These are the various application options to bring your relatives or family to the Netherlands
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There are several ways to bring your family members or relatives to the Netherlands. Depending on your situation, you have to submit a certain type of application to the IND. Below we explain which application you have to make.
Post-travel asylum family reunification
Do you have an asylum residence permit, do you live in the Netherlands and do you want your family who stayed behind to come to the Netherlands? Then apply for 'gezinshereniging nareis' (post-travel family reunification). Within three months after receiving your asylum residence permit you must apply for the post-travel for your partner or spouse, your minor child and your adult child who is 'dependent on you'. This means that the adult child is dependent on you. If you entered the Netherlands as an
Family reunification asylum under Article 8 ECHR
Do you have an asylum residence permit, do you live in the Netherlands and do you want other family members left behind to come to the Netherlands? Then apply for 'gezinshereniging op basis van
Regular application for family reunification
There is also a third type of application: the 'reguliere aanvraag gezinshereniging' (regular application for family reunification).
Please note that for this application, the
You have previously submitted an application for 'gezinshereniging asiel nareis' (post-travel asylum family reunification), but you submitted it later than 3 months after you received your asylum residence permit, and the IND informed you that you had no good reason to submit the application too late. Therefore, your 'aanvraag gezinshereniging nareis' (application for post-travel family reunification) has been rejected. Then you can submit a regular application for family reunification. For this, stricter rules apply than for 'gezinshereniging nareis' (post-travel family reunification).
Follow this step-by-step plan for this.
Please note: only do this if you have received a letter from the IND stating that you were late and that the IND thinks you did not give a good reason for this. This is because between 1 December 2025 and 1 April 2026, the IND will be less strict about missing the application deadline. This means that the IND will not easily rule that you did not have a good reason for submitting your reentry application late. This is because
If you yourself, as an applicant, do not have an asylum residence permit, but a regular residence permit (for example, for work or illness), or if your family only arises after you arrive in the Netherlands (for example: you get into a relationship with a partner residing in your country of origin after you come to live in the Netherlands), you will also submit a regular application.
Follow the final step-by-step plan for this.