Municipalities can evict third-country nationals from shelters, State Sec says

The Dutch municipalities that stopped sheltering third-country nationals from Ukraine this week did so “lawfully and correctly,” outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) said in a letter to the municipalities. They may continue to evict third-country nationals from their shelters, he said. The ruling by the Council of State does not alter this, NOS reports.

Third-country nationals are people who lived in Ukraine on a temporary residency permit when Russia invaded and then fled to safe countries in Europe along with Ukrainian refugees. In the Nehtelrands, it involves around 2,500 people. They initially had the same protection as Ukrainian refugees, but their right to reception lapsed on Monday.

On Tuesday, the Council of State ruled that six third-country nationals in Amsterdam will temporarily retain their right to reception in the Netherlands, pending a ruling by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The Amsterdam District Court asked the European Court for clarity on whether third-country nationals are entitled to the same protection as Ukrainian refugees. The third-country nationals involved could keep living in the Netherlands until the European Court provided that explanation, the Council of State ruled.

According to Van der Burg, the Council of State ruling applies only to the third-country nationals in Amsterdam about whom the Amsterdam court asked for clarity. It does not apply to other third-country nationals in similar situations elsewhere in the Netherlands. “It does not mean that other third-country nationals also fall under this judgment,” he wrote.

Council of State spokesperson Pieter-Bas Beekman told NOS on Tuesday that the ruling does not automatically apply to all third-country nationals in the Netherlands, but it is indicative. “So if other third-country nationals in the same situation come to us, they could receive the same ruling,” he said.