Wait five hundred days after asylum application in Belgium: term runs
© Belga
The average treatment period of an asylum application increased to 496 days in the first months of this year. Last year it was an average of 430 days. Almost 15 percent of asylum seekers are waiting for a decision even more than two years. De Morgen announced this on Saturday, based on figures that Green Parliament Member Matti Vandemaele requested from Minister Van Asylum and Migration Anneleen van Bossuyt (N-VA).
Source: Belga
Today at 7:44 AM
In principle, asylum seekers are entitled to reception during their application. The longer it takes to decide whether or not they can stay in our country, the longer those people should be given a place in the already saturated reception network.
On average, asylum seekers are currently in an asylum center for about fourteen months. In recent years, that figure was higher, with a stay of seventeen to eighteen months.
« The government must take structural measures to ensure that people get a decision on their asylum application within six months, » says Vandemaele. « The current waiting time is not good for anyone. It’s expensive for society, it’s not good for people who can stay, and it’s not good for people who can’t stay. »
Van Bossuyt emphasizes that it was always her plan to invest more first and thus eliminate the current backlog at the asylum services.
