Syrian mother's family reunification wait to lengthen under new EU migration pact

Walaa, a 38-year-old Syrian mother, faces an increasingly uncertain wait for her family's reunification in the Netherlands, a process that has already stretched over two and a half years. Her youngest daughter, now four, is beginning to forget her due to the prolonged separation.

Walaa left Syria in 2024 with the initial plan to seek asylum in the Netherlands and then bring her husband and two daughters over. This strategy, common among other Syrians, involved one family member establishing residency before applying for family reunification. However, unlike her husband, Walaa secured a European study visa, prompting her to travel ahead.

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I have been away for so long that my youngest is starting to forget me.

Since her arrival, Walaa has been living in an asylum seekers' center and awaiting a second hearing with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). The Dutch government had suspended processing applications from Syria following the Assad regime's actions. Now, the implementation of the European migration pact on June 12 is set to further complicate matters. While the pact aims to expedite new asylum applications with shorter decision periods, it will divert resources, leaving only a quarter of IND staff to handle the approximately 50,000 existing applications.

This shift means that individuals like Walaa, who have already filed applications, will experience even longer waiting times. An asylum counselor described the situation as a new, fast checkout lane opening next to an old, slow one, with the new lane exclusively serving new customers. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) and the aid organization Vluchtelingenwerk have voiced serious concerns about the pact's impact, warning that it could double the waiting times for those already in the asylum system and subject them to stricter regulations.

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Everything I hear is always bad news. So I close my ears, I just ignore it.