560 Afghan evacuees have received asylum decision
In the past weeks, 560 Afghan evacuees received an asylum decision from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. This means a quarter of evacuees have received a decision by now. In the coming period, the IND will continue to make steady progress on the asylum procedure, and plan the interviews of the remainder of evacuees as soon as possible.
In August, the Netherlands evacuated around 2.000 people from Afghanistan who would be entitled to asylum here because of their connection with the Netherlands. The IND deployed teams at the various reception sites to process the applications on a project base; quickly and carefully.
Shortened procedure
The asylum procedure has been shortened for these people. This means that they are registered and identified by the IND and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (KMar). They are also screened in the context of public order and national security. By now, this has been done for almost everyone.
Afterwards, the evacuees are informed about the asylum procedure, are allowed access to legal assistance, and have an interview and receive a decision. For the interviews, a group of employees have been made available. Among them are staff of the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V), who are helping the IND temporarily. As a result of these efforts, it is expected that the number of evacuees with an asylum decision will increase rapidly in the coming period.
Transit
The evacuees also include a group of people in transit because they are on the evacuation list of a third country. They will be screened, but do not have to be identified and registered by the KMar. They will also not start the asylum procedure. This concerns around 220 people.
Three centres
The IND is currently active in three reception centres. In Zeist, all interviews have been conducted, but decisions need to be taken for a number of applications. Last Tuesday, interviews started in the emergency accommodation centre on the military site in Harskamp. This is where evacuees are who were formerly accommodated in Zoutkamp and were not interviewed there. The group formerly staying in Harskamp has been interviewed and transferred to Heumensoord. There, facilities have been set up and the remaining evacuees are being prepared for their interview. The IND will start holding interviews this week.