Bureaucracy prevents asylum seekers from finding paid jobs: COA

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The COA Refugee and Resettlement Agency wants to lift work restrictions for asylum seekers without residence permits. Telegraph Reported on Friday.

It cited figures from the government’s employment agency UWV, which said only a minority of asylum seekers without official refugee status were in paid jobs, compared to 585 and 314 in 2020 and 2019. around 601 people will be employed in 2021.

Under current regulations, asylum seekers cannot work for the first six months of their stay in the Netherlands, after which they can only work for 24 weeks a year.

Asylum-seekers who have settled on a residence permit can work, but must at the same time undertake integration courses, which often thwarts their efforts to find a job.

COA official Joeri Kapteijns wants the law changed to allow asylum seekers to work for more than 24 weeks. “I have a desire and a lot of work to do. Now is the time to act,” Kapteins told the paper.

But employers may be hesitant about hiring refugees, he said. Accommodation problems can mean workers have to travel long distances or suddenly have to move to another state.

Salaam Yafi, 27, a former manager of a Syrian telecommunications company, told the newspaper that he had “lost 15 months of his life in a refugee center” and was now restricted to mandatory daylight hours. Inberger course. Companies are eager to hire her, but she has to complete a course first, even though it’s something she can easily do in the evening, she said.

Seeth Duin, who has been trying to recruit asylum seekers being held on a cruise ship in Felsen, said the council all said “no, it’s not possible or allowed”. There are vacancies,” he pointed out.

Kapteijns said the current restrictions run counter to government coalition agreements that say asylum seekers should get paid jobs as soon as possible.