At least 1,917 Nigerians applied for asylum in the Netherlands between 2024 and 2025, according to data from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).
The figures were contained in the Netherlands country reports for 2024 and 2025 under the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) project, compiled by the Dutch Council for Refugees, VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, and published with data from the IND and Eurostat.
The reports showed that Nigeria was among only four African nationalities that ranked in the Netherlands’ top 10 countries of origin for asylum applicants in both years.
Nigerian asylum applications increased from 931 in 2024 to 986 in 2025, representing a 5.9 per cent rise.
The 2024 figure comprised 770 first-time applicants and 161 subsequent applicants, while the 2025 total consisted of 813 first-time applicants and 173 subsequent applicants.
The reports noted, however, that the figures did not include family reunification applications, meaning the total number of Nigerians who joined relatives in the Netherlands during the period was not captured.
Globally, Nigeria ranked ninth among the top nationalities of asylum applicants in 2024. Syria recorded 11,655 applications, followed by Iraq with 2,306, Türkiye with 1,905, Eritrea with 1,506, an “Unknown” nationality category with 1,437, Algeria with 1,216, Somalia with 1,119 and Yemen with 1,089.
In 2025, Nigeria moved up to sixth place among identified nationalities, with 986 applications. Syria topped the list with 3,373 applications, followed by Eritrea with 3,178, Türkiye with 1,530, Algeria with 1,454 and Somalia with 1,384.
Nigeria ranked ahead of Afghanistan, which recorded 803 applications, Sudan with 796 and Pakistan with 689.
Among African countries, Eritrea recorded the highest number of asylum applications across the two years, with 4,684 applicants.
Algeria followed with 2,670, Somalia with 2,503 and Nigeria with 1,917.
Sudan appeared among the top 10 nationalities in 2025, recording 796 applications, while its 2024 applications were included under the “Others” category.
The African nationalities identified in the reports accounted for at least 12,570 applications out of the Netherlands’ combined total of 59,599 asylum applications during the two-year period, representing about 21.1 per cent.
The report also showed a significantly higher rejection rate for Nigerian applicants in 2025 compared with the overall rate for asylum seekers of all nationalities.
Of the 515 first-instance decisions involving Nigerian applicants in 2025, 425, representing 83 per cent, were rejected.
Only 65 applicants, or 13 per cent, were granted refugee status, while 10 applicants, representing two per cent, received subsidiary protection.
Another 15 applicants, or three per cent, received humanitarian protection, a status typically derived by family members of a recognised refugee.
By comparison, the overall rejection rate for applicants of all nationalities in 2025 was 52 per cent, while 48 per cent received some form of protection.
Comparable disaggregated decision data for Nigerians was not published for 2024 because Nigeria did not rank among the 10 nationalities with the highest number of decisions that year.
Nigeria was also not included among countries designated by the Dutch government as “safe countries of origin,” a classification that allows authorities to apply an accelerated procedure for rejecting asylum claims.
The safe-country policy was suspended nationwide in September 2025 following rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Countries previously included on the list included Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, among others.
Nigerian Involved in First-Country-of-Asylum Case
The report further disclosed that a Nigerian applicant was involved in one of only two cases nationwide in which Dutch authorities invoked the “first country of asylum” concept.
The concept applies where an applicant is presumed to have already obtained protection in a third country.
According to the report, the two cases heard by Dutch courts in 2025 involved Nigeria and the West Bank as the proposed first countries of asylum.
“Both cases were dismissed by the Court, as it was unclear whether the applicants could be admitted to these countries,” the report stated.
Meanwhile, the Dutch parliament passed a bill in April 2026 introducing a “two-status system” that distinguishes between refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.
Under the proposed system, people granted subsidiary protection would face a longer waiting period, an income requirement and a housing requirement before becoming eligible for family reunification.
