Cabinet wants to block family reunification when homes are unavailable

The Dutch Cabinet wants to tighten the rules around family reunification for immigrants in an attempt to limit the influx of asylum seekers, sources around the government told De Telegraaf. According to the sources, the Cabinet wants to make housing a requirement for family reunification.

That would mean that refugees can only bring their families to the Netherlands once they are out of the asylum shelters and in a regular home. With the current state of the housing market, that could mean waiting months to years to see your family.

Currently, there are 15,800 refugees - asylum seekers who got residency permits for the Netherlands - living in asylum shelters. They can’t move out because municipalities have no homes available for them. That is one of the leading causes behind the stalled asylum system.

The Dutch policy for family reunification largely resembles that of other EU member states, though it is stricter in some respects. For example, the Netherlands is one of only three countries in which the parents of adults are not eligible for family reunification.

Whether the tightened rules for family reunification will hold up legally is the question. That is one of the reasons why responsible State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) has not officially announced the plan. The “right to family life” is included in the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Justice and Security is currently testing the plan for legal feasibility.

The Rutte IV coalition now considers the asylum crisis just as volatile and triggering as the nitrogen crisis, the Telegraaf’s sources said.