• Rolindi Horneti

  Local editor

Logical and great breakthrough. This is what Linneke Slingenberg, professor of immigration law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, calls it pronunciation The Council of State decided that asylum seekers can no longer be restricted in the number of weeks they wish to work per year.

“The main barrier to finding work for asylum seekers is the 24-week requirement,” says Slingenberg. She did Together with Regioplan Commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs, it investigated the obstacles facing asylum seekers when entering the labor market.

Slingenberg concludes that the effects are large and important, and that the rule has long been in conflict with regulations within the EU.

Tesseltje de Lange, a professor at Radboud University Nijmegen, also stresses the importance of this. “The ruling is very strong. Asylum seekers have the right to work. Their independence is emphasized and isolation and social exclusion are prevented.”

It also confirms that the Council of State not only stipulates that asylum seekers should not be hindered in obtaining work, but also imposes costs on the Netherlands if asylum seekers are unable to work.

“More employers will tend to hire asylum seekers,” says Ricky van Owers, a migration scientist at Radboud University. “Previously, it was not beneficial for employers to invest time and energy in the procedure of applying for a work permit, while the asylum seeker had to stop working again after 24 weeks.”

The Council of State explicitly referred to the Regioplan research in its ruling. “Our research played a role,” says Slingenberg, “and that’s a very nice thing.”

Most other countries in Europe have a waiting period before allowing asylum seekers to work. Netherlands too, here it is six months. “But I haven’t seen any other examples of the fact that there are still restrictions on when you can work,” Slingenberg says.

The provision allowing asylum seekers to work for a limited period dates back to 1998. Initially, the maximum period was twelve weeks and only seasonal work was permitted. About 4 percent of asylum seekers who came to the Netherlands between 2017 and 2021 are currently working. The explanation is that people whose asylum applications are still pending are often unable to find work, precisely because they are only allowed to work for 24 weeks.

“I expect there will be an increase in the number of employers who will hire asylum seekers,” Slingenberg says. For Ukrainians, only registration is required, so there are fewer barriers, says Van Oers. “Here you see that half of the displaced people are now working.”

Van Owers says there was no political support for eliminating this requirement. “The VVD in particular feared that if asylum seekers were allowed to work indefinitely, it might send a message that they were allowed to stay.”

But this is not true, as you think. “We conducted research to find out whether simply being employed somewhere could also create a right of residence, and we found no examples of this.”

The assumption was also that people would be able to collect unemployment benefits after 24 weeks and then receive benefits abroad if their asylum claim was rejected. This is also not true, according to Slingenberg, because you cannot simply take the right to unemployment benefits with you to another country. Moreover, it is already linked to the asylum seeker’s residence status.

The Dutch Refugee Council is happy with the decision of the State Council. “The ruling of the highest administrative court finally puts an end to one of the obstacles placed by the Dutch government in front of asylum seekers and employers.”

The organization has been calling for years for faster and better access to the labor market for asylum seekers. “Asylum seekers are very motivated to get to work, especially now that they have been staying in shelters for a long time. It promotes integration, which is good for self-esteem, and because of the shortage in the labor market, employers are desperate for workers.”

D66 member Anne-Marijke Podt is also happy with the ruling, but also wants to determine the content of the law and arrange a number of other matters. “Like the fact that an asylum seeker can start working after just one month,” she says on the X programme.