IND paid €99 million in fines for slow asylum decisions in 7 months — and a bill to scrap them is pending

If you are waiting for a Dutch residence permit or asylum decision to be processed, you might be entitled to financial compensation if the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) misses the legal deadline. But that compensation — which reached a record €99 million in the first seven months of 2026 — could soon disappear if a bill before the Senate becomes law.

How the penalty system works

The IND is required by law to decide on an asylum application within six months of registration. If it misses that deadline, the applicant can ask a court to impose a new deadline, and the court can attach a daily penalty (dwangsom) if that second deadline is also missed.

Courts normally set the penalty at €100 per day up to a maximum of €15,000, rising to €250 per day and a €37,500 cap when a “strong incentive” is needed, according to answers Asylum Minister Bart van den Brink gave to parliament Source: DutchNews. Crucially, applicants can go back to court as many times as they like for as long as no decision has been taken, so the totals in individual cases can build up over time.

Record payouts

In the first seven months of 2026, the IND paid out €99 million in court-ordered fines, already exceeding the €79 million paid in the whole of 2025 (which itself more than doubled the €36.8 million paid in 2024) Source: NL Times. The monthly average has jumped from €6.6 million in 2025 to €14 million in 2026.

Large individual payouts have skyrocketed: 46 people received over €80,000 each, and nine people received over €100,000 Source: DutchNews. Between early 2024 and May 2026, 143,190 applicants filed an appeal against a late decision, and 16,570 of them won two or more penalty rounds.

The explosion in fines reflects the IND’s chronic backlog: the average waiting time for an asylum decision reached 67 weeks in 2025 — more than 2.5 times the legal six-month limit Source: DutchNews.

Why the numbers are changing — and what it means for you

Separate data released this week shows that asylum registrations have fallen below 600 per week for the first time in 2026, a sharp drop from roughly 1,000 per week last autumn Source: DutchNews. The decline is mostly due to a reduction in family reunification requests — relatives joining someone who already has refugee status — which fell from around 300 per week before the summer to 110-120 per week in recent weeks.

The drop coincides with tighter EU rules on family reunification that came into force in June under the European migration pact. The ministry has not yet detailed the effect. Syrians, who made up three-quarters of the record 16,500 family members arriving in 2025, are now applying less after the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024.

For international residents, the shift could eventually mean shorter processing times if the IND’s caseload shrinks — but the backlog of pending cases and ongoing court penalties will take time to clear. If you already have an application pending, the penalty mechanism still applies as long as it remains law.

What about the bill to scrap fines?

MPs Diederik Boomsma (JA21) and the SGP proposed a legislative amendment to abolish the fines the IND must pay when it misses deadlines. The Tweede Kamer (lower house) approved the bill before the summer, but it now awaits debate and a vote in the Eerste Kamer (Senate) Source: NL Times. No date has been set yet. If the bill passes, new penalties would stop accruing after a transition period, but existing court orders would still need to be paid.

For anyone still waiting for a decision, the practical advice remains: keep records of your application date. If the six-month mark passes, you can formally request the IND to decide, and if that fails, apply to a court for a penalty order. Legal aid (rechtsbijstand) can help with the process — many organisations offer free advice for asylum seekers and permit holders.

Bottom line for international residents

• The IND is under legal obligation to decide within six months, but backlogs mean waits of over a year are common.
• If the IND misses its deadline, you can claim daily penalties through court, currently at €100-250 per day.
• The government is trying to remove that right to compensation — the Senate vote is the next hurdle.
• The recent drop in asylum applications may ease the pressure, but for now the penalty system remains in force.

Stay updated by following the Senate agenda on the bill and checking your own case status via the IND’s online portal (MijnIND). If you are waiting beyond six months and have not yet requested a penalty, consider contacting a legal aid provider.