Only medical urgency speeds up reunification with family in earthquake zone

Published at: 2/17/2023, 5:17 PM

Do you have family members in the earthquake zone in Turkey and Syria? If so, you may want to apply for family reunification. There is (almost) no possibility to speed up that process. You can read more about it on this page.

"Earthquake no reason to expedite asylum application"

If you have applied for asylum and the

Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)

has not yet approved your application, you cannot apply for family reunification for your family members from the earthquake area.

The IND also indicated that the circumstances in Turkey and Syria are not a reason to speed up asylum applications.

Medical emergency reason to expedite application for family reunification

If you have an asylum residence permit and have applied or want to apply for family reunification, the IND can only expedite your application for family reunification in cases of medical emergency. The IND wants to see evidence of your family memberundefineds medical conditions. The expedited process may still take weeks to months.

If your application for family reunification is already being processed by IND, ask your contact at VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN) or your social worker to contact the IND. IND will decide whether your application will be expedited.
If your application for family reunification is not yet being processed by IND, ask your contact person at VWN or your social worker to request urgency. The IND will decide if your application will be processed urgently.

Please note:If there is no medical emergency, the IND will not simply expedite your application for family reunification. If your family member in Syria or Turkey is in distressing circumstances, ask your contact person at VWN or your social worker what the options are to expedite your application.

Documents lost in earthquake

If your family member has lost necessary documents due to the earthquake, the IND will take this into account when assessing your application for family reunification.

Do you have an asylum residence permit and want to apply for family reunification? On the Family Reunification page you will find the conditions and what you need to arrange.