Immigration and Naturalisation Service Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst | |
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Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Netherlands |
Legal jurisdiction | Netherlands |
Operational structure | |
Minister responsible |
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Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Ministry of Asylum and Migration |
Website | |
https://ind.nl/en |
The Immigration and Naturalisation Service, Dutch: Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), is a Dutch government agency that handles the admission of foreigners in the Netherlands. It is part of the Ministry of Justice and Security. The IND processes all applications for asylum, family reunification, visas, naturalisation, and other residence permits.
On behalf of the Dutch Deputy Minister of Security and Justice (since 2022 Eric van der Burg) the IND implements the aliens policy, the aliens act (Dutch: 'Vreemdelingenwet') and the Netherlands nationality act (Dutch: 'Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap').
From 1999 to 2003, future prime minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof was chief director of the IND.[1][2] The Netherlands was experiencing a relatively high influx of asylum seekers as a result of the Kosovo War, and the organization had a significant backlog of requests. Schoof was responsible for implementing reforms to the Aliens Act by State Secretary for Justice Job Cohen in 2001 that simplified the asylum procedure, and he worked to deport applicants that did not qualify.[3]