1,917 Nigerians sought asylum in Netherlands in two years — Report

At least 1,917 Nigerians applied for asylum in the Netherlands between 2024 and 2025, with the number increasing by 5.9 per cent year-on-year, according to Dutch immigration data.

The figures were contained in the 2024 and 2025 Netherlands country reports of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA), compiled by the Dutch Council for Refugees and published using data from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and Eurostat.

In 2024, 931 Nigerians applied for asylum in the Netherlands, comprising 770 first-time applicants and 161 subsequent applicants.

The figure rose to 986 in 2025, made up of 813 first-time applicants and 173 subsequent applications.

Nigeria was among the top 10 nationalities seeking asylum in the Netherlands in both years and was one of only four African nationalities to feature in the ranking during the period.

In 2024, Nigerians ranked ninth among the top nationalities, behind Syria, Iraq, Türkiye, Eritrea, Algeria, Somalia and Yemen, among others.

Nigeria moved to sixth place in 2025, with 986 applications, behind Syria, Eritrea, Türkiye, Algeria and Somalia.

Among African countries, Eritrea recorded the highest number of asylum applications across the two years with 4,684, followed by Algeria with 2,670 and Somalia with 2,503. Nigeria ranked fourth with 1,917 applications.

The reports noted that the asylum figures did not include people who entered the Netherlands through family reunification, meaning the actual number of Nigerians who joined relatives in the country during the period could be higher.

Data on asylum decisions also showed a high rejection rate for Nigerian applicants in 2025.

Of 515 first-instance decisions involving Nigerians that year, 425, representing 83 per cent, were rejected.

Only 65 applicants, or 13 per cent, were granted refugee status, while 10 received subsidiary protection and 15 were granted humanitarian protection.

This compared with an overall rejection rate of 52 per cent and protection rate of 48 per cent for applicants of all nationalities in the Netherlands in 2025.

Nigeria was not on the Dutch government’s list of designated “safe countries of origin” before the policy was suspended nationwide in September 2025 following rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The list included countries such as Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia.

The report also disclosed that a Nigerian was involved in one of only two Dutch court cases in 2025 concerning the “first country of asylum” concept, under which an applicant may be presumed to have protection in another country.

The court dismissed both cases because it was unclear whether the applicants could be admitted to the countries identified as their first countries of asylum.

Meanwhile, the Dutch parliament passed a bill in April 2026 introducing a two-status system that distinguishes between refugees and people granted subsidiary protection.

Under the proposed framework, holders of subsidiary protection would face longer waiting periods as well as income and housing requirements before being eligible for family reunification.