Junior justice minister Ankie Broekers-Knol has agreed to waive some of the conditions which stateless refugees would have to meet to qualify for Dutch nationality.

MPs voted in February to give a specific group of refugees, who are without birth certificates of passports from their country of origin, a Dutch passport so they would not remain stateless.

But Broekers-Knol refused to carry out the motion at the time, saying more research was needed. She has now agreed that the 8,000 or so people still affected by the ruling can apply for Dutch nationality after all.

Some 28,000 refugees were given residency permits in 2007 under an amnesty but since then have remained in limbo because they could not provide all the paperwork needed.

The minister agreed in June that some 2,000 youngsters who were stateless would not have to meet the requirement