Netherlands to limit asylum permits in bid to curb migration

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands will limit permits for asylum seekers to a maximum of three years and will introduce border controls next month, as part of a broader clampdown on asylum migration, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday.

The measure is part of a package of measures aimed at curbing asylum migration, an objective of the new right-wing government led by Geert Wilders’ anti-Muslim party PVV.

As well as scrapping open-ended permits to stay once someone had been registered as an asylum seeker, the government will also scrap preferential housing for those asylum seekers permitted to stay, instead offering basic shared units, while limiting possibilities for them to reunite with their families.

After the three years expire, permits will be reassessed to see if someone should leave or be granted an extension.

Detention centres for refused or undocumented asylum seekers will be expanded, aimed at their swift return to their country of origin, Schoof said.

Following a similar move by neighbouring Germany last month, the Netherlands will introduce targeted border controls from the end of November aimed at tackling illegal migration.

Schoof acknowledged he could not estimate what effect the measures would ultimately have, but stressed their need for the government’s promised crackdown on migration.

“We’ll have to see what it does, you can’t express that in specific numbers. But this whole package will no doubt affect how many people will come to the Netherlands and the number that will leave,” he told reporters.

Wilders’ promises of being tough on asylum migration brought him a large win at the election last November, even though asylum applications per capita in the Netherlands are no higher than the EU average.

But after years of budget cuts, the country’s only registration centre for asylum seekers has been struggling to deal with the flow of migrants, forcing hundreds of refugees at times to sleep rough.

The Dutch association of city councils on Friday criticised the plans, telling the ANP news agency they would bring chaos and would be difficult to implement.