About us

The main task of the Asylum section is to ensure the availability and timely deployment of sufficient legal aid providers for asylum seekers. To this end, quality requirements and criteria have been established that the participating lawyers have to meet.

The Asylum section peforms its activities in coordination with lawyers, interpreters, IND (immigration service), COA (reception), VluchtelingenWerk (Dutch Council for Refugees), Nidos (guardianship for unaccompanied minors) and other chain partners. The aim is to ensure that asylum procedures proceed efficiently and adequately.

Team

The Asylum section has a Legal Aid desk in the application centres for asylum seekers (AC) in Den Bosch, Budel, Schiphol, Ter Apel and Zevenaar. These employees take care of the planning of legal assistance in asylum procedures at the various IND locations. In addition, the Asylum section has legal coordinators, a policy officer and a head of the department.

History Legal Aid

The Asylum section has organised and coordinated legal aid for asylum seekers since 1988, at the time as part of the Stichting Rechtsbijstand Asiel (Foundation for Legal Aid in asylum cases). In 2008, this foundation was dissolved and the Asylum section became part of the Raad voor Rechtsbijstand (Legal Aid Board). The legal aid system in asylum procedures is necessary due to the government's choices for central reception of asylum seekers (by the COA) and centralised procedure handling (asylum procedures) at several application centres. In addition, the asylum procedure has relatively short terms and a complicated planning. Since asylum seekers are often clients who do not (yet) know their way around the Netherlands, the free choice of lawyer is de facto limited. Centralised, clear planning then ensures efficient, adequate matching between asylum seekers and lawyers. The Asylum section of the Legal Aid Board also facilitates between asylum lawyers and the Dutch immigration service, interpreters and the central agency for the reception of asylum seekers. Until 2010, a 48-hour asylum procedure was in force, in which legal assistance was organised by means of a consultation service with scheduled lawyers in the application centres. Since 2010, one lawyer provides legal assistance from the beginning to the end of the procedure (‘continuity of legal assistance’).

Logistical organisation of legal aid in asylum procedures

The Asylum section matches an asylum seeker to a lawyer, after registration, before the start of the asylum procedure. To this end, Legal Aid creates an availability schedule every six months, based on the forecasts of the number of asylum procedures to be proceded by the IND and the capacity of available lawyers. Approximately 350 lawyers currently participate in the application centre schedules. Participating lawyers can choose at which application centre and how frequently they are scheduled. The latter depends on the number of cases to be processed by the IND. Lawyers receive cases via the schedule that the IND has scheduled for  substantive assessment.

Since mid-2022, Legal Aid has also matched cases at an early stage for which it is not yet clear where and when the asylum application will be substantively assessed. This is necessary to guarantee access to legal aid during the long waiting periods.

The Legal Aid Board strives for an equitable  distribution of cases among participating lawyers, based on a distribution scheme. If an asylum seeker authorises a preferred lawyer, Legal Aid also takes care of the administrative process.

Consultations between asylum seekers and their lawyer take place in the AC or at the lawyer's office. Legal Aid ensures that these meetings can take place with the help of an interpreter, taking into account the efficient use of available interpreters.

The Asylum section also issues certificates (V060) to lawyers for providing legal assistance in initial asylum applications. This allows lawyers to apply for compensation for their work.

Quality of legal aid

The legal field of asylum is characterised by procedures with strict deadlines, frequent developments in country of origin information, case law and policies. This concerns legal applicants in a vulnerable position. That is why asylum law has been designated as a specialism within the funded legal aid system.

The Asylum section supports various instruments of the Legal Aid Board to guarantee the quality of legal aid in asylum cases:

• Registration conditions, coordinated with the Dutch Bar Association
• National Advisory Committee on Legal Aid for Asylum and Immigration Detention
• Best practices guidelines for asylum lawyers
• Committee for peer review
• Complaints Committee on Legal Aid for Asylum and Immigration Detention

Lawyers who are registered for the asylum specialisation at the Legal Aid Board must meet all general registration conditions for lawyers of the Legal Aid Board and the expertise requirements for the specialisation in asylum and refugee law. Appendix 1 of the registration conditions includes the AC distribution scheme.

The stated expertise requirements include:

• Asylum training or training by the Dutch Bar Association
• First cases are handled under supervision of an experienced asylum lawyer (admission only after ‘declaration of no objection’)
• Membership of the working group on legal aid for refugees(Dutch Council for Refugees)
• Act according to Best Practices Asylum Guidelines (minimum standards)
• At least 20 asylum cases per year (experience requirement)
• At least 6 studypoints/courses per year on asylum
• Participate in peer review
• Cooperate with the complaints commission upon request

The Asylum section informs the participating lawyers about current developments in case law and policy, via a digital newsletter and meetings aimed at sharing knowledge and experiences.