Managing Director Rhodia Maas: time, money and political support essential for IND

One of the greatest challenges for the IND is the large stack of pending applications and that increasingly more applicants have to wait for a decision by the IND. According to Maas, this is because the work of the IND has become increasingly complex, because of Dutch and European legislation and court rulings, among other things. ‘However, we have also done it ourselves: we make our work more complex, for example with complicated and very long work instructions.’ 

‘In addition, the number of applications started to become greater than the number the IND was equipped for. This happened because we had been scaled down in the preceding years. Our funding depends on the number of applications. As soon as less people apply for a residence permit, the amount of money the IND receives is reduced, as well as the number of people we employ. It takes time to repair this. Furthermore, it is time-consuming to train staff so that they can process a case independently. And in the meanwhile, applications keep coming in.’ 

Increasing productivity

Our productivity really has to go up. And we’ll get that done! For this, we cannot just rely on IT solutions: we must really start looking at our work differently. For example, if we better inform applicants about what we need for a complete application on which we can decide quickly, it can save a lot of time. The IND is already using robots to take over repetitive actions. ‘Because of this, staff have more time for other things. And we are, for example, testing an online appointment planning tool, where asylum seekers can make an appointment for an interview themselves. This gives them more power and saves us work. Moreover, it turns out that people show up on their appointment more often if they made the appointment themselves.’

Maas emphasises that the IND can also look into whether more risk-based working can be useful. ‘We ask ourselves questions such as “do we really need to continue carrying out all these checks all the time?” and “Can’t we work on a risk basis a lot more?” Not all decisions have to score a “ten out of ten”. Staff want to be really careful and that’s of course a good thing. But it isn’t always necessary to review everything yet another time and provide extra reasons. Perhaps we can also be satisfied with a slightly lower mark, with the risk that the district court will sometimes send a case back, but so be it.’ 

Strictest asylum policy

The primary target of this government is the strictest asylum policy ever. According to Maas, the plans of the current government definitely contain components that can help the IND. ‘Abolishing the penalties, for example. But something else that seems small but yields a lot: being able to reject an asylum application if someone does not appear at their interview, the so-called “no show”. Now, the law provides that we do not process such an application, but this means that you have never been able to check officially whether the application was justified or not. And such an application can start to lead a second life the moment someone shows up again. If we can reject them because someone apparently no longer has an interest, it saves a lot of time.’

Maas emphasises that the IND also wants to simplify the procedure, just like the government. And ‘it isn’t just a matter of wanting to: we also have to,’ she stresses, ‘because of the Migration and Asylum Pact that will come into effect in June 2026. What the Pact demands from us, what the government asks us to do and our own ambition to raise our productivity must coincide in a simpler, faster and more basic asylum procedure. But everything has to happen at the same time, because implementing components earlier when we are not ready yet will be counterproductive. A great challenge when implementing the Pact is the redesign of our systems for information provision. If you now start introducing changes or “workarounds” and have to adapt them after some time, you are doing double the work. We ourselves are working hard on a new asylum procedure that aligns with our ambition, the Pact, and the wishes of the government. But we need time, money and political support. Also to simplify our work.’

Two-status system 

The government also wants to (re)introduce the two-status system. In the Netherlands, a one-status system was introduced in 2001. ‘We expect that, just like at the start of this century, people will continue litigation for a higher status if more rights are attached to it. No doubt this will demand a lot from the capacity of our lawyers. And it will require a lot of additional time for initial processing because staff will have to provide even more extensive reasoning why someone is not eligible for a certain status. We will of course do it if we have to. We are an implementing organisation, so we have to implement government policy. But of course it will put pressure on our ambition to increase productivity. Therefore, the ambition is, to use a fancy term, “ceteris paribus”: it is only possible if all other things remain the same, because the IND cannot be expected to do the impossible.’

Budget and influx

For 2025, 926 million euros have been budgeted for the IND, and 869 million for 2026. In 2027, this amount will be lowered to 513 million and in ‘28 and ‘29 to 377 million. For the time being, Maas is not concerned about these numbers, which the government has linked to a decrease in the influx numbers. ‘I find it difficult to estimate what is realistic. The influx is now decreasing slightly, but I see an exceptionally turbulent world around me. It is not assumed that the number of asylum seekers entering will decrease immediately. The Migration Pact will undoubtably play a role, but we still need to see what the effect will be. And it is sometimes forgotten that regular migration, too, plays a role. The demand for labourers, also from outside of Europe, is increasing. And the minister has said clearly: if the influx does not go down, the cut will not be made. Of course, it affects our work if the government measures lead to a reduction of the influx. Then, you can make do with less people at some point. But for now, we need everybody very much.

Timing is crucial

Maas is happy that the minister is open to input from the IND. ‘She definitely understands that the IND is very busy. She confirms: “The IND is working very hard; there’s a lot of work.” On the other hand, the government does take certain measures that we have to implement, because eventually it is the political power that determines the policy. But when doing so, it is important to continue a dialogue about what is possible and particularly in terms of timing.’ 

Easy to judge from the sidelines 

‘Policies on foreign nationals and migration have always been subject to debate,’ Maas states. ‘In fact, the Netherlands has found itself between two extremes in this area for years. One part of the population says, “the policy is too strict.” The other part thinks it’s too soft. This means that you can never really do the right thing as the IND. It is important that we take the right decisions and in good faith according to the democratically established policy, for people who come to our country because they have fled, or for work or love. Because it is too easy to comment from the sidelines. I also know that once people try to understand the IND’s work, their criticism is often silenced.’