The Netherlands is facing a projected rise of 19,000 additional refugee cases in 2028 if two new asylum laws and the European migrant deal are enacted, the Council for the Judiciary said, according to NLtimes.
The laws – are currently before the Eerste Kamer (the Upper House of the Dutch Parliament) – include the Asylum Emergency Measures Act, which shortens the duration of residence permits, and the “two-status” law, which distinguishes between people fleeing war and violence (B-status) and those fleeing for personal reasons (A-status). The latter is provided to those who are escaping persecution based on, for example, religion, sexual orientation, or political opinions. To put this into perspective, persons who leave their country for conflicts and natural disasters will have a harder time entering the Netherlands and receiving an asylum permit.
Two-tier System
The Netherlands is switching to a two-status asylum system (A and B statuses) to tighten immigration, distinguishing between individual persecution and broad war violence. In 2025, as suggested by the right-wing coalition government, the system restricts family reunions, cuts permit duration from 5 to 3 years, and cancels permanent asylum visas.
The Geert Wilders-led PVV coalition government is now gone, but a new alliance of D66, CDA, and VVD has also committed to enacting the laws if authorized by the Eerste Kamer.
The judges were cautioned when the two laws were announced; now they also bring attention to the problem.
The Council, which is in charge of ensuring that Dutch courts and certain related authorities perform their duties effectively, expects that especially the implementation of the two new national asylum laws in the country is going to change the country’s asylum system fundamentally, resulting in an initial spike in cases to be dealt with by officials.
The Council noted that the major revisions to asylum legislation will require additional “training capacity.”
“In 2025, nearly 307,000 people immigrated and 212,000 emigrated. This means a net increase of 95,000 people through migration, compared to 108,000 a year earlier,” the Central Office for Statistics wrote in a statement. About 141,000 people with a European background moved to the Netherlands. They anticipated that 75 percent of asylum applicants receiving a B-status, who have a decreased likelihood of securing a residence permit, will challenge their decision. Of the estimated 19,000 new cases, around 8,500 will involve the “two-status” law.
Asylum case numbers have been climbing significantly in recent years. In 2023, there were 44,500 asylum cases; by 2026, the number had climbed to 68,900.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service hopes that enacting the two legislation will simplify procedures and minimize waiting times for asylum seekers.
The Looming Cloud of the EU Migration Pact
Meanwhile, the EU Migration Pact, which is to be implemented across the bloc in June 2026, is another piece of legislation that is likely to increase the number of asylum seekers in the Netherlands. According to the accord, the Netherlands might have to accept more asylum seekers from other areas of the EU under a solidarity pool, which provides each country a specific proportion. Dutch officials, however, will be allowed to purchase their way out of the system if they determine that the country cannot manage with greater numbers of asylum seekers.
