Rulings by several courts on the Cabinet’s so-called family reunification order will not be suspended. This was decided on Thursday by the judge for the preliminary referral of the Council of State. This means that family members of status holders in the Netherlands can also continue to come to the Netherlands for the time being if a court has ruled so.
The courts in Amsterdam, Middelburg and Breda, among others, ruled last week that deferring family reunification of status holders is against the law. They did so in response to cases that status holders had initiated in the Netherlands. The government then appealed to the Council of State. This is expected in January, the verdict is expected a few weeks later.
State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) had asked the State Council to suspend the sentences up to that point. So the cabinet could have ignored the judges’ rulings until an appeal decision was made. The Council disagrees.
“In both cases, the referring court finds that the interests of family members traveling in connection with family reunification outweigh the interests of the Secretary of State in not enforcing court rulings,” the statement read. declaration Thursday.
Due to the decision, family members of status holders can certainly come to the Netherlands for family reunification until the January roll call. The Council of State will then issue a substantive assessment of the cabinet’s request. The date of the hearing has not yet been announced.
At the end of August, the cabinet decided to impose a restriction on family members of recognized refugees (status holders). The visa will be issued subject to approval no later than fifteen months from the presentation of the application for family reunification. If the status holder already has a home for his relatives traveling to the Netherlands, the visa will be issued sooner. The measure applies until 2023 inclusive and is, according to the cabinet, needed to ease the pressure on overburdened asylum reception.
