You may now temporarily stay with acquaintances if you have sought asylum

Published at: 11/01/2024, 00:00

There is not enough room in the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). Therefore, you can now stay temporarily with family or friends. Your stay does not affect your asylum procedure. Read here how it works.

This is how lodging with family and friends works

Do you live in a reception centre of the

Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA)

and do you have a

citizen service number (BSN)

? Then you can stay with relatives for 3 months. COA calls this the lodging arrangement. During this lodging you no longer have a bed at COA. You must continue to report every week to COA and the

Department of Aliens Police, Identification and Human Trafficking (AVIM)

. You can do this by calling. You do not have to go to the reception location for this.

Lodging with friends or family does not affect your asylum procedure. You will not have to wait any longer, nor will you be put on a waiting list. COA only wants to use the stay arrangement to reduce crowding in reception centres.

The requirements for your stay

If you want to stay with family or friends, you must meet the following conditions:

You are not in a Dublin procedure and you are not from a
safe country of origin
You are 18 years of age or older
You have a citizen service number (BSN).
If you have children, you should stay near the school your children attend. That way, your children can continue to attend the same school.
You have a general practitioner in the municipality or close to the municipality where you will be lodging, or you have the option of registering with the GP of the people with whom you will be lodging.
You do not need intensive medical treatments or complicated care.

This is how you get a personal number (BSN) to handle your affairs in the Netherlands

On this page you can read how to get a citizen service number (BSN).

More information

These are your rights during your stay

While lodging, you are still entitled to:

Living allowance and food money from COA. If you are 21 years of age or older, you are temporarily entitled to 75 euros extra per week. This amount is lower if you are lodging with several family members.
Reimbursement for your care. You do not have to arrange your own medical care during your stay. You are still covered by the
Regeling Medische zorg Asielzoekers (RMA)
. You are also entitled to money to travel to your doctor or hospital. You can request this from COA.

This is what you need to arrange when you go to stay with friends or family

If you would like to stay with friends or family, get in touch with your contact at COA or go to the Information Desk. COA employees will explain what you need to do to be able to stay with them. COA will meet with you beforehand to determine whether you meet the conditions for a stay. COA also explains your rights and obligations.

If COA decides that you can stay, you and the people you are lodging with will sign a lodging contract. This is because the stay can have financial consequences for the people with whom you stay. For example, benefits or allowances. Your contact person at COA will give you a letter explaining the financial consequences. You give this letter to the people with whom you want to stay. They must sign the letter once they have read it. This is part of the contract.

After the contract is signed, arrange the following things:

Register with the municipality at the address where you will be lodging. This must be done within 5 days of the start of your lodging.
Do you also have a supervisor from
VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN)
? Then please also inform your supervisor at VWN that you will be lodging.
If you would like to register with the same GP as the people you are lodging with, you can register there.

After 3 months, you may be able to extend the stay

If you are still in the asylum procedure after the 3-month stay and not yet entitled to a home, you can ask to stay longer with your friends or family. You apply for this extension at the COA.

If you, your family or friends no longer want you to stay with them, you will be given another place in one of COA's reception centres. This may be in a different place than the one you were in before. If your asylum application is rejected during your stay, you will have to return to the COA reception centre.