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Temporary stop of decisions for political opponents from Sudan

Last update: 24 March 2022

From 24 February to 24 August, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) will not take any decisions on applications by foreign nationals who carried out political activities against the Sudanese authorities. Neither do foreign nationals who belong to this group and are already in the Netherlands have to depart in this period. The decision was taken by the Minister for Migration and published in the Government Gazette on 23 March.

The decision to put any decisions and removals temporarily on hold is called postponement of decisions and departures. It is imposed if the situation in a certain country or area is unclear. Or if the situation of a specific group from that country or area is unclear.
In this case, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (the highest administrative court in the Netherlands) has decided that it is not sufficiently clear whether (returning) political activists have reason to fear the authorities in Sudan and that the Minister must carry out further investigation. This investigation must also look into the developments that took place after the military coup of 25 October 2021. The postponement of decisions and departures will apply during this investigation.

Decision period

The IND assesses whether someone falls under the postponement of decisions and departures. When doing this, the IND will look at the asylum seekers from the target group with an ongoing procedure and people from Sudan who have exhausted all legal means and are (still) in the Netherlands. The decision period for ongoing asylum applications of the target group is extended by 1 year (to a maximum of 21 months). This also applies to applications that will still be submitted in the coming 6 months.