Temporarily no decisions on asylum applications Syria

The developments in Syria have quickly unfolded over the last couple of days. There has been a change in power because of the fall of the Assad regime. The IND’s country-specific asylum policy for Syria is based on the situation in which Assad was the actual person in power in the largest part of the country. This is no longer the case. Because of this, there is not enough information available to carefully decide on asylum applications from Syrians. Minister Faber has therefore decided to institute a decision and departure moratorium for Syria for the term of 6 months. She wrote this in a letter to the House of Representatives. Because of the decision and departure moratorium, asylum applications can be put on hold until there is more clarity about the consequences of the change of power. Because diplomatic relations with the Assad regime already did not exist, rejected Syrians were not forced to depart the Netherlands. And, as a consequence of the moratorium, forced departure to Syria is now also not possible.

Exceptions

The IND will still decide on applications that have been submitted over 21 months ago. And on applications that will, because of specific reasons, regardless of the security situation, lead to a positive decision in terms of residence in the Netherlands. Exceptions from the decision-, as well as the departure moratorium are, among others, Syrians who have been registered in another European country before (Dublin claimants), Syrians who receive international protection in another EU Member State and public order and 1F cases.