Today, the Council of State made an important ruling on the access to work for asylum seekers. When issuing work permits to asylum seekers, the Dutch employment agency (UWV) may no longer require that asylum seekers can only work a maximum of 24 weeks per year. This maximum duration of 24 weeks prevents asylum seekers from gaining effective access to the Dutch labor market and, according to the Council of State, is contrary to European law. According to the Council of State Department, national legislation should be amended and the maximum number of weeks that an asylum seeker may work per year should be expanded. It is still unclear how many weeks this will be. We will of course keep you informed. If you have more questions about having asylum seekers perform work, please contact our office.
