The Netherlands reduces approvals for asylum applications to their lowest levels.
The Netherlands has witnessed a significant decline in the approval of asylum applications, with only 35% of first-time applications accepted between November 2024 and October 2025, compared to 56% in the previous year. For decades, the country has been one of the highest in the European Union in terms of acceptance rates, routinely granting 70% to 80% of applications.
By the fiftieth week of this year, the Netherlands received more than 40,000 asylum applications, including repeated applications and family reunification cases. The Ministry of Immigration expects the total for 2024 to reach around 44,000 applications, which is much lower than previous government forecasts.
The decline in approvals is largely due to changes in how the Netherlands assesses the safety of the countries from which asylum seekers originate. For example, the approval rate for Syrian asylum seekers dropped from 85% last year to 51%, as applications are now evaluated individually rather than automatically. Asylum seekers from Yemen, Iraq, and Turkey have also faced stricter scrutiny after parts of these countries or certain population groups were classified as safe.
Since mid-2024, asylum seekers have had to prove their personal risk more significantly, rather than relying on their membership in a specific demographic or religion. This new approach has led to an increase in the number of rejections and raised concerns about the fate of those who exhaust their appeals and are asked to leave the country.
Among the 17,510 refugees rejected this year and recorded as 'having left', authorities confirm that only about 60% have actually departed, either through deportation or voluntary return with financial support. The remaining cases still pose a challenge for policymakers and highlight ongoing issues in managing rejected refugees.