Right to reception
The provisions to which asylum seekers are entitled have been defined in the Asylum Seekers and Other Categories of Aliens Provisions Regulations (Rva). They include:
- shelter
- meals or an allowance for food
- living allowance for clothing and care products
- counselling and leisure activities
- (public) transport to their lawyer and IND in connection with the asylum procedure
- access to necessary medically care
- third-party liability insurance
It is the task of the COA to make these provisions available. This is laid down in the COA Act.
Duration of the right to reception
Holders of a refugee status retain the right to reception (shelter and other provisions) until they are allocated housing by the municipality. Rejected asylum seekers remain entitled to reception during the statutory departure period. This period usually ends 28 days after receivin the IND’s decision rejecting the asylum application.
Withholding provisions
If asylum seekers do not respect their fellow residents or COA staff, or breach the house rules in another way, we take measures. Withholding some or all of the abovementioned provisions from the Rva is one of these measures.
Shelter
After an asylum seeker has signed for asylum application at the IND, the COA provides him or her with shelter. For this purpose, the COA has reception centres throughout the country. The facilities at the different types of centres are adjusted to the different phases in the asylum process.
Those who come to the Netherlands on the basis of family reunification do not receive shelter from the COA, but will live with their sponsor. If the sponsor is still in a reception centre waiting for own accommodation, his or her family members move in with them.
Meals, food and living allowance
Most asylum seekers do not have their own means. That is why they receive meals or an allowance to buy food. Later, a living allowance is added to this. A food and living allowance is paid weekly in the form of a weekly allowance.
Asylum seekers who have an own income or funds can still make use of COA reception. In that case, they do have to pay an own contribution to the reception costs. This is laid down in the Reba regulation.
Food allowance
The level of the food allowance depends on the number of persons in the household run by the recipient. Furthermore, the amount of food allowance is lower for children than for adults and unaccompanied minors. The level of the food allowance that unaccompanied minors receive is always based on a one-person household.
At the centres where residents are given meals, they do not receive a food allowance. When residents must provide some of the meals themselves, for instance breakfast, the level of food allowance is lower.
Living allowance
When the asylum procedure begins, asylum seekers also receive a living allowance. This is the same level for all residents: € 12,95 per week.
Adults who have exhausted all legal means and are staying in a family centre or a freedom-restricting centre do not receive a living allowance.
Unaccompanied minors (UAMs) already receive a living allowance before the asylum procedure begins, during the waiting time for the procedure.
Provisions in kind
In centres where residents don’t receive an allowance for food and/or living, we provide meals and/or care products in kind. This is in the central reception centre, for example.
Table weekly allowance
| weekly allowance | 1-2 pax | 3 pax | 4 pax | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| living | food | weekly total | living | food | weekly total | living | food | weekly total | |
| adult | 12,95 | 49,63 | 62,58 | 12,95 | 39,69 | 52,64 | 12,95 | 34,72 | 47,67 |
| child <18 | 12,95 | 41,16 | 54,11 | 12,95 | 32,90 | 45,85 | 12,95 | 28,84 | 41,79 |
| UAM | 12,95 | 49,63 | 62,58 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Counselling and leisure activities
Asylum seekers are entitled to counselling when shaping their future in the Netherlands or their country of origin. To this purpose we offer porgrammes in the reception centres. In addition, residents can participate in activities in a reception centre, which COA staff organise together with other organisations in the migration system and residents. These are, for example, sports, music or just social activities.
