European Court rules on decision deadlines for Ukrainian asylum applications
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On 1 October 2026, the European Court issued a ruling regarding the decision deadlines for asylum applications filed by Ukrainians with temporary protection in the Netherlands. The implications of this ruling are not yet known.
Do you have temporary protection? If so, you have also filed an asylum application.
If you apply for
The Netherlands will not process your asylum application until the TPD ends. For now, the TPD is set to last until 4 March 2028. There is a chance it will be extended after that, but that is not certain.
Official deadline for processing an asylum application
Europe has rules regarding how long a country is allowed to take to decide on an asylum application. That time limit is a maximum of 21 months.
The Dutch government believed that this period would not begin until the date on which temporary protection ends. However, according to the
The Netherlands must not delay its decision on the asylum application
The European Court has examined whether the Netherlands is permitted to postpone a decision on an asylum application until after the end of the temporary protection period. The Court has ruled that this is not permitted.
This does not mean that the
What does this mean for Ukrainians who have been granted temporary protection?
The implications of the European Court’s ruling are unclear. The
There is nothing you can do right now
Since there are still many uncertainties, we cannot tell you what to do at this time.
The minister must first review the ruling, so for now, there will be no action taken on the asylum applications. Once more information is available, you can find it on RefugeeHelp.