The Hague: Noureddine Amrani

The State Council (the highest court in the country) has ruled that residence permits granted to asylum seekers who make false statements during their applications can be revoked.

This ruling came in the context of a long-running legal case involving a convicted man who sold false statements to asylum seekers, claiming for large sums of money that he could help them obtain residence permits.

When this scheme was exposed, more than 100 previously granted residence permits were re-examined. Two cases, involving Iranian families who had already been granted asylum in 2017, came to light. After it was discovered that they had used the services of the convicted consultant, their residence permits were revoked.

The State Council wrote in its ruling: "The Minister for Asylum and Migration has the right to revoke an asylum permit if it is discovered that the asylum seeker fabricated their reasons for seeking asylum and relied on false statements." However, it noted that the Minister must reassess whether these individuals are still eligible for asylum should they submit new applications. The legal advisor was earning hundreds of thousands of euros annually from his services, which he offered through his consulting firm for substantial fees. In many cases, he claimed he could guarantee asylum applications would be accepted, but only upon payment of between €2,000 and €7,000, as determined by the court. He fabricated stories for applicants and helped them memorize them, then published his clients' stories online to lend them credibility. The public prosecutor's office concluded that his claims of asylum seekers being persecuted because of their religion or sexual orientation were false.

The case came to light when an interpreter reported the advisor to the police. Ultimately, in 2023, the man was sentenced to four years in prison for human trafficking.