Tough new rules covering migrant family reunions which came into effect on October 1 will not, in effect, be applied before December, immigration minister Gerd Leers told MPs on Thursday evening.

A majority of MPs voted in favour of a motion calling for the new law to be put on ice pending the formation of a new government, a plan which Leers says is legally impossible.
However, Labour parliamentarians called on Leers to monitor applications made between now and December 1, so parliament can look again at the implications of the new rules.
Labour was supported by the right-wing VVD. The two parties are currently in talks on forming a new government.
Leers said he could not give a guarantee but that in practical terms ‘it is extremely unlikely’ that any decisions would have been taken about applications made after October 1 before December.

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