The Dutch Immigration Service (IND) has said it will speed up its procedures for assessing family reunifications involving people with close relatives in Gaza, in the hope that it will make it easier for them to leave the war-torn country.
A total of 10 emergency procedures have been introduced, involving a few dozen people – mainly the partners and young children of Palestinians already living in the Netherlands, broadcaster NOS reported on Friday.
The IND said that in the best-case scenario, applications to enter the Netherlands could be processed in a few weeks. However, there is no guarantee that an approved residence permit will allow people to leave Gaza.
Palestinians who also hold another nationality can be added to the evacuation list, which is kept at the border with Egypt. So far, 26 Dutch nationals have left, but about 14 remain.
Asylum law expert Wil Eikelboom told NOS that the decision to speed up the procedures was unique. The official time limit for a family reunification application is 90 days, but it can sometimes take more than a year.
“A lot depends on the capacity of the IND, but also on the paperwork,” Eikelboom said. “Are there birth certificates to prove that you are family? If not, you have to do a DNA test and that takes time.”
In the case of Gaza, he said, this can only be done at the Dutch embassy in Cairo.
The Netherlands has already fast-tracked Dutch citizenship for an 18-year-old teenager who was among 203 hostages taken by Hamas during its bloody raids in southern Israel last month.
