This is how long family reunification lasts

Published at: 5/7/2024, 12:16 PM

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The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) is estimated to take between 20 and 24 months to decide on your application for family reunification. After that, your family member usually has 3 months to pick up the visa and come to the Netherlands.

The IND will now only begin reviewing your application after 19 months

Have you applied for family reunification within 3 months of being granted an asylum residence permit? From then on, it will still take 19 months before the IND starts assessing your application for family reunification. This only applies if you have applied for family reunification within 3 months, this is called the post-arrival period.

After that, the IND takes between 1 and 5 months to make a decision on your application

Has the

IND

processed your application for family reunification? Then it takes on average between 1 and 4 months until they make a decision. That was revealed in a lawsuit against the IND. How long it takes in your case depends on how your file looks. There are 3 possible situations:

1. Your information is complete

If all your information is complete, the IND takes an estimated 4 weeks to decide. This is about a month.

2. You need another interview or DNA test

Does the IND want to ask you more questions or does the IND think you should take a DNA test? Then the IND will take an estimated 16 more weeks to decide. This is about 4 months.

3. Your file is not complete

Is your file incomplete and does the IND want to do additional research? Then the IND will take an estimated 20 more weeks to decide. This is about 5 months.

So in total, it takes the IND between 20 and 24 months to make a decision on your application for family reunification.

If you receive a positive decision, your family member usually has 3 months to travel to the Netherlands

Does the IND decide that your family member may come to the Netherlands? Then your family member has 3 months to pick up a

Machtiging tot Voorlopig Verblijf (MVV)

(authorisation of provisional residence) at the Dutch embassy. This is a type of visa that allows your family member to travel to the Netherlands.

Sometimes your family member has 6 months to pick up an MVV. For example, if your family member has difficulty travelling to a Dutch embassy due to war. You can discuss this with the IND.

Officially, the IND may only take 6 months on your application for family reunification

First, the IND was allowed by law to take a maximum of 3 months on an application for family reunification. But in 2022, the Dutch government decided that the IND may take 6 months. This is because the IND is very behind in processing applications. For example, in March 2024, 33,440 applicants were still waiting for a decision on their applications for family reunification.

Support in applying for family reunification

Applying for family reunification can be complicated. Your contact at

VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN)

or your social worker from another organisation can support you with this.

Applying for family reunification

On this page you will find information about applying for family reunification in the Netherlands.

You can declare the IND in default if the IND takes too long to process your application

If the IND takes too long to process your application, you can declare the IND in default. This means that you officially indicate to the IND that they should make sure that they fulfill their agreements in time and make a decision about your family reunification. You can also get support from VWN.

Here is what you can do if the IND is late in deciding

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) must decide on your application in time. If this does not happen, you can officially ask the IND to make a decision within 2 weeks. Read how to do that on this page.