The IND in figures

The number of applications for residence permits has already been increasing for a longer time. And this is expected to increase even more in the years to come. Moreover this does not make the work of the IND easier. Increasingly more substantiation is needed to decide on a residence application. Notwithstanding that the IND does more than can be expected of the organisation on the basis of the agreed capacity, the number of cases that have been outstanding for a long time is increasing.

Each month the IND publishes a survey of the main current figures and developments.

Monthly figures August 2024

Asylum: First asylum applications

In August, the IND made decisions on 1,540 first asylum applications. This was fewer than budgeted (2,820) and also fewer than the previous month (2,300). This is due to a lower number of decisions in the general and extended asylum procedures (track 4). The number of incoming applications was 2,610, consistent with July, but lower compared to August 2023 (3,300).

Asylum: Dublin procedure (Track 1)

In the Dublin procedure, the IND made more decisions than budgeted in August (260). The total came to 420 decisions. In July, there were 360. Consequently, the number of pending applications slightly decreased from 2,160 to 2,050.

Asylum: Safe Country procedure (track 2)

In the safe countries procedure, the number of decisions remained the same as a month earlier at 70. There were 50 new applications in this procedure, which is the lowest number recorded in the past twelve months. As a result, the number of pending applications continues to decline, now down from 200 to 170.

Asylum: General and extended asylum procedure (track 4)

The IND made fewer decisions in this procedure than budgeted: 1,710 decisions while 3,030 were budgeted. The project for expediting asylum processing (BAA) was completed in July. Within this project, just over 18,000 asylum applications were processed faster. The number of applications increased substantially and for the first time this year exceeded 4,000, compared to 2,650 in July.

Asylum: Family members who have joined the asylum seekers later

In follow-up cases, 1,220 decisions were made, the same as in August 2023. The plan for the second half of the year is to take 2,060 decisions per month. This is expected to be achieved later in the year. Since the number of applications (2,910) is again higher than the number of decisions, the backlog of pending applications has risen to nearly 41,000 applications (40,930).

Family and relatives

In August, the IND made 3,200 decisions on applications for residence with family and partners. The number of new applications was 3,100. As a result, the number of pending applications has slightly decreased to 6,350, of which the majority (4,330) have been open for less than 3 months.

Residence permit knowledge and talent

Permits for knowledge and talent are for knowledge migrants, graduates with a search year, and employees transferred to a European branch of the company. In August, the IND made 2,140 decisions on these types of applications.

Study

The peak in applications for study permits due to the start of the academic year in September has passed. In the past four months, nearly 17,000 applications for residence permits were submitted. In August, 550 new applications were received. The IND takes into account the annual peak and can thus make decisions on these applications quickly. There are only 10 applications that have been pending for more than 1 month.

Migrant workers

In August, 490 applications from labor migrants were received. This is 10 fewer than the number of decisions, resulting in a slight decrease in the number of pending applications to 2,210. This includes permits for working as an employee, as a self-employed person/startup, for cross-border services, and applications under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty.

Naturalization

In August, the IND made 70 decisions on naturalization applications. This low number is due to fewer royal decrees being issued during the summer period. The naturalization application is submitted to the municipality, assessed by the IND, and ultimately the Dutch citizenship is granted by the signing of a royal decree.

Service desk

In August, a total of 25,740 appointments were made for the issuance of residence documents at the counters. Applicants could generally get an appointment at the counter after an average of 5 days. Additionally, the number of appointments for biometric data collection (fingerprints and photos) rose to 17,770. The first appointment opportunity for this was, on average, after 5 days.