AMSTERDAM, 4th July, 2025 (WAM) -- The lower house of the Dutch Parliament on Thursday approved a significant tightening of asylum laws, which will make it more difficult to obtain asylum and also to reunite family members in the Netherlands.
The lower house, the Second Chamber, passed the two highly controversial legislative proposals by a majority.
The legislation also makes staying in the country without valid documents, as well as providing assistance to people without papers, a criminal offence.
To become law, the bills must secure a majority in the upper house of parliament, or First Chamber, where the legislative package is expected to be debated in the autumn. It remained uncertain whether the chamber would back the proposals.
Legal experts, government advisers, asylum authorities and refugee organisations had warned against the introduction of these laws. They argued that the measures were legally questionable and practically unworkable.
Approximately 12 percent of migrants arriving in the Netherlands annually are asylum seekers. In 2024, there were 32,000 asylum seekers and around 10,000 family members who joined them. However, in the first three months of 2025, the numbers dropped sharply by 50 percent.