The Bottom Line
- Expect longer waits: Companies hiring international talent must now budget for significantly longer waiting times for family and work-related entry permits (MVVs), even beyond the official statutory deadlines.
- Legal action is no longer a quick fix: Suing the Dutch immigration authorities (the IND) for delays no longer results in a short, two-week deadline. Courts are now setting new, much longer deadlines of 8 to 20 weeks.
- Automatic penalties have been eliminated: The system of automatic government penalties for late decisions in immigration cases has been abolished. Financial penalties are now only imposed by a court if the new, extended deadline is also missed.
The Details
This case involved applicants for a temporary stay permit (MVV), a common requirement for non-EU family members of employees relocating to the Netherlands. When the Dutch Minister for Asylum and Migration failed to decide on their applications within the statutory period (which had already been extended from 90 days to six months), the applicants took the matter to court. Such “failure to act” proceedings are a standard tool for forcing a government body to issue a decision. The court found the appeal justified, as the government had clearly exceeded its legal time limit.
However, instead of ordering a decision within the typical short timeframe, the court granted the Minister a significant extension. Citing recent higher court rulings, the judge acknowledged the systemic processing backlogs facing the Dutch immigration authorities. To manage this reality, courts are now setting new, “reasonable” deadlines based on the complexity of the case. In this instance, the Minister was given eight weeks to issue a decision. Crucially, if the case requires further investigation, such as verifying documents, that deadline can be extended to twenty weeks.
For business leaders and legal counsel, this ruling confirms a new legal reality in Dutch immigration procedure. While legal action remains a necessary step to compel a decision, its immediate effect is diminished. The strategy is no longer about getting a decision in two weeks, but about restarting the clock on a more generous, court-enforced timeline. Furthermore, a recent change in law has eliminated the automatic “administrative penalty” the government previously had to pay for delays. This shifts the financial risk, as penalties are now only payable if the government misses the new, court-ordered deadline, and they are not retroactive.
Source
Rechtbank Den Haag (The Hague District Court)
