Netherlands allowed to stop shelter for third-country nationals: Council of State
The Dutch government was allowed to end the shelter and protection of third-country nationals from Ukraine in 2023 while still offering shelter to Ukrainian refugees, the Council of State ruled on three separate cases on Wednesday.
This ruling applies to third-country nationals who had temporary residence in Ukraine when Russia invaded. Like for Ukrainians, the Netherlands must still offer shelter and protection to third-country nationals who had permanent residency in Ukraine when the war started, as well as to stateless people who fled from the country.
In July 2022, then-State Secretary Eric van der Brug of Asylum decided to stop offering shelter to non-Ukrainians who were studying or working in Ukraine with temporary permits and fled to the Netherlands when the war started. They would no longer be covered by the European Temporary Directive to shelter refugees from Ukraine when Europe extended it in October 2023 to March 2025. Many affected people took the matter to court, resulting in varying rulings. That prompted the Council of State to ask the European Court of Justice about this matter.
The European court ruled in December 2024 that EU member states may terminate temporary protection for third-country nationals who were temporarily living in Ukraine earlier than for Ukrainians, stateless persons, and third-country nationals with permanent residence. The protection for the latter three groups is compulsory, but optional for third-country nationals with temporary residence. “This means that an EU Member State is not obliged to grant protection to that group, but it may do so.”
Following the European Court’s ruling, the Council of State has now definitively ruled that the government was allowed to end the shelter for this group. The Netherlands officially did so on 4 March 2024. “This means that from 4 March 2024, they are not entitled to reside in the Netherlands based on the European Temporary Directive,” the Council of State said.
The Netherlands’ highest administrative court added that the State Secretary was not allowed to order third-country nationals to leave the EU before 4 March 2024. He did so in several cases. The Council of State annulled those return decisions.
