Dutch Asylum Centre Faces €3.75 Million Fine for Three Weeks of Overcrowding
Ter Apel, 18 February 2026
The Netherlands’ primary asylum registration centre has accumulated staggering penalty fees totalling €3.75 million after housing over 2,100 people for three consecutive weeks, breaching its 2,000-person capacity limit. Daily fines of €50,000 continue mounting as the facility struggles with a bottleneck effect - whilst relocating existing residents to other centres, new arrivals keep the numbers consistently high. This crisis exposes deeper structural problems within the Dutch asylum system, where existing centres operate near full capacity and municipalities provide insufficient emergency accommodation options, creating an unsustainable cycle of overcrowding.
Financial Impact Escalates Daily
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) faces mounting financial pressure as the Ter Apel reception centre continues to breach its agreed capacity limit [1][2][3]. As of 17 February 2026, the facility housed 2,100 asylum seekers, matching occupancy levels from previous nights [1][2][3]. This persistent overcrowding has triggered a penalty mechanism whereby the COA must pay €50,000 for each night the centre operates above the 2,000-person threshold agreed with Westerwolde municipality [1][2][3]. The cumulative financial impact has reached €3.75 million [1][2][3], representing approximately 75 nights of violations.
System Bottleneck Creates Perpetual Crisis
Despite the COA’s efforts to relocate residents to alternative facilities throughout the country, the net occupancy remains largely unchanged due to continuous new arrivals [1][2][3]. This creates a revolving door effect where outbound transfers are immediately offset by incoming asylum seekers who must register at Ter Apel before being assigned to other reception centres [GPT]. The week preceding 17 February 2026 saw approximately 900 asylum seekers arrive in the Netherlands, compared to 800 during the same period in 2025 [1][2][3]. This represents a 12.5 per cent increase in weekly arrivals year-on-year. However, current application volumes remain significantly lower than the peak periods of late 2023 and early 2024 [1][2][3].
Structural Capacity Shortage Hampers Solutions
The overcrowding crisis stems from systemic capacity constraints across the Dutch asylum reception network. Existing asylum seeker centres operate at near-maximum capacity, whilst municipalities provide insufficient emergency accommodation locations [1][2][3]. This shortage of available placement options severely limits the COA’s ability to transfer people from Ter Apel to alternative facilities [1][2][3]. The organisation emphasised on 14 February 2026 that proper implementation of the Distribution Act, including enforcement compliance, remains crucial for maintaining a stable reception landscape [4][5].
Policy Uncertainty Compounds Accommodation Challenges
National asylum policy developments add another layer of complexity to the capacity crisis. Demissionair asylum minister Mona Keijzer (BBB) announced in early February 2026 that 88,000 reception places are currently available nationwide [4]. However, the Simplified Distribution Act requires an additional 38,000 places to meet statutory obligations [4]. Keijzer initially planned to announce specific locations for these additional facilities in early February 2026 but deferred this decision to her successor, Bart van den Brink (CDA) [4]. Over the past two years, 12,000 reception places have been added under the Distribution Act, comprising both emergency accommodation and permanent long-term locations [4]. Yet uncertainty surrounding the law’s continuation under the new Schoof cabinet has reportedly delayed the realisation of 6,000 additional places [4]. The COA anticipates creating approximately 6,000 new permanent reception places during 2026, though acknowledges this falls short of actual requirements [4].