Syrians not the largest group of new asylum seekers for first time since 2016

For the first time since 2016, Eritreans, and not Syrians, formed the largest group to apply for asylum in the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported based on asylum figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service for April, May, and June.

The number of applications from Eritreans has increased fivefold compared to the previous three months. Instead of 235 applications from Eritrean nationals, 1,200 applied for asylum in the second quarter, CBS reported.

According to Amnesty International, many young people in Eritrea are fleeing national service, which is for an indefinite term. The UN previously classified it as a form of forced labor.

At the same time, the number of asylum applications from Syrians has been declining since the end of 2024, when the Assad regime fell. In April, May, and June, 595 Syrians applied for asylum, 37 percent fewer than the previous quarter and 78 percent fewer than in the same months last year.

In the second quarter, a total of 5,300 people applied for asylum in the Netherlands. That is 17 percent more than three months earlier, but 32 percent fewer than in the second quarter of last year. A third of the applications came from children. 64 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers were under the age of 18.

These figures are for first asylum applications and do not include family reunification requests from people who were allowed to come to the Netherlands to join a family member who has been granted refugee status. In the second quarter, there were 3,700 family reunification requests, comparable to the previous quarter. Syrians formed the largest group here. Three-quarters of these applications came from Syrians.