The story of Alvin ‘Asylum belongs to us all’ Alvin is a tactical manager at the application centre in Ter Apel. It is the place in the Netherlands where the high influx of asylum seekers is currently the most visible. ‘It’s busy. We do our utmost to …

The story of Ruth ‘People feel seen and heard’ Working for the IND means working on the world. Every application matters, but when there is a war somewhere, like in Ukraine now, this urgency becomes even clearer. At various areas within the organisation, …

The story of Carla My work is a grey area in which I have to take black-and-white decisions A foreign national who applies for asylum in the Netherlands can tell their story during different interviews. One of the interview and decision-making staff …

The story of Jeanet The better the systems, the faster people know where they stand She may not be a technician, but she is indeed technical. Jeanet Poelsema is scrum master at the IND. It is her job, together with her teams, to improve the IT systems of …

The story of Mijke ‘Being a spokesperson for the IND means yes rather than no’ The Christmas tree had just been put away when Mijke Bol was hired as a spokesperson by the IND. The very first spokesperson for that matter, because before then the …

The story of Serdar I feel satisfied if I’ve carefully weighed up the pros and cons Serdar is a legal representative at the IND. He is in court every week to defend IND decisions rejecting applications. ‘I am aware that this is disappointing and drastic …

Migration Radar The Migration Radar outlines the migration flows of asylum seekers to Europe and the Netherlands and analyses developments in the field of (asylum) migration. Organisations cooperating in the immigration process can use the Migration Radar …

Asylum Trends Every month, the IND draws up a report on asylum applications in the Netherlands and Europe: the Asylum Trends (AT). In March 2025, the total asylum influx (the sum of first and repeated asylum applications and family reunifications) …

Complaints handling The IND wants to be transparent about its work, also if our clients do not think we are doing it well. Therefore, we give insight into how the IND handles complaints on this page. It is important to the IND that someone filing a …

IND Social Advisory Council The Social Advisory Council (in Dutch: Maatschappelijke adviesraad or MAR) advises the IND about the immigration policy. This advise helps us to remain critical of our work. And it allows us to improve ourselves where necessary …