Dutch asylum numbers a third lower than a year ago

The number of people registering for asylum in the Netherlands has fallen below 600 a week for the first time this year, according to weekly figures from the asylum ministry.

The drop is heavy compared to last year, when for most of autumn 2025 the weekly total was around 1,000, Volkskrant reported on Thursday.

The drop in numbers is mostly down to a reduction in family reunification requests. The number of relatives arriving to join people who already have refugee status has dropped from around 300 a week before the summer to between 110 and 120 a week over the past fortnight.

Syrians
The Netherlands has recorded more than 40,000 asylum-related arrivals every year since 2022. New applications fell sharply after the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, but the total stayed roughly level because Syrians who already had refugee status were still bringing over their families.

A record 16,500 family members arrived in 2025, up 39% on the year before, and three-quarters of them were Syrian, according to statistics agency CBS.

Tighter EU rules on family reunification came into force in June under the European migration pact. The ministry has not yet said what is behind the drop.

Senate
The ministry has only published a breakdown of the weekly figures since late June. Until then its weekly press release was a single line giving one total for new applications, repeat applications, resettlement and family members combined.

Applications are reportedly falling across Europe. The EU asylum agency EUAA said last week that the 27 member states plus Norway and Switzerland received 332,000 applications in the first half of 2026, 17% fewer than a year earlier and the lowest first-half total since 2021.

The agency attributed much of the drop to fewer applications from Venezuelans and Syrians.