Immigrants who stay longest in Netherlands are people who joined family, asylum seekers

The immigrants who stay the longest in the Netherlands are people who moved here to join family and asylum seekers, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Thursday. Around 1.8 million people immigrated to the Netherlands between 1999 and 2023. 32 percent were family migrants and 23 percent were asylum seekers.

Of the family migrants who came to the Netherlands from outside Europe between 2005 and 2010, around 57 percent still lived here 13 years later. The same applies to 52 percent of asylum seekers. These groups tend to stay longer because they are looking for “a new home base,” a CBS spokesperson told ANP, but stressed that this is “not the case for everyone.” Of all immigrants, over 40 percent had left the Netherlands again on the last day of 2023.

Over 572,000 people moved to the Netherlands from outside Europe to join family members already here since 1999. Around 6 percent were a family member of a refugee who came through the family reunification program. The other 94 percent were family members who followed expats or migrant workers or moved to the Netherlands for love.

Study migrants leave again the fastest, closely followed by migrant workers. Many migrant workers come to the Netherlands to work for a fixed period and then go back home, the CBS spokesperson told the news wire. And many students move on once their studies are complete.