Author
Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection are granted temporary asylum status for 5 years.[1] Material rights are the same. The residence permit also has a validity of 5 years.[2]
Regardless of the ground on which the permit is granted, the permit entitles the status holder to the same rights and entitlements.
Procedure for granting a permit
The IND is responsible for issuing a residence permit. Asylum applicants who are granted temporary asylum (i.e. refugee status and subsidiary protection) status during their stay at the Application Centre should be registered immediately in the Persons’ Database at the so called ‘BRP-straat’ (BRP stands for Basisregistratie Personen, the Persons’ Database of the municipality) and will receive their temporary residence permit from the IND. There are no problems known to the Dutch Council for Refugees regarding this procedure itself, but there is a backlog in registration at the BRP-straat.
Beneficiaries who already have been transferred to a Centre for Asylum Applicants (AZC) when granted temporary asylum status will, within a few weeks after the status has been granted, will be invited to pick up their residence permit at one of the offices of the IND. There are no problems known to the Dutch Council for Refugees regarding this procedure.
There is a backlog in registration at the BRP-straat. This problem continues in 2024, having gone on for a few years, since the period of COVID-19. The ‘BRP-straat’ was temporarily closed on several occasions in 2020 and from that time on there has been always a backlog.[3] Due to limited capacity, logistical problems (the COA must transport people from the reception centres to the ‘BRP-straat’, but the service is not functioning well, so people cannot reach the ‘BRP-straat’ for their appointments), the duration of the asylum procedure (people are waiting longer so the identification process of the IND takes place at a later moment than before), the backlog was still present at 2024. The Dutch authorities are trying to reduce the backlog by increasing the capacity of the BRP-straat and by presenting a better process of planning the appointments.[4] In 2024, the government made more money available for the registration of asylum applicants and beneficiaries with a permit in the BRP straat. Two new BRP straten have been opened and since November, attempts have been made to eliminate the backlog. At the reference date of 1 October 2024, approximately 15,600 asylum applicants who have lived in the Netherlands for more than six months still had to be registered. At the reference date of 1 October 2024, approximately 1,700 beneficiaries with a permit still had to be registered in the BRP.[5]
Due to the backlog, priority is given to the registration of beneficiaries with a permit, who will be entitled to a house in a municipality. There is an emergency procedure for beneficiaries in need of a BSN-number for medical reasons or for people that have found a job. Priority is also given to family members of beneficiaries who came to the Netherlands through family reunification. No priority is given to asylum applicants who want to be registered, unless they provide a specific reason. For example, medical reasons or if they have found a job and the employer has asked for a permission to work for them.
In 2024 there were no big delays in the issue of residence documents by the IND.
The first issuance of the temporary residence permit for refugees is free of charge. In case the residence permit is stolen or lost, the beneficiary is requested to report this to the police.[6] In order to acquire a new permit, a form, which can be found on the website of the IND, has to be completed and sent to the IND. A copy of the police report has to be included. Costs for renewing a residence permit are € 154 for an adult and € 81 for a child.
New measures regarding validity of residence permits
The current Dutch government has proposed a new law that reduces the validity of an asylum residence permit from five years to three years, both for individuals granted refugee status and for those granted subsidiary protection status, thereby eliminating the possibility of applying for a permanent asylum permit.[7] The residence permit must then be renewed every three years. This proposal still needs to be approved by Parliament.
Starting date of the validity period
The Dutch Aliens Act stipulates in Article 44 (2) that if the application for the granting of a temporary residence permit, as referred to in Article 28 (1), under a,[8] is granted, the residence permit shall be issued with effect from the date on which the application was received. This is because the permits are granted from the date the application is received, and with the amended rules from five to three years, it may be the case that the permits are almost expired by the time they are officially issued. If the permit has already expired at the time of issuance, the IND can extend the permit ex officio. Article 28, paragraph 1, under (f) of the (new) Aliens Act provides the legal basis for this. It is already the case that, in some instances, the asylum procedure takes much longer (more than five years) and consequently, the permit would have expired by the time it is issued. In such cases, the IND indicates upon granting asylum that an extension application must be submitted as soon as possible and will be processed as a priority.[9]
It is noteworthy to mention that a preliminary reference was lodged by the Court of Noord-Holland (Netherlands) to the CJEU regarding the question as to the effective date on which a residence permit is to be deemed to have been granted in the context of Article 6 of the Asylum Procedures Directive.[10]
With this new measure, the Dutch government aims to emphasise the temporary nature of asylum protection, in line with a number of other EU Member States that apply a duration of less than five years. This change aligns Dutch asylum policy more closely with that of other Member States, with the goal of ensuring that the Netherlands is not seen as a more attractive destination than other countries.
[1] Article 28(2) Aliens Act.
[2] Article 4.22(2) Aliens Decree.
[3] For more information see the previous updates from 2020, 2021 and 2022 available at: https://bit.ly/3SMHHji.
[4] Kamerstuk 19 637, nr. 3114, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3TZGhmC.
[5] Kamerstuk 36600-XX-5, 24 Oktober 2024, Vaststelling van de begrotingsstaat van het Ministerie van Asiel en Migratie (XX) voor het jaar 2025 | Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal at https://bit.ly/4iZv1Q0.
[6] Article 4.22 Aliens Decree; Article 3.43c(1) Aliens Regulation.
[7] Draft legislative proposal Asielnoodmaatregelenwet, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/40nxVIm.
[8] Article 28(1)(a) stipulates that the Minister is authorised to grant, reject, or not process the application for a residence permit for a fixed period.
[9] Work Instruction 2022/21 Reassessing Asylum, under ‘5.8 Extension following the granting of asylum’), available at https://bitly.cx/aXnJ.
[10] Case C-656/23, Karaman: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank Noord-Holland (Netherlands) lodged on 7 November 2023 — B v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid.