Asylum and residency

What does the survey entail?

Target population

Asylum and residence tables include information on people who have submitted an application for asylum in the Netherlands or who have obtained a residence permit. They also include information on the number of third-country nationals who have been denied entry into the Netherlands after trying to cross the Schengen external border illegally. These individuals have been forced to demonstrably leave the country. In 2024, information on the Dublin Regulation was added, such as (first or subsequent) asylum applications, decisions and transfers.

Statistical unit

Asylum requests, following family members, invited refugees, granted residence permits (both asylum and regular), individuals without a legal residence permit, individuals who were denied entry into the Netherlands at the border and individuals who were forced to leave the Netherlands.

Start of survey

1980

Frequency

Every year, quarter and month.

Publication strategy

The first figures are published on a provisional basis. When figures over a new year are published, the provisional figures over the previous year are finalised. The monthly and quarterly figures for asylum applications and following family members are provisional at first publication. They are finalised in January of the following year. If a nationality exceeds 50 in one reporting period, it is shown in the table for all reporting periods of that table.

How is the survey conducted?

Survey type

Integral count based on registration.

Data collection method

CBS receives electronic files.

Respondents

The figures for the various statistics are provided by the following data source owners: the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), the Directorate for Migration Chain Management of the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), Nidos, the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) and Eurostat. A number of data source owners provide information at personal level for the purpose of compiling aggregated figures for Eurostat.

Sample size

Not applicable.

Checking and correction methods

Received datasets are checked for technical accuracy and internal consistencies. In principle, the data is adopted in full.

Weighting

The data is comprehensive. Therefore, it is not augmented raised or weighted.

Quality of the results

Accuracy

Correct, integrated count

Sequential comparability

The results are sequentially comparable. Figures of asylum requests before 2007 only include the total number of asylum requests, without a distinction between first and subsequent asylum applications.

Quality strategy

Figures are checked for internal consistencies and completeness. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) checks the accuracy of the data against the data published by data source owners.