What you need to know about family reunification
You cannot apply for family reunification without an asylum residence permit in the Netherlands. If you have a high chance of getting an asylum residence permit, sometimes you can already prepare your application for family reunification.
You cannot apply for family reunification if you do not have a residence permit
You cannot apply for family reunification if you do not yet have an asylum residence permit. You cannot apply for family reunification until the IND approves your asylum application. You will then know if you can stay in the Netherlands. Sometimes it takes a long time before your asylum application is approved. You then have to wait a long time before you can apply for family reunification.
If your asylum application is approved, you must submit your application for family reunification to the IND within 3 months.
Preparing for family reunification
If you come from a country where you have a high chance of getting an asylum permit. Then you may already be able to prepare your application for family reunification. You can then collect documents you need for the application. Sometimes collecting documents takes a long time. For example, if the documents have to be sent from your country of origin.
Are you not sure if you have a high chance of getting an asylum permit and thus family reunification? Then get in touch with your contact at VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN). Your contact can advise you on this.
Family reunification
Wait to have your documents translated
Official documents you collect for family reunification need to be translated. Translating the documents costs money. You have to pay for the translation yourself. Therefore, it is best to wait to have the documents translated until you have an asylum residence permit.