Over 4,600 refugees from Ukraine can stay in Netherlands for another six months: report

The over 4,600 refugees from Ukraine who don’t have a Ukrainian passport will continue to fall under the special Regulation for Ukrainian Refugees for another six months, sources told RTL Nieuws.

The regulation for these third-country nationals - people who lived and worked in Ukraine when the war broke out but do not have Ukrainian nationality - will end on March 5. After that, they will become regular asylum seekers who need to go through the asylum application process. That means they’ll no longer have access to municipal shelters for Ukrainians and won’t be allowed to work in the Netherlands.

The Security Council, the council of mayors who head the Netherlands’ 25 security regions, raised concerns about this group's reception with State Secretary Eric van den Burg (Asylum) last week. If nothing happened, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) would suddenly have to squeeze another 4,600 asylum seekers into its already overcrowded shelters.

The mayors suggested extending the regulation for third-country nationals from Ukraine, and the government has now agreed to do so, according to RTL’s sources. The third-country nationals will fall under the same regulation as Ukrainian refugees until September.