The director of IND underlined again that timing is crucial for the implementation of the changes, and the introduction of major novelties should coincide with the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
The director also highlighted some of the current challenges of the organisation:
- While the IND made more decisions in 2024 compared to 2023, still, the number of people waiting for decision increased by 50,000.
- This led to an increase in the waiting time. The IND is able to process around 30,000 applications a year.
- More than 65,000 applicants joined through family reunification were also waiting for a decision.
In addition, with the expiry of the temporary protection next year, the organisation will also be faced with the challenge to treat the cases of approximately 130,000 people with temporary protection.
The director mentioned a few points that would help the IND in fulfilling its tasks:
- abolition of penalty payments: this gives extra work load for the organisation and does not achieve its objective, to decide quicker on cases;
- multi-year financial planning: this is already a topic of discussion.
The Director added, that the organisation prefers that both laws enter into force immediately, without transitional measures. This adds extra work for the IND, but limits the necessity to use even more different working methods at the same time. An exception from this suggestion is the framework for family reunification, where the director considered that the new laws cannot be applied to pending cases, as this would not hold up on appeal.