Most immigrants now come from Syria

Since October 2015 Syrians constitute the largest group of immigrants in the population after immigrants born in the Netherlands. Poland is in third place. In April 2.6 thousand immigrants staying in the Netherlands were born in Syria, 1.9 thousand were born in the Netherlands and 1.8 thousand were of Polish descent. The number of Syrian immigrants was marginally lower than in February and March: 2.8 thousand in both months.

Immigration follows inflow of asylum seekers with some delay

Last year 27.7 thousand Syrian asylum seekers and following family members arrived in the Netherlands. By now, part of them are registered in the Personal Records Database of a Dutch municipality. After the massive inflow of asylum seekers in the latter half of 2015, the duration period of asylum procedures has increased and the decision-making process takes longer. As a result, the peak of Syrian asylum seekers in the Netherlands recorded around October 2015 is reflected in the immigration data with some delay.

Inflow asylum seekers slows down substantially

The number of Syrians submitting a first request for asylum has fallen to 100 in April. In the same month 195 following family members from Syria arrived in the Netherlands. Just as in March, most asylum requests (135) were filed by Albanians.
The total number of first asylum requests and following family members also declined further, to 1,325 in April 2016. After the peak (11.7 thousand) in October 2015, the number of requests registered by the IND has fallen each month. For the first time in 2016, the number of asylum requests was lower than in the same month last year.