Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Integration exam
Image from a video portraying students during the integration exam (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs) - Credit: Image from a video portraying students during the integration exam (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs)
Business
immigration
family reunification
asylum crisis
asylum seekers
migrant workers
Statistics Netherlands
Monday, 3 July 2017 - 11:15
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Family reunification driving force behind Netherlands immigration

Family reunification is still the main reason for immigrants to come to the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands. Even at the peak of the asylum crisis in 2015, there were twice as many family reunification immigrants as asylum seekers given a residency permit, the statistics office said on Monday based on new figures.

In 2015 a total of 159 thousand immigrants moved to the Netherlands. A third of them came to join a family member already living in the Netherlands. The rest came to the Netherlands for work, studies or to apply for asylum.

Most of the family reunification immigrants in 2015 came from Poland, Syria, Germany, India and the United Kingdom, in order. Nearly 9 thousand came from Poland. Some 4 thousand people from Syria moved to the Netherlands in 2015 to join family members, using the regular procedure. Another 9 thousand Syrians joined family members in the Netherlands using a special procedure set up for the asylum crisis. These 9 thousand people were registered as asylum immigrants, instead of under family reunification.

In 2003 half of all immigrants to the Netherlands came for family reunification.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • European office to gather proof of war crimes in Ukraine will set up in The Hague
  • Schiphol security finds knife concealed as passenger’s belt buckle
  • "Worrisome" decrease in student housing supply as rents increase 10%
  • Trade union announces more civil servants' strikes, including in The Hague
  • Nine suspects arrested in Netherlands for 50 ATM bombings in Germany
  • Student orgs. want temporary, not permanent limit on international students

Top stories

  • European office to gather proof of war crimes in Ukraine will set up in The Hague
  • Nine suspects arrested in Netherlands for 50 ATM bombings in Germany
  • Amsterdam to ban some tour buses from city center from 2024
  • Police missed many signals in run-up to attorney, crime journalist's murders: report
  • Public transport strike: No trains running in Friesland, part of Groningen
  • Dutch mad cow disease case concerns variant that is less dangerous for humans

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content