The length of time asylum seekers are waiting to have their cases dealt with by the immigration service IND has risen again, even though the number of new arrivals has fallen for two years in a row, Trouw reported on Monday.

More than half of new requests take more than 15 months to assess, the paper said, quoting IND figures. At the start of 2025, fewer than 10,000 people had been waiting for 15 months, but that number had more than doubled to 24,490 by the end of the year.

The IND website currently states that refugees who made their first application for asylum in September 2023 are now having their cases looked at. By law, however, all applications should be dealt with within six months.

The service declined to discuss reasons for the delays, saying that Christian Democrat MPs have already submitted a series of questions about the increase, Trouw said.

One possible reason for the longer processing times is the rise in rejected asylum claims. Last year, only three in 10 asylum requests in the Netherlands were granted, compared with around four in five in previous years. Rejecting an asylum request takes more time and is more labour intensive than approving one.

The number of new asylum requests in the Netherlands fell 25% last year to 24,000, largely due to the downturn in applications from Syrians.