2 people hug each other at an airport after family reunification.
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Article

In these special situations, the IND processes applications for family reunification more quickly

Last updated: 14/11/2024, 15:42

Do you want to apply for family reunification for family members who are still abroad? If so, it often takes a long time for the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) to make a decision. In some special situations the IND can process your application faster. This article explains how that works.

For these reasons, the IND may speed up your application for family reunification

If you want the

IND
to process your application for family reunification faster, you must submit an urgent application to the IND. The IND only approves emergency applications for special urgent reasons, such as a serious medical situation in your family member.

These are the situations in which you can file an emergency request:

  • Medical emergency: This request is made when there is a life-threatening medical situation for your family member.

  • Non-medical emergency: This request is for very urgent situations that are not about health. For example, when children under the age of 18 no longer have a parent or caregiver and no other family to care for them.

The IND does not treat asylum with urgency for general reasons

The IND does not consider reasons for obtaining asylum in the Netherlands as a reason to process your application for family reunification more quickly. For example, the IND will not process your application more quickly because your family member lives in a war zone. The IND does not make exceptions to this because many people for whom family reunification is requested live in a dangerous situation.

You must prove the reasons for your emergency request with documents

For an emergency request, you will need the following documents:

  1. Evidence that supports the urgency of your emergency request: Submit documents that show why your emergency request is important. These could include documents about your family member's medical condition. You can also include documents that show another urgent reason for your request. Make sure these documents are translated into Dutch.

  2. Application for family reunification: You must have already submitted an application for family reunification to the IND. Without this application, you cannot submit an urgent application.

This is what happens after your urgent request

If the IND approves your urgent request, the processing of your application for family reunification will go faster. This means you will receive a decision about your situation sooner. However, it may still take weeks or months for the IND to make a decision.

Only VWN can submit an urgent request to the IND

Lawyers cannot submit an urgent request for you. Only employees of

VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN)
can do this. Therefore, contact your contact person at VWN if you think there is an emergency situation. Do you not have a contact person? Then contact the VWN help desk.

Contact your IND contact about your application

Is an IND employee already working on your application? Then you do not have to submit an urgent application. You can discuss with this employee whether your application can be processed more quickly. If this does not work, please contact VWN.


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