Record 78,320 waiting for residency decision as Dutch immigration backlog soars

The Dutch immigration office is a facing a record-high backlog, with some 78,320 outstanding applications for various forms of residency in the Netherlands. Roughly 56 percent regard people seeking asylum, while 34 percent are applicants who want to reunite with family members who already received a residence permit as an asylum seeker. Nearly 5,800 people are also seeking residency as family and relatives of other legal residents, and about 1,900 want to stay in the Netherlands as a highly-skilled migrant.

Over 44,000 asylum seekers in the Netherlands are waiting for their applications to be assessed, according to figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) published on Monday. A year ago, the IND had over 32,000 outstanding applications.

Among the 44,030 asylum seekers still awaiting decisions on their stay in the Netherlands, more than 18,000 have been waiting for six to 15 months. The waiting time for over 16,500 is between one to six months. According to the figures from IND, nearly 5,500 people have been waiting for more than 15 months for a decision.

The ongoing open status of these asylum applications means that the applicants cannot yet leave the asylum seeker centers, thereby preventing new vacancies for incoming asylum seekers.

There is also a rising number of family members waiting to reunite with relatives who have already been granted asylum in the Netherlands. Currently, 26,630 individuals are awaiting this assessment by the IND, compared to nearly 16,700 such applications pending a year ago.

According to IND, 47,200 asylum seekers have arrived since the start of this year, with a total of 49,200 over the past 12 months. In 2023, an average of 963 people per week sought asylum, marking a 37 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

This year’s total has surged since the end of summer, with the peak arriving during the week of October 16, when 1,500 people applied for asylum. About 13,000 people have requested asylum in the Netherlands since the start of October, approximately a quarter more than the same period last year.