The Immigration and Naturalisation Service, Dutch: ''Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst'' (IND), is a Dutch

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

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 Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to ...

, visas,

naturalisation Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

, 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 Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

, the aliens act (Dutch: 'Vreemdelingenwet') and the Netherlands

nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...

act (Dutch: 'Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap'). From 1999 to 2003, future prime minister of the Netherlands

Dick Schoof Hendrikus Wilhelmus Maria "Dick" Schoof (born 8 March 1957) is a Dutch politician and civil servant serving as the prime minister of the Netherlands of the Schoof cabinet since 2 July 2024. Schoof previously worked as secretary-general of the M ...

was chief director of the IND. The Netherlands was experiencing a relatively high influx of asylum seekers as a result of the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, 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.

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* * Government agencies of the Netherlands

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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