Dutch MPs have voted in favour of legislation which makes it a criminal offence to be in the Netherlands without proper paperwork, but which does not penalise people who help them.

The amendment to legislation drawn up by former immigration minister Marjolein Faber from the far-right PVV will now go to the senate for approval.

The legislation, described by Faber as “the toughest asylum policy ever”, was approved by MPs last summer but put on hold after it emerged that it would also criminalise people “offering a bowl of soup” to people in the Netherlands illegally.

That gap has now been closed, allowing the legislation to proceed to the upper house.

D66, the biggest party in the lower house, and GroenLinks-PvdA oppose making it a crime to be in the Netherlands without the right paperwork and say it will only boost the amount of work for an already overstretched immigration service.

But acting justice minister David van Weel said he did not expect “a major hunt” for illegal immigrants. Instead, he said, the legislation would make it easier to return them to their country of origin.

Senators will now have their say on two pieces of legislation. The first bill scraps permanent residency permits for refugees, reduces the initial refugee permit from five to three years, and bars family reunification until refugees have lived in the Netherlands for two years and have secured housing and an income.

The second bill would allow officials to differentiate between people who fled their home country because of their ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion, and those who fled war or violence, including natural disasters.

Both bills have been criticised by the Council of State and various other organisations for being over-hasty and ill thought through.