Asylum applications drop 13% under EU migration pact

The number of first-time asylum applications in the Netherlands fell by 13% in the third quarter of 2026, compared with the same period last year, according to figures from national statistics bureau CBS and immigration service IND.

The downward trend follows the implementation of the new European Union Migration Pact, which came into effect in June this year, with tighter guidelines, the abolition of permanent asylum residence permits and stricter criteria for family reunification.

Several of those changes echo measures pushed by former asylum minister Marjolein Faber (PVV), who promised the “strictest asylum policy ever” and wanted to make the Netherlands “as unattractive as possible to asylum seekers”. Her emergency asylum law was rejected by the Senate in April.

In the third quarter of 2026, some 5,900 people filed an asylum application for the first time, 850 fewer than a year earlier. Asylum applications from Eritreans and Syrians halved, while 1,500 fewer family reunification applicants came to the country than a year ago.

Eritreans submitted the most asylum claims, followed closely by Syrians. According to CBS, the number of Ukrainian applications increased from 15 to 140, while the number of applications from people from Ethiopia decreased from 290 to 75.