The Senate has passed a bill making it easier to deny migrants the right to live in the Netherlands if they commit a serious offence.

The rule change means more convicted criminals could be denied a residency permit even if they were born in the Netherlands to migrant parents or arrived in the country after the age of four.

At the moment only people who are sentenced to more than five years in prison for a serious drugs-related offence can be denied a permanent residency permit because of their criminal record.

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber described the vote in a social media post as “good news”, but opposition parties said it would only affect a tiny handful of cases and dismissed it as “gesture politics”.

De @EersteKamer stemde vandaag in met een wetsvoorstel dat het mogelijk maakt een permanente verblijfsvergunning te kunnen weigeren aan mensen die in Nederland zijn geboren of hier vanaf hun vierde levensjaar wonen, als zij veroordeeld zijn voor een zwaar misdrijf. Goed nieuws! pic.twitter.com/8yLx5ubz3P

— Marjolein Faber (@MinisterAenM) July 9, 2024

It was the first bill to be brought to the Upper House by a minister in the new right-wing cabinet of PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB.

Opponents also said the law would add to the administrative burden on the immigration service IND and add to the number of people living in the Netherlands illegally, as many people facing deportation disappear under the radar.