33 percent more asylum requests in Q1 of 2026

© ANP / Ramon van Flymen
  • The number of asylum applications from people of unknown origin is rising significantly.
  • More people from Sudan and Somalia are applying for asylum, fewer from Syria.
  • More following family members came to the Netherlands.

In the first quarter of 2026, nearly 6 thousand people submitted a first-time asylum application in the Netherlands. That was 33 percent more than in the first quarter of 2025, but 20 percent less than in the previous quarter. In particular, there were more asylum applications from people of unknown origin. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of the latest figures from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).


1.1 thousand people of unknown origin applied for asylum for the first time. This makes them the largest group submitting a first-time asylum application. In recent years, the number of applications from people of unknown origin varied between 185 and 400 each quarter. Since the first quarter of 2025, the number of applications has been rising steadily.

There are various reasons why the IND may register someone with an unknown nationality when they submit their first-time asylum application. These include people who do not state their nationality, or who say they do not know their nationality. They may also include children born in the Netherlands to parents with undertermined nationality, or people who hold the nationality of a country that does not, or no longer exists or is not acknowledged by the Dutch government. The latter category includes people from the Palestinian territories who are not classified as stateless. This registration on the first-time asylum application is provisional. The IND may later replace this with a definitively determined nationality.

More requests from people from Sudan and Somalia, fewer from Syria

The first quarter of 2026 also saw an increase in the number of first-time asylum requests from people from Sudan and Somalia. There were 485 first-time asylum applications submitted by people from Sudan, up from 45 in Q1 2025, while the number from Somalia rose from 145 to 360.

The number of asylum requests from Syria fell to 530, 410 fewer than the previous year. However, Syrians are still the second largest group submitting a first-time asylum application.

More following family members arrived in the Netherlands

In the first quarter of 2026, 4.6 thousand following family members arrived in the Netherlands, 21 percent more than in Q1 2025. Of all following family members, three quarters were from Syria, around 3.4 thousand people. That is slightly more than the previous year.

Sources

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