The Council for the Judiciary has made an urgent appeal to immigration minister Marjolein Faber not to press ahead with two draft pieces of legislation to slash refugee numbers before new EU rules come into force.

The European regulations will place additional pressure on the immigration service and other bodies and if Faber’s bills are added, the situation will become unworkable, the council said in a new briefing on Monday.

The council is an advisory body which aims to ensure courts of law can perform their duties effectively and mediates between the legal system and the government.

The council expressed its concerns last month but has now gone one step further and called for an outright delay. Faber has not yet reacted but did say last month that “we have to start sometime” and that she was fully confident everything “would work out alright”.

One of the pieces of legislation aims to reduce the basic refugee residency permit from five to three years. The other introduces a two-tier status for refugees, which legal experts in particular fear will lead to appeals and more legal processes.

The draft laws are currently being assessed by the Council of State, which is the government’s highest advisory body.

The European migration pact introduces more screening at the EU’s outer boarders, including the use of finger prints and facial recognition technology. This will enable member states to check if an asylum seeker arrived in another EU country and should have applied for asylum there under the Dublin rules.