The government has had to pay out more than €80 million in penalties for taking too long to process asylum seekers’ claims in the last year, according to figures obtained from the immigration service IND.

The number of claims not settled within six months, as required by law, increased four and a half times in 2022 to more than 20,000.

Asylum seekers can appeal to the courts if the IND takes too long to rule on their application. The court can then impose a conditional penalty, known as a dwangsom, which becomes due if no decision is made within two weeks.

Roelof Bisschop, an MP with the orthodox Christian party SGP, called for asylum minister Eric van der Burg to explain to parliament how the government plans to tackle the rising cost.

In 2021 official figures showed that €18 million was paid out in conditional penalties to asylum seekers who challenged late decisions. No figures have been given for 2022, but Bisschop estimated that the total bill is between €80 million and €100 million.

Last year the cabinet tried to suspend the penalties to give the immigration service time to clear its backlog, but the Council of State said that the legislation authorising the suspension breached European law.