legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Child care
Many asylum centres offer child care facilities.
Female asylum seekers
There are no special programmes or accommodation for female asylum seekers.
Unaccompanied minors
Unaccompanied minors under the age of 12 are placed with foster families as soon as possible or
in a special home. Those aged between 12 and 17 are accommodated in special centres. After
three months, the guardian, i.e. usually the foundation “De Opbouw”, decides where the minor
should be raised. This can be in a childrens home with 24-hour care or in a normal house where
mentors will give them some assistance. Due to capacity problems many minors who are
considered to be “self supportive” are placed in normal centres for adults.
Health/sickness
Asylum seekers undergo compulsory TB screening on arrival, and are also offered a general
medical check-up. They are insured for basic health costs and emergency dental treatment.
Medical personnel are attached to the screening and reception centres, as well as to the centres
for asylum seekers.
Freedom of residence/movement
Asylum seekers living in screening and reception centres may be required to report to the aliens
police station at the centre every day. Those living in centres for asylum seekers must report on a
weekly basis.
In principle, their movements are restricted to the municipality in which the centre is located;
those who wish to travel elsewhere must seek prior permission.
It is virtually impossible for an asylum seeker to choose the centre to which he/she is allocated.
Permission to move may be granted only if the applicant has close family members
(spouse/partner, parents, children) at another centre.
Repatriation
A (rejected) asylum seeker who wishes to repatriate voluntarily is entitled to the payment of
his/her travel costs and an allowance in order to cover the necessary costs of living during the
first weeks or months following repatriation.
The allowance varies depending on whether the person is still under determination procedure or if
his/her application has already been rejected. Persons who repatriate during the procedure
receive EUR 568 for one person, EUR 795 for a family with two children and EUR 90 for each
additional child. Rejected asylum seekers receive EUR 227 for one person, EUR 318 for a family
with two children and EUR 45 per additional child.
The Dublin Convention and repeated asylum requests
Accommodation on arrival: asylum seekers processed according to the provisions of the Dublin
Convention are not entitled to accommodation while waiting for the request to take charge, sent
by the Netherlands to another state, to be accepted (or rejected). If it appears only at a later stage
of the asylum procedure that another state might be responsible, and the Netherlands send a
request to this state, the asylum seeker must leave the accommodation. In practice, unless they
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The Netherlands