IND

The Netherlands' immigration and naturalization service IND will have to pay 70 million euros to asylum seekers this year because their asylum processes took too long, NRC reports based on an internal memo from the Ministry of Justice and Security. This is much higher than the 17 million euros in penalty payments State Secretary Ankie Broekers-Knol estimated last year.

The number of new asylum seekers and people coming to join family members in the Netherlands decreased slightly in 2019 compared to the year before. The number of asylum seekers from Nigeria and Syria increased the most, Statistics Netherlands said on Tuesday based on figures from immigration and naturalization service IND.

Last year, 2 thousand more people applied for asylum in the Netherlands than in 2018, but the number of people joining family members through the family reunification program decreased by 2,300. That brings the total to some 300 fewer than in 2018. 

At least 1,500 interpreters in the Netherlands are on strike from Monday - they will no longer take work from the judiciary, police and immigration and naturalization service IND. The interpreters are striking against government budget cuts, which they believe come at the expense of quality. According to action group Registertolken en -vertalers, the strike will last as long as necessary, AD reports.

Mayor Femke Halsema will intervene on the behalf of Daniel Buter, a 19-year-old born in Amsterdam who is currently in custody in Rotterdam, facing deportation to the Dominican Republic. She already contacted State Secretary Ankie Broekers-Knol of Justice in Security, who is in charge of Asylum. The mayor will also look into whether other Amsterdam residents is facing the same situation as Buter, she said to the city council on Thursday, Het Parool reports.

The reception centers for asylum seekers in the Netherlands are currently filled to bursting, the central agency for the reception of asylum seekers COA said on Thursday. So far this year, the COA sheltered nearly 27 thousand people, just below the level of 2016 when the Netherlands was dealing with the aftermath of the refugee crisis, NU.nl reports.

Due to capacity problems, the Dutch immigration and naturalization service is putting pressure on employees to not revoke the residency permits of asylum seekers convicted of crimes, NRC reported on Thursday. According to the newspaper, this is because the procedures involved in revoking residency permits cost the IND a lot of time and money.

Nine year old Iraqi boy Nemr will be allowed to stay in the Netherlands after all. He was granted a residency permit, his lawyer told ANP. She would not give further comment. Nemr's parents and younger brother will also be allowed to stay, NOS reports.

The Dutch government will not help Dutch rebel fighter in the Syrian civil war Yago R. get out of Syria, where he is currently in a Kurdish prison. His British wife and their newborn son are also not welcome in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports based on information from immigration and naturalization service IND and the Ministry of Justice and Security. 

All 700 child asylum seekers who may be eligible for the children's pardon, will have clarity about their future in the Netherlands by the end of the year. Dutch immigration and naturalization service IND aims to complete its re-evaluation of these children's asylum applications before year's end, RTL NIeuws reports.

Amnesty International and Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland are both concerned about the fate of Bahraini asylum seeker Ali Mohammed Al-Showaikh. The Netherlands deported him to the Gulf nation of Bahrain in October and he was arrested upon arrival, RTL Nieuws reports.

According to the human rights organizations, there are strong indications that Al-Showaikh was abused or even tortured, and that he was forced to sign a confession.

Around a fifth of the Syrian asylum seekers who are proposed for asylum in the Netherlands through the so-called Turkey-deal, are rejected because of extremist sympathies or because their ideals are not in line with Dutch values, Paul van Musscher, national portfolio holder for foreign affairs and migration crime at the police, said to the Volkskrant.