Asylum applications almost halved in 2016 in wake of Turkey deal

The number of people seeking asylum in the Netherlands fell by 46% in 2016, according to the latest official figures.

The immigration service IND said the fall from last year’s peak of 58,900 was in large part a result of the deal struck between the EU and Turkey during the Netherlands’ EU presidency, under which Turkey agreed to take in more Syrian refugees heading for Europe.

Rob van Lint, director of the IND, told NPO Radio 1: ‘The deal was agreed in March and since then the influx of asylum seekers, especially from Syria, has gone down a lot.’

Syrians are still the largest group of asylum seekers, making up 34% of the total, followed by Eritreans (9%) and Albanians (5%). The Eritrean contingent included a large number of unaccompanied children – 773 in total.

Overall 18,000 asylum seekers were first-time applicants, 1,800 were reapplying and 12,000 travelled to be reunited with family members who were already in the Netherlands.

Van Lint said there had been a spike in recent months of asylum applicants from Morocco and Algeria, two countries perceived to be safe. Foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders and deputy justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff are due to travel to Morocco later this month to discuss arrangements to take back failed asylum seekers.