Wednesday, 15 July 2015 - 16:03
First emergency asylum shelter to open this week
The first emergency shelter locations for asylum seekers will be put to use this week already. The first asylum seekers are expected to arrive at the IJsselhallen in Zwolle on Thursday or Friday.
The Zeelandhallen in Goes won't be far behind, with the first buses carrying asylum seekers expected on Monday, NOS reports. Both locations can accommodate up to 400 people. The asylum seekers taken into these shelters will be mostly single men from Syria or Eritrea.
The people expected to arrive in Zwolle this week will first spend some days in Ter Apel, where they will be registered at the asylum application center. They will also be medically examined and the Immigration and Naturalization service will do a check on their identity and background.
The Central Office for Asylum Seekers expects that more emergency shelters will be needed in the future. An increasing number of people have been applying for asylum in the Netherlands over the last few weeks. A large part of these requests come from people who are eligible for family reunification - a partner or parent already has a residency permit. The COA is currently accommodating more than 25 thousand of these asylum seekers.