The government of the Netherlands is being asked to deal with the collection of asylum fees from Ukrainians
The issue of financial responsibility of Ukrainians who are in the Netherlands as refugees has gained new publicity against the background of recent changes in the country’s legislation. From July 1, 2024, a rule came into force in the Netherlands, which stipulates that Ukrainians who work and live in temporary shelters must pay for their accommodation.
The majority of members of the Dutch Parliament appealed to the government to help municipalities ensure the collection of financial contributions from working Ukrainians for their asylum. De Telegraaf reports about this situation.
According to the results of a survey conducted by a Dutch publication, it became known that many municipalities in the Netherlands are in no hurry to comply with the norm of charging working Ukrainians for living in refugee accommodation centers. For example, from Amsterdam to Utrecht and from Groningen to Maastricht, you can hear concerns about red tape and the lack of options if someone does not want to pay for accommodation.
MP of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) Maryna Wondeling appealed to the Minister of Asylum and Migration of the Netherlands, Marjolin Faber, with a call to intervene and help municipalities more actively collect contributions from Ukrainians. She emphasized that, in her opinion, it is quite logical for Ukrainians to contribute to covering their living expenses, especially considering the fact that the Dutch have to pay for everything themselves.
Wondeling also called on Faber to ensure that by January 1, 2025, all municipalities begin to effectively collect this contribution from Ukrainians. Her call found support not only among her party’s deputies, but also among representatives of other political forces, including coalition and opposition parties such as D66 and the GroenLinks–PvdA alliance, who also believe that Ukrainians should be financially responsible for their stay in temporary shelters .
Currently, Ukrainians arriving in the Netherlands are mostly forced to look for housing on their own. So, last week, a temporary shelter for refugees from Ukraine, located in Utrecht, was forced to stop accepting new people due to overload. This only emphasizes the urgency of the issue of ensuring proper collection of contributions, because the available resources obviously do not cope with the demand.
In June of this year, the Dutch government decided to allocate an additional 10 million euros for language courses for Ukrainian citizens, which indicates a serious approach to the issue of integrating refugees into Dutch society. However, the issue of financial participation of the refugees themselves in covering the costs of their maintenance remains open and needs immediate resolution.
This development shows how complex and multifaceted the issue of accepting refugees in the Netherlands is, and that its successful solution requires both state support and a clear system of obligations on the part of the refugees themselves.
