Summary

Since 2017, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has followed asylum seekers who arrived at the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Dutch abbreviation: COA) reception centres from 2014 onwards, as well as status holders who received an asylum residence permit in 2014 or later, including family reunification applicants and following family members. This eighth edition of the annual report on this cohort study provides insight into the inflows of asylum seekers at COA reception centres and the composition of the latest group of status holders, from 2014 to the middle of 2023. In addition, this web publication gives an up-to-date account of the living situation and integration of status holders who have received an asylum residence permit in the Netherlands since 2014. The figures presented here include the inflow and outflow at COA reception centres, the waiting period for an asylum residence permit, housing, civic integration, household composition, family reunification, education, naturalisation, work and income, healthcare use and crime. The report looks in particular at unaccompanied minor foreign nationals, and a separate chapter is dedicated to Ukrainian refugees who have come to the Netherlands since 24 February 2022 (the start of the full-scale war) under the Temporary Protection Directive. This research was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security (Dutch abbreviation: JenV) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW).

Some recent developments in the inflow and duration of stay of asylum seekers at COA reception centres are described below.

• High annual inflow at COA reception centres since 2021 – Following a temporary decline in 2020, the annual total of asylum seekers admitted to COA reception centres in 2021 and 2022 was higher than in previous years. The number of asylum seekers admitted at COA in 2022 (49,000, including following family members) was the highest total since the 2015 peak (54,000). In the first half of 2023, 20,000 asylum seekers were admitted: 1,000 more than in the same period in 2022. The temporary decline, which was mainly seen in the first half of 2020, was a result of the coronavirus crisis. In that period, border measures were implemented in several origin countries as well as in the Netherlands, asylum interviews and court hearings could not take place, and asylum seekers were housed in emergency shelters instead of COA reception centres. In Ter Apel, identification and registration were halted temporarily and asylum applications could not be submitted. As many temporary measures began to be phased out from late April 2020, the inflow at COA reception centres increased.
• More asylum seekers from Yemen and Turkey – The inflow from Yemen has increased, especially since 2020. Turkey has ranked among the top five nationalities with the largest inflow in COA reception centres since 2018. As of 2021, the second-largest group (after Syrians) are no longer Eritreans; instead they are Afghans (in 2021) and Turks (in 2022 and the first half of 2023).
• Relatively high proportion of young men – More than three-quarters of all asylum seekers are aged under 35 at the time of arrival, with more than half being younger than 25. At 66%, the proportion of men remained high throughout 2022 and in the first half of 2023. As in earlier years, the majority of these men were young.
• The proportion of Syrian men has risen again – Since 2020, (younger) men have made up roughly two-thirds of the asylum seekers from Syria. This is similar to the first two asylum cohorts, from 2014 and 2015. There were slightly higher proportions of women and young children, most noticeably in 2016 and 2017, than in previous or later years. This was largely due to the relatively large proportion of following family members among Syrians at that time, compared to the other years. In the first half of 2023, 66% of the applicants were male, including a large proportion of 15- to 19-year-olds.
• Fewer asylum-seeking families from Eritrea – On average, in 2022 and the first half of 2023, 40% of all asylum seekers travelled to the Netherlands as families. In 2017, this proportion was 59%. The number of Eritrean families coming to the Netherlands showed a particularly noticeable decline: from 70% in 2020 to 21% in the first half of 2023.
• Slightly more relocations at COA shelters among recent cohorts – Asylum seekers admitted in 2014 were relocated 1.7 times in their first six months. The average number of relocations during the first six months gradually declined between 2014 and 2019. Following this there was an increase: On average, asylum seekers who entered COA reception centres in 2021 and 2022 were relocated to a different centre at a rate of just over once in the first six months of their stay. This increase in relocation at COA shelters can be explained by deployment of temporary emergency locations.
• A majority of asylum seekers are placed in a regular centre after one month – A majority (69%) of the asylum seekers admitted by COA in 2022 were placed in a regular reception centre within their first month. A further 18% were housed in emergency accommodation and 10% in a crisis centre. After six months, the proportion of people in regular centres fell to 48%, while 40% were in emergency accommodation. The proportion who were housed in crisis centres remained stable at 11%.
• The proportion receiving a residence permit within 12 months fell, then rose again from 2020 – For all nationalities combined, the proportion of the 2018 and 2019 cohorts who obtained a temporary asylum residence permit within 12 months was lower than in previous cohorts. In 2020 and 2021, however, this proportion increased again to 74% and 80%, respectively. There is great variety between the different inflow cohorts and nationalitiesnoot1: 90% of the Syrians and Eritreans admitted between 2014 and 2021 inclusive obtained a residence permit after 12 months, while for the other nationalities this varies between 40% (Iran) and 58% (Afghanistan).
• After 8.5 years, 160 asylum seekers from the 2014 cohort are still living at a COA shelter without a permit – This does not mean that the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) is still processing all these people’s applications. Some applicants remain at the reception centre awaiting departure after having their application rejected, while others stay pending an appeal ruling. Applicants are also entitled to file a second or subsequent asylum application if their first application is rejected, for example if their situation has changed or if new information has come to light about their country of origin. This is the case for 0.8% of the 2014 cohort (160 people), rising slowly to 5.1% of the 2018 cohort: 980 people from that cohort remain in COA reception centres after 54 months without a residence permit.
• Syrians and Eritreans from recent cohorts are again more likely to be in COA reception centres without a residence permit – Of the Eritreans and Syrians admitted between 2018 and 2021 inclusive, a relatively large proportion remain in COA reception centres without a residence permit (respectively 13 and 7 in 2018, compared to 26 and 15 for the 2021 cohort). In previous years, this figure did not rise above 3.8% for Eritreans and 2.8% for Syrians.
• Afghans from 2021 are again more likely to live independently – Of the Afghans admitted in 2021, 59% lived independently in the municipality after 12 months. For the 2019 and 2020 cohorts this proportion roughly halved, to 30% and 31%, respectively. At the same time, the proportion of Afghans remaining in COA reception centres without a residence permit declined: from 37% for people admitted in 2019 to 8% for the 2021 cohort. Compared to nationalities such as Syrian and Eritrean, Afghan asylum seekers’ initial applications were relatively likely to be rejected in the period between 2014 and 2020. They applied for asylum repeatedly in this period, which means that a relatively large group of Afghan asylum seekers are staying at COA reception centres longer than 12 months without receiving a residence permit.
• Most people leave voluntarily, often with an unknown destination – Of the nearly 27 thousand asylum seekers who entered COA reception centres in 2014, nearly a quarter (22%) have left the country after 8,5 years or were temporarily without an address. Most asylum seekers who leave the country do this voluntarily, with or without the destination being known. For a small share of asylum seekers who do not want to leave and do not accept help from the government, the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V) proceeds to forced departure: for the 2014 cohort, 365 were forced to leave after 8,5 years.
• Nearly 24,000 unaccompanied minor foreign nationals (AMVs)  – Since 2014, nearly 24,000 AMVs have arrived in the Netherlands. Of this group, more than 21,000 arrived through a COA reception centre; the remainder were placed by Nidos. Nearly 60% of AMVs were Syrian (34%) and Eritrean (25%). There was a particularly large influx in 2015, when 4,510 new AMVs being admitted in that year. The first half of 2023 saw 2,060 new AMV’s arrived in the Netherlands. Two-thirds of all AMVs were aged 15, 16 or 17, and 81% were male. There were only a few very young AMVs: 1% were aged under 5.

The following section describes some recent developments in the housing and civic integration of status holders, their following family members and family reunification applicants.

• The number of asylum permits granted has risen again since 2020 – In 2022, the number of permits granted (33,000) exceeded the annual totals for 2017 to 2021 inclusive. 17,000 permits were granted in the first half of 2023. As family members who follow the status holder to the Netherlands are issued a dependent asylum residence permit, they are also counted as status holders for the purpose of this study, as are family reunification applicants.
• The top five nationalitiesnoot2 of status holders vary, but Syria remains at number 1 – From 2014 to 2020 inclusive, Syria and Eritrea formed the largest and second largest group respectively; Afghanistan overtook Eritrea in 2021, while Turkey was in second place in 2022 and over the first half of 2023. Turkey and Yemen entered the top five in 2019 and have remained there ever since, with the exception of 2021 (Yemen).
• The proportion of following family members rose again after 2020 – Since 2014, 85,000 following family members have been granted a permit, with the majority of these consisting of Eritreans and Syrians. The proportion of following family members among status holders increased from 27% to 51% between the 2014 and 2017 cohorts, followed by a reduction to 22% in 2020. The proportion of following family members among status holders rose again in 2021 to 37%, before declining in 2022 (33%) and in the first six months of 2023 (27%).
• AMVs encompass more following family members and family reunification than status holders as a whole – The proportion of AMVs (excluding following family members) in the 2020 cohort who brought family members to the Netherlands within two-and-a-half years under the following family members scheme was 49%; 15% of this group used regular family reunification during the same period.
• Following family members cause Syrians to have the shortest average waiting time – The average waiting period for all status holders who were granted a permit from 2014 up to and including the first half of 2023 was 175 days. This is again a slight increase compared to the average waiting period stated in the previous report (159 days). Syrians and Eritreans obtain a residence permit relatively quickly. The family reunification procedure reduces the average waiting time.
• Few regional differences – There is little difference between nationalities and permit cohorts in terms of status holders’ geographical distribution across the Netherlands. Two years after leaving the COA reception centres, status holders are still spread out across the country.
• Status holders increasingly live in urban areas in the course of the time – The longer status holders reside in the Netherlands, the more likely they are to live in an urban area. Of the 2015 permit cohort, 55% were living in strongly or very strongly urbanised areas after two months; this increased to 62% after seven years.
• Status holders predominantly live in rented homes – The 244,000 status holders who were granted a residence permit between 2014 and the middle of 2023 were forming 89,000 households as of 1 July 2023. Of these households, the vast majority (95%) live in rented homes.
• Increasing numbers of status holders are children living at home; the number of single persons is falling – A growing proportion of the permit cohorts from 2016 onwards is made up of minor children accompanied by one or both parents, as well as couples (either with or without children). The proportion of children living with one or both parents among the 2014 permit cohort is 28%. The same figure for the 2023 cohort (first six months) is 57%. The proportion of single persons continues to decline. Of the group who were granted a permit in 2014, 39% were single when they were assigned accommodation within a local authority. This is 10% in the first half of 2023.
• Education enrolment increasing – An ever larger share of status holders in successive cohorts are enrolled in education (55% of the 2019 cohort as of 1 October 2023). Even young people aged 18 and over, for whom education is not compulsory, are more likely to be in education the longer they remain in the Netherlands.
• High education participation rate among recent AMVs – Among the various cohorts of AMVs, an increasing percentage are in education. For example, 45% of all AMVs who obtained their permit in 2014 were in education as of 1 October 2023; the figure for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 cohorts on the same reference date was around 80%.
• Enrolment in MBO no longer increasing; greater enrolment in HBO and WO – The proportion of status holders attending education from the 2014 cohort who were enrolled on MBO courses increased from 12% in 2015 to 55% in 2018, before falling to 51% in 2023. The drop in MBO enrolment was accompanied by a rise in enrolment in higher vocational education (HBO) and university education (WO) (from 2% in 2015 to 10% in the period between 2018 and 2023).
• A majority of AMVs were enrolled on MBO courses; HBO and WO enrolment is rising – Of all the AMVs in the 2014 cohort, 72% were enrolled on MBO courses on 1 October 2017. This percentage increased to 84% by 2023. In addition, a growing number of AMVs were enrolled at HBO or WO level. Of the AMVs who were granted a residence permit in 2014, 8% were enrolled on HBO or WO courses as of 1 October 2023, compared with 2% on 1 October 2017.
• MBO level is rising – Of the status holders who received a residence permit and who subsequently enrolled on MBO courses, in the first few years the majority were initially enrolled at Level 1. However, this gradually rose to Level 2, and in October 2021 and 2022 more status holders were enrolled at Level 2 than at Level 1. The proportion studying at Levels 3 and 4 also increased, though not as fast as Level 2 enrolment. More than a quarter of the status holders in the 2017 cohort were enrolled on a Level 4 MBO course on 1 October 2023.
• 44% of the 2014 cohort passed the civic integration exam; 97% of those who had an obligation to integrate in this cohort – Of the nearly 20,000 people who were granted an asylum residence permit in 2014, 44% passed the civic integration exam. A further 29% were not required to take the exam, including almost all under-18s and people aged 65 and over, who are exempt from the civic integration requirement. Another 19% of the 2014 cohort obtained a dispensation. Only a small number of status holders from the 2014 cohort had either not yet passed their civic integration exam by October 2023 or been granted an extension to their integration period (less than 1% of the total 2014 permit cohort).
• Practically all candidates from the 2014 cohort have met the civic integration requirement – Looking exclusively at the nearly 13,000 people from the 2014 permit cohort who have a civic integration obligation, 69% had either passed the civic integration exam or been granted an exemption by October 2023. In addition, 29% had received a dispensation and 1% had not yet obtained their certificate (but still had time to do so), while only 1% of people with a civic integration obligation had not yet passed the exam and thereby exceeded the time limit for civic integration.
• Language level primarily at A2, especially among Eritreans – Integration courses teach status holders how to understand, speak and write the Dutch language to at least A2 level: the level they need to get by in day-to-day life. Of the people from the 2014 permit cohort who successfully completed the civic integration exam, 92% passed at A2 level and 8% on a higher level (B1 or B2). Almost all candidates with Eritrean nationality pass the civic integration exam at the A2 language level; just 2% achieve B1 or B2 – much lower than other nationalities.
• Naturalisations are increasing – Once status holders have lived in the Netherlands for five years, they can apply for Dutch citizenship under certain conditions. Of the 2015 cohort, 85% obtained citizenship after seven-and-a-half years; 79% of the 2016 cohort were naturalised after six-and-a-half years; and 42% of the 2017 cohort became citizens within five-and-a-half years. After eight-and-a-half years, 93% of Syrians who were granted a residence permit in 2014 had gained Dutch nationality.
• Greater proportion in employment: the effect of the coronavirus crisis appears to have ended – People in the 2015 cohort were slightly more likely to have a job after two-and-a-half years than people in the 2014 cohort (14% and 11%, respectively). This suggests a progressive decrease in the time it takes status holders to find work. For those from the 2017 cohort employment has increased to 16% and for the status holders from the 2018 cohort this was 14% after two-and-a-half years. This is likely to be related to the coronavirus crisis, as the period of 30 months following their receipt of a residence permit partly coincided with the pandemic. There are signs of recovery in the figures for the most recent cohorts, from 2019 and 2020 (the latest two cohorts we have been able to follow for 30 months): 20% of the 2019 permit cohort and 23% of the 2020 cohort had a job after 30 months, which suggests that the coronavirus crisis is no longer a factor.
• AMVs are more likely to work part time on a temporary employment contract – Compared to the total group of status holders, AMVs are somewhat more likely to work part time compared to the total group (69% compared to 65%), on a temporary employment contract (82 compared to 75%), through an employment agency (34% compared to 24%) or in accommodation and food services (22% compared to 16%), but less in trade (17% compared to 19%), and they are less likely to be self-employed (4% compared to 7%).
• Nearly 64% of employed status holders from the 2014 cohort worked 0.75 FTE or full time in 2023 – A significant share of status holders begin their working life in the Netherlands in a part-time job. Two years after obtaining their residence permit, approximately half of the 2014 cohort have a job with a part-time factor of 0.25 FTE, with a further 20% working at a rate of 0.25–0.50 FTE. Of all the status holders from the 2014 cohort who were in employment in 2023, almost 64% had a full-time job, from 0.75 FTE. Those working less than 0.5 FTE account for just under one quarter.
• Proportion of benefit recipients continues to fall – Of all 18- to 64-year-olds who received a residence permit in 2014, 91% were still dependent on social assistance benefits 18 months after obtaining their permit. This proportion fell to 51% after a further three years, and another 18 months later (six years after obtaining a permit), 43% of the cohort were in receipt of a benefit. Eight-and-a-half years after being granted a permit, just under one-third of the 2014 cohort were still dependent on social assistance.
• There is still little difference in income between nationalities – This is due to the fact that a significant proportion of status holders receive social assistance benefits, which are paid out in fixed amounts depending on the family situation.
• Healthcare use stabilised after two years – 86% of all adult status holders (aged 18 and over) who received a permit in 2014 and who were no longer staying at a COA reception centre by the end of 2015 had incurred healthcare costs related to visits to the family doctor in 2015. Two years on (in 2017), nearly 98% of status holders from the 2014 cohort had incurred such costs, which means that they were registered with a doctors’ practice. Status holders from the 2014 cohort incurred more costs for healthcare in 2016 compared to 2015, but the percentages then stabilised. Healthcare use among Eritrean status holders showed the sharpest rise: whereas 77% incurred costs for family doctor visits in 2015, by 2021 this had increased to 98%.
• Slight increase in the proportion of youth care recipients – Of all young people (aged 22 or under) who obtained an asylum residence permit in 2014 or 2015 and who were no longer living at a COA reception centre, approximately 5% were receiving some form of youth care in 2016. Two years later, that proportion had risen to 8%. From 2019 to 2022 inclusive, the percentage remained more or less stable, hovering between 8% and 9%. This relates to care provided to young people and their parents for psychological, psychosocial and/or behavioural problems, a mental disability affecting the young person or parenting problems (youth assistance); placing AMVs under guardianship (youth protection); and juvenile rehabilitation.
• More users of youth care among AMVs – The use of youth care services by AMVs differs hardly at all from the use by the total group of young status holders. Of all AMVs who obtained an asylum residence permit in 2014 or 2015 and who were no longer living at a COA reception centre, 7.5% were using some form of youth care in 2022, a slightly lower percentage compared to the total group of young status holders (9%). However, the use of youth care among AMVs has increased more sharply in recent years compared to the group of young people as a whole.
• Little change in the proportion of registered crime suspects – Male status holders aged 18–44 are recorded as criminal suspects relatively more often than men of European origin, but less often than men with a non-European background.

These are some recent developments relating to Ukrainians who have arrived in the Netherlands since February 2022 under the Temporary Protection Directive:

• More women than men – Up to and including June 2023, more than 125,000 refugees from Ukraine have registered in a Dutch local authority. Of these, 98,000 were still resident in the Netherlands as of 1 July 2023. Most of these refugees (118,600) are Ukrainian nationals, while a small proportion (6,970) hold a non-Ukrainian nationality (these are ‘third-country nationals’). The majority of refugees from Ukraine settled in the Netherlands in March and April 2022. The proportion of women has fallen below 60% in the most recent months. The proportion of men who are either young or elderly has declined, with the largest group being aged between 20 and 44.
• Everyone is living independently – Almost all refugees from Ukraine live in independent housing in a local authority. Only a few dozen individuals were resident in a COA reception centre as of 1 July 2023, while just under one-quarter – mainly Ukrainians who came here shortly after war broke out – have left the Netherlands.
• Primarily single persons and minors living with one or both parents – One month after settling in the Netherlands, 42% of all refugees from Ukraine are single persons. Just over 20% are children living with one or both parents, and more than 10% are parents in a single-parent household. Compared to third-country nationals, refugees who hold Ukrainian nationality are more likely to be children living with one or both parents and less likely to be single persons.
• Employment after six months in the Netherlands is at 45% – Six months after settling in the Netherlands, 45% of refugees from Ukraine had found work: 43% of people with Ukrainian nationality and 63% of third-country nationals. Ukrainians are much more likely than regular asylum status holders to be employed. This can be explained by the fact that Ukrainian refugees are immediately allowed to work under the Temporary Protection Directive, without having to wait for a labour permit. Almost half of the Ukrainian refugees who have found work are employed full time. As is the case for regular asylum status holders, most Ukrainian refugees have found work through temporary employment agencies (49%) or in accommodation and food services (16%).
• Ukrainians are spread out across the Netherlands – Just like regular status holders, Ukrainians are distributed throughout the Netherlands, although local authorities often house more Ukrainians than regular status holders. The highest numbers of Ukrainians are resident in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Westland and Almere.