A group of 84 Syrian refugees left Rotterdam airport on Tuesday morning on a charter flight heading for their home country and paid for by the Dutch government.

Most of those leaving had a temporary residency permit for the Netherlands or were still going through the asylum procedure. Prior to boarding they all had to sign a document stating they were withdrawing their applications for asylum.

One man, Abdullah (21) told NOS he was returning to Aleppo where is wife and two children still live.

“I waited for a long time for the immigration service, so they could come here. But they are not coming, so I want to go back,” he said. “It was a difficult decision because my brother and mother live in the Netherlands, but my wife and children are there.”

The group returning to Syria on Tuesday have been given €2,800 per adult and €1,650 per child, as well as the flight, to help settle on their return.

The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 led to renewed push from the right-wing government to end the automatic right of people from Syria to asylum in the Netherlands and since June, applications from Syrians have been assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Caretaker justice minister David van Weel said at the time Syria is now classified as experiencing the lowest level of “indiscriminate violence”, meaning general insecurity is no longer sufficient grounds for granting asylum.

However, members of vulnerable groups, including LGBT+ people, may still qualify if they can demonstrate individual risk factors, he said.

According to the government’s return agency, some 700 Syrian nationals had left the Netherlands between January and August 31 this year. Some 150,000 Syrian nationals live in the Netherlands.

Syrians no longer account for the largest group of refugees coming to the Netherlands as has been the case since 2016, national statistics agency CBS said in July.

But Syrians did account for two-thirds of the family members applying to join close relatives already in the Netherlands, the CBS figures show.