can also be transferred to these locations.[44]
There is only one HTL. The HTL is located in Hoogeveen, it opened in December 2017 as an Extra Guidance and Supervision location (Extra Begeleiding- en Toezichtlocatie, EBTL) and became an HTL in February 2020. The location has a capacity of 50 places.[45]
The Inspection of the Ministry of Justice and Security concluded in 2018 that the EBTL had not been effective in changing the behaviour of violent applicants. This is partly due to the fact that these applicants often have mental disorders and psychiatric problems. As a result, the EBTL was closed and the HTL was opened.[46] The difference between the EBTL and the HTL is that the HTL objective is no longer to change the behaviour of the applicant. Applicants placed in the HTL will get a stringent area ban and a compulsory day programme.
The number of times the ‘HTL-measure’ was imposed over the last few years were as follows:[47]
| Year | Number of times the HTL-measure was imposed |
| 2019 | 250 |
| 2020 | 215 |
| 2021 | 210 |
| 2022 | 225 |
| 2023 | 225 |
| 2024 | 170 |
| 2025 | Not yet available |
Asylum applicants staying at the HTL are only allowed to go outside for four hours a day, where they cannot leave a small grass field. Several lawyers have argued that asylum applicants are illegally deprived of their liberty in the HTL.[48] However, the Regional Court of Groningen conducted an on-site investigation and concluded that placement in the HTL is not contrary to Article 5 ECHR.[49] This was mostly due to the possibility to leave the HTL, even though leaving means that one loses their right to reception. Normally, no onward appeal is possible in Court cases about placement in the HTL. However, in 2024 the Council of State did rule for the first time on the question of the HTL and Article 5 ECHR.[50] The Council of State ruled that the placement of individuals in the HTL does not lead to deprivation of liberty, but merely to a restriction of freedom of movement. Even placement in the so-called ROV-room, that is used as a punishment within the HTL, does not lead to deprivation of liberty.[51]
In August 2022, the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Justice and Security paid an unannounced visit to the HTL following the report of a ‘whistleblower’ who notified eight incidents in the twenty days that he worked at the HTL. During this visit, employees and asylum applicants were interviewed. Observations were also made and supervision plans were examined in the information system of COA. Finally, the Inspection requested documentation and camera images. The Inspection established that housing supervisors, who work for the COA and the DJI, use coercion and violence. For example, housing supervisors pushed, slapped or kicked asylum applicants and made unauthorized use of handcuffs.[52]
In his response, the (then) State Secretary (now Minister) indicated not having recognised any pattern of disproportionate violence in the HTL. According to the (then) State Secretary (now Minister), these cases were isolated and COA always investigates thoroughly when this happens. However, the then State Secretary (now Minister) did promise to revise the daily programme at the HTL. No information is available on whether and how this was revised.[53]
Administrative placing and hosting arrangement
Administrative placement makes it possible for asylum applicants to live with (first-degree) relatives while receiving allowances and health insurance. Previously, the administrative placement was regulated in Article 13 Rva (old), but this basis has disappeared. However, practice shows that it is still possible in exceptional cases to be placed administratively at the nearest AZC from the place of residence of the family member. The asylum applicant must report to the AZC on a weekly basis. According to the COA’s Provisions Policy, an income check is carried out during administrative placement. If the family member earns too much, the asylum applicant will not receive allowances. Administrative placement of an asylum applicant who is still in the pre-pol is not yet possible. VWN has often pointed out that this practice could be expanded, because more and more people are requesting it and it could be a way to make up space for new asylum applicants.[54]
Beneficiaries of international protection staying at a reception centre while waiting to be housed, can stay at a host family for up to three months using the ‘hosting arrangement’ (logeerregeling). The organisation Takecarebnb connects and guides host families and beneficiaries of international protection.[55]
At the end of 2023, the hosting arrangement was also extended to asylum applicants.[56] The hosting arrangement requires approval from COA, and there are several requirements: amongst other things, the application needs to be dealt with in Track 4, the applicants need to be 18 years or older and they need to have a citizen service number (Burgerservicenummer, BSN). Asylum applicants using the hosting arrangement receive an extra financial allowance of 25 euros a week if they are between 18 and 21 years old. The COA has temporarily increased this extra allowance for asylum applicants using the hosting arrangement who are older than 21 to 75 euros. The hosting arrangement is in principle for three months. The Dutch Council for Refugees has received reports that the requirement of a BSN makes the hosting arrangement hard to access, as the waiting lists for BSN’s are very long. However, the Minister has stressed that the requirement of a BSN needs to stay in place as applicants need one to have access to health care.[57]
[1] Numbers available at COA website: https://bit.ly/3PxsDE3, accessed at 22 December 2025, figures are updated weekly.
[2] COA Website: https://bit.ly/4sysh26.
[3] KST 19637, no. 2992, Letter of the Ministry of Justice and Securty on decision-making concerning the reception crisis, 26 August 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3ikz3JP.
[4] See overview of the consideration of the bill the website of the Senate, available in Dutch: https://bit.ly/3SibK2h.
[5] COA, ‘Betere spreiding en meer gemeenten met opvang dankzij de Spreidingswet’, 1 July 2025, available in Dutch: https://bit.ly/3LIhlyp
[6] Regeerprogramma kabinet-Schoof, 13 September 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4g04FvK.
[7] NOS, ‘Provincies halen niet de opgave in de spreidingswet’, 1 November 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3E8l4Ru.
[8] NOS, ‘Hoe de spreidingswet ook regionaal tot verdeeldheid leidt’, 31 October 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4h6VxGO.
[9] Article 3(3) Aliens Act.
[10] Asylum applicants who are not stopped at an international border of the Netherlands and want to make an asylum application have to go to the COL in Ter Apel, even if they initially came by plane or boat.
[11] RTV Drenthe, ‘Crisisnachtopvang asielzoekers naar 2e Exloërmond verhuisd: ‘Een uitkomst voor Ter Apel’’, 6 February 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3BTQTNw; RTV Drenthe, ‘Nachtopvang verhuist van 2e Exloërmond naar Zuidwolde: ‘Triest dat het nodig is’’, 2 April 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4jdOa2i; RTV Noord, ‘Tijdelijke nachtopvang voor 200 asielzoekers gaat naar Pekela’, 26 June 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4hadiFi; RTV Drenthe, ‘Nachtopvang Beilen redt overvol Ter Apel maar: ‘Situatie deugt niet. We zeulen met mensen’’, 14 October 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/42dESNl.
[12] RTV Drenthe, ‘Crisisnachtopvang asielzoekers naar 2e Exloërmond verhuisd: ‘Een uitkomst voor Ter Apel’’, 6 February 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3BTQTNw; De Groene Amsterdammer, ‘Asielzoekers in Kijkduin: Een sigaretje op het balkon’, 10 January 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4ak8Ota; Civil Court North-Netherlands, ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2024:4250, 30 October 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4gSF4WV.
[13] Ibid; NOS, ‘Noodopvang Leeuwarden sluit nog voor het nieuwe jaar’, 27 December 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3WkTPJY; RTV Drenthe, ‘Brandbrief heeft effect: opvang in Expo Hal aangepast voor kinderen’, 6 November 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/40jQXhL; RTV Drenthe, ‘Brandbrief heeft effect: opvang in Expo Hal aangepast voor kinderen’, 6 November 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/40jQXhL; RTV Drenthe, ‘Weinig doorstroom in overvolle Expo Hal in Assen: ‘Afhankelijk van andere centra’’, 29 April 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3WkT7MO.
[14] COA, Bezetting ‘Ter Apel boven 2000 personen’, 9 September 2025, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4pEIvE8.
[15] Stcrt 2020, nr. 48688, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3vEwHeX; and Stcrt 2023, nr. 26411, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3O3Jk9C.
[16] Stcrt 2023, nr. 26411, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3O3Jk9C.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Rijnconsult, Evaluation of the pilot ‘austere reception’ Track 2, 13 September 2021, 18.
[19] See COA website, https://bit.ly/3Sj9w2J.
[20] KST 19637, nr. 3110, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3S6Ttns.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Anna Chatelion Counet, Sofia D’Arcio and Lianne Hooijmans, Tien juristen, elf meningen?, JNVR 2023-4, p. 17 and further on austere reception centres.
[23] Regional Court Groningen, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:2653, 1 March 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3WiKgeq.
[24] RTV Noord, ‘Geen hoger beroep in uitspraak strengere opvang overlastgevers Ter Apel’, 12 March 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3WmFgp5.
[25] Stcrt 2024, nr. 32244, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3PBmd6U.
[26] Minutes of the Parliamentary debate on Vaststelling van de begrotingsstaat van het Ministerie van Asiel en Migratie (XX) voor het jaar 2025, 7 November 2024.
[27] Ministry of Asylum and Migration, ‘Stand van zaken opening procesbeschikbaarheidslocatie, Nr. 3431’, 30 May 2025, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4qYaEr5.
[28] KST 36850 XX nr. 3, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/49bRuYz.
[29] COA Website: https://www.coa.nl/nl/lijst/capaciteit-en-bezetting, figures are updated weekly.
[30] COA, ‘Ferry Silja Europa vaart 1 juli van Velsen naar Rotterdam’, 1 July 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/48ufB1J; COA, ‘Amsterdam Westerhoofd’, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4aULYsj.
[31] COA, ‘Ferry Silja Europa vaart 1 juli van Velsen naar Rotterdam’, 1 July 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/48ufB1J; NOS, ‘Amsterdam wil opvang asielzoekers op cruiseship met half jaar verlengen’, 3 February 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3vsHI30.
[32] COA, ‘Noodopvang en tijdelijke gemeentelijke opvang’, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4jlcYW7.
[33] COA (and other organisations), Handreiking Crisisnoodopvang, 2 December 2020, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3CzLMix.
[34] Ministry of Justice and Safety, Handreiking Tijdelijke Spoedopvang, 20 May 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/42g1PzF.
[35] VWN, Gevlucht en vergeten?, August 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4205TBR.
[36] VWN, Gevlucht en Vergeten? No. 2, January 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4hfWkVP.
[37] Ibid; The Hague Court of Appeal (civil department), ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2022:2078, 20 December 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3Ii2iX0.
[38] Internal COA reporting.
[39] COA, ‘Personen in de opvang van het COA’, https://bit.ly/4jKjdTS accessed at 22 December 2025, figures updated monthly.
[40] Dutch refugee Council, Gevangen in een vastgelopen asielsysteem: Gevolgen en verhalen uit de praktijk, November 2019, available In Dutch at: https://bit.ly/2vSP2pW.
[41] See for example: NOS, ‘Ombudsman: zakgeld en privacy voor asielzoekers vanwege lange wachttijden’, 10 March 2020, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/33OOlL1.
[42] COA, Bezetting, available in Dutch at: http://bit.ly/2E95a6F. And KST 19637, no. 2992, Appendix to letter decision-making on the reception crisis, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3ImJjdc.
[43] E.g. Letter to the King’s Commissioners and the councils of the Mayor, 6 October 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3VzERQB and Letter to Parliament, 10 November 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3wybNP1.
[44] Article 1(l) RVA, Decision of State Secretary (now Minister), No 69941, 3 December 2018
[45] COA, Verschillende soorten opvang, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3IKH8kb.
[46] State Secretary (now Minister), Letter KST19637 2572, 18 December 2019.
[47] WODC, ‘Incidenten en misdrijven door COA-bewoners 2017-2024’, July 2025, p. 32.
[48] For example in the case: Regional Court Den Bosch, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2020:4558, 25 May 2020, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3usuLWA.
[49] Regional Court Groningen, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2020:6252, 10 July 2020, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/49oRcuC. For a more recent judgement see: Regional Court Groningen, Case nos. AWB 22/6262 en NL22.21029, 11 November 2022.
[50] Council of State, ECLI:NL:RVS:2024:3565, 11 September 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3ZRVCs1.
[51] Council of State, ECLI:NL:RVS:2024:3564, 11 September 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4fo8H0C.
[52] Inspection of the Ministry of Justice and Security, ‘Letter on the investigation of the HTL in Hoogeveen’, 13 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3jOns5O. See also this report from newspaper NRC, ‘Wat gebeurt er achter de muren van het ‘aso-azc’ in Hoogeveen?’, 11 November 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3vzymz9.
[53] KST 19637, no. 2995, 19 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3jNuw2y.
[54] E.g. VWN, ‘Brief VluchtelingenWerk Nederland t.b.v. het commissiedebat Vreemdelingen- en asielbeleid 22 juni 2022’, 17 June 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GrK2sI, 5.
[55] See their website here: https://takecarebnb.org/.
[56] This information comes from the website of COA, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3HkHuNP.
[57] Letter of the Minister of Asylum and Migration, 18 December 2024, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3DXPia3.