Asylum seekers go into hiding pending new application procedure
image: AR on Unsplash
Applying for asylum twice is not allowed. Yet according to IND figures, the Netherlands returns only one in five asylum seekers to other countries in ongoing asylum procedures. Assistant Professor Mark Klaassen commented on news programme ‘EenVandaag’.
According to the EU’s Dublin Regulation, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) may refuse an asylum application if an asylum procedure has already been started for that person in another Member State. The Netherlands then asks that country to take the asylum seeker back. ‘But in practice, this isn't always successful for various reasons,’ says Klaassen. ‘As a result, it actually doesn’t happen very often.’
Figures from the IND show that in reality the Netherlands only returns one in five asylum seekers to another Member State. Perhaps that country is unwilling to cooperate, or the asylum seeker in question refuses to leave and goes into hiding. After 18 months, the Dublin Regulation expires and the asylum seeker may apply for a new procedure in a Member State other than the one where the first asylum application was pending. The Dutch government is familiar with this phenomenon. Klaassen: ‘The government should make more efforts to keep people in reception facilities.’
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Watch this news item on EenVandaag (in Dutch)