Data provided by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) has revealed that last year over 35,000 people submitted their first asylum application in the Netherlands, which is an increase of 44 per cent compared to 2021.
Such data also show that the number of people who arrived in connection with family reunification was nearly 11,000, which is eight per cent more than in 2021, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to IND statistics, 35,535 asylum seekers submitted their first application for asylum last year, the highest number since 2015. At the same time, more applications were registered in the second half of 2022, which were 21,760 requests, than in the first half, when there were 13,775 requests.
In addition, in February last year, IND received the lowest number of 1,600 requests and the highest in September, which was 4,435.
“As in previous years, people with Syrian nationality formed the largest group of asylum seekers last year, accounting for almost 36 per cent (12,640) of the total. This is roughly a half more than in the previous year. Nearly 70 per cent of Syrian asylum applications were submitted in the second half of the year,” the report reads.
After Syrians, the next largest group consisted of Afghan citizens, with 2,730, and Turks, with 2,685.
In this regard, during 2022, the number of requests from Afghan applicants decreased by nine per cent, while the number of Turkish applications increased by nine per cent compared to 2021.
During the same period, 10,925 members of the following family came to the Netherlands, which is about 800 more than in 2021. As for the number of relatives, it was smaller in the last quarter of 2022, marking 1,545, and the largest in the third quarter at 3,640.
Further IND data also reveal that 7,240 Syrian family members travelled to the Netherlands last year, which is about 12 per cent more than in 2021. At the same time, the number of next of kin with Turkish nationality also increased by 49 per cent to 1,095 in 2022.
On the other hand, the number of dependents from Eritrea and Yemen decreased by 28 and 42 per cent, respectively.
Moreover, in 2022, 1,060 people of Ukrainian nationality applied for asylum in the Netherlands, which was 70 in 2021. In addition, the number of applications from Russian citizens was 590, almost three times more than in 2021.
