Home
Close

IND lenient with migrants with corona support

Last update: 5 July 2022

Sufficient income is a condition for a residence permit in the Netherlands. Because foreign nationals sometimes had to deal with a loss of income as a result of the corona pandemic, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has applied the income requirement leniently when assessing residence applications. In a small number of cases, the IND has not been lenient where it should have been. This has been remedied recently.

After the corona pandemic broke out in 2020, the IND got a lot of questions from migrants who were afraid to lose their right of residence in the Netherlands because of financial problems. This was because they were using financial support funds from the government, such as the Temporary Emergency Bridging Measure for Sustained Employment (in Dutch: Tijdelijke Noodmaatregel Overbrugging Werkgelegenheid or NOW) or Temporary Bridging Scheme for Self-Employed Professionals (in Dutch: Tijdelijke overbruggingsregeling zelfstandig ondernemers or Tozo). In principle, an appeal to this support can have consequences for the right of residence, but in this exceptional situation we have been lenient in a number of cases.

Income requirement

Via the Ministry of Education Culture and Science, the IND has received signals from the Fine Arts Platform (in Dutch: Platform Beeldende Kunst) that a small group of migrants was rejected because they were no longer able to meet the income requirement and depended on emergency support via the Tozo. From an internal investigation, it has become clear that this concerns around 20 applications for extension of a regular permanent residence permit. This had to do with the high time pressure and the complexity of emergency support measures. Because of this, the right of residence of the persons involved may have been in peril. By now, we have remedied this, so that the income requirement has been applied leniently to everyone who is eligible.

If immigrants think their application may have been rejected wrongfully, they can object to the IND. If the objection period may have lapsed, they can opt to submit a new application.