The Bottom Line
- Significant Delays Are a Business Risk: Protracted delays in securing provisional residence permits (MVVs) for non-EU staff are facing successful challenges in Dutch courts. This ruling confirms a low judicial tolerance for administrative inaction by the immigration authorities (IND).
- Legal Action Forces Decisions: Companies and individuals experiencing unreasonable delays in visa processing have a clear legal path to compel a decision. Courts can set firm deadlines and impose financial penalties on the government for non-compliance.
- Repeated Failures Have Consequences: In this case, the government’s failure to meet a prior court-ordered deadline resulted in a new, tighter four-week deadline and an additional penalty payment of €100 per day (up to a maximum of €15,000), demonstrating escalating consequences for continued inaction.
The Details
This case involved several applicants for a Dutch provisional residence permit (MVV), a critical first step for many non-EU employees moving to the Netherlands. After their applications languished without a decision from the Minister of Asylum and Migration, they were forced to take legal action. Remarkably, this was their second appeal regarding the same issue. The government had already failed to comply with a previous court order to process the applications, even after that order was amended and confirmed by the Netherlands’ highest administrative court.
The District Court of The Hague found the applicants’ second appeal “manifestly well-founded.” The court’s reasoning was straightforward: the government had been given a clear deadline to act and had failed to do so. While the court acknowledged that the case file might still require additional information or review, it determined that the extended period of inaction was unjustifiable, especially given the history of the case. This repeated failure to meet court-ordered deadlines prompted the court to impose an even stricter timeline.
Consequently, the court ordered the Minister to issue a final decision on the applications within four weeks. To ensure compliance, the ruling includes a significant financial penalty (a dwangsom). Should the government miss this new deadline, it will be required to pay €100 for each day of delay, capped at a total of €15,000. This decision sends a strong signal to the executive branch that administrative delays have tangible consequences and reinforces the legal tools available to businesses and individuals to fight bureaucratic inertia.
Source
Rechtbank Den Haag (District Court of The Hague)
