|Published on: 22nd July 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on the Netherlands provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
(A) International protection
Asylum procedure
- Statistics: 25,839 asylum applications were lodged in 2025. The main countries of origin of applicants were Syria, Eritrea and Türkiye. 15,540 decisions were taken and the overall recognition rate at first instance was 48% (75% in 2024). 46% of judicial appeals regarding decisions in the international protection process were positive. At the end of October 2025, there were 52,360 pending cases in “Track 4” (General Procedure and Extended Procedure) and the average waiting time for a decision was nearly two years.
- Safe country concepts: South Korea is no longer considered a safe third country. As of September 2025, the ‘Safe country of origin’ concept is no longer applied due to Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) rulings which found that the Asylum Procedures Directive does not allow for territorial or personal exemptions to the “safe” designation of a country.
- Designation of regions and countries as areas in which indiscriminate violence exists: The designation of different regions and countries as areas in which a certain degree of indiscriminate violence exists was changed again in 2025. Under the current system, the government first designates whether there is an armed conflict in a particular area and then considers the extent of the violence.
Reception conditions
- Crisis emergency centres: Less than half of asylum applicants were accommodated in (crisis) emergency centres in 2025. The majority were accommodated in regular asylum centres and/or temporary reception locations managed by municipalities.
- Inadequate reception conditions: Most emergency centres still largely failed to meet the reception conditions obligations under EU law. The inadequate reception conditions at the centres were particularly alarming due to the length of time that people are accommodated in them (up to 18 months). Residents suffer from a lack of privacy, tranquillity and suitable nutrition. In addition, sanitary facilities in many centres are inadequate and unhygienic, and there are problems with healthcare accessibility in almost half of them.
- Inadequate reception conditions for children: The majority of emergency centres are detrimental to children’s wellbeing.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Statistics: 4,190 people were held in immigration detention in 2025.
- Court rulings: In September 2025, the CJEU ruled that courts deciding on detention cases may also assess whether there is a risk of refoulement. In the same month, the Regional Court of Amsterdam asked the CJEU to rule on whether the facilities in the detention centre at Schiphol Airport qualified it as a “specialised detention facility” for border detention.
Content of international protection
- Family reunification: In November 2025, the Council of State ruled that the right to family reunification remains intact if the sponsor obtains Dutch nationality during the family reunification procedure. The relevant reference point for the sponsor’s residence status for the purpose of the right to family reunification is the date of the (subsequent) application.
(B) Temporary protection
Temporary protection procedure
- End of temporary protection for non-Ukrainian nationals: Non-Ukrainian nationals who had a temporary residence permit in Ukraine no longer fall within the scope of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) in the Netherlands. In December 2024, the CJEU ruled in two cases (‘Kaduna’ and ‘Abkez’) that EU member states are allowed to end temporary protection at any time, even before the maximum duration of the temporary protection mechanism established at the EU level has been reached.
- Decision on asylum requests after the refusal of temporary protection: The policy that suspended the processing of asylum applications of Ukrainian nationals who do not fall within the scope of the TPD expired in November 2023. Since then, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has decided on asylum requests from Ukrainian nationals in cases in which the 21-month decision period has expired.
- Processing asylum applications from temporary protection beneficiaries: In order to obtain temporary protection, displaced people from Ukraine must file an asylum request which will only be processed after temporary protection has ended. In April 2025, the Council of State lodged a preliminary reference to the CJEU regarding the time limits laid down in Article 31 of the Asylum Procedures Directive.
Content of temporary protection
- Shortage of reception places: The shortage of reception places for temporary protection beneficiaries remained a major problem in 2025. Municipalities came under increased pressure to provide accommodation to temporary protection beneficiaries. Displaced people were placed in emergency shelters or hotels and some who were unable to find any accommodation even left the Netherlands to seek protection elsewhere.
- Increase in the individual financial contribution for accommodation: The individual financial contribution required from temporary protection beneficiaries with sufficient resources residing in municipal accommodation increased significantly in 2025.
- Long-term policy for displaced people from Ukraine: The government has presented the key elements of a long-term policy for a follow-up to the TPD regime when it expires in March 2027: (1) the introduction of a transition document as a post-temporary protection residence right; and (2) a voluntary return programme.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about AIDA or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
