The Netherlands is one of the few EU Member States that informs applicants of a proposed asylum decision. An individual can then respond to a rejection with the migration authority, outside of court. Estonia and Poland have a similar procedure.
EMN NL ad-hoc query | Preliminary decision procedure
The Netherlands is one of four EU Member States with a preliminary decision procedure
5 February 2026
> Read the compilation of answers from 22 EU Member States* to the ad-hoc query** from EMN Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) provides a pre-announcement of an asylum decision (the intention). This allows an asylum seeker to respond before an official decision is made. As part of the implementation of the European Migration Pact, the Netherlands plans to cancel this preliminary decision procedure.
Through an ad-hoc query, sent out via the European Migration Network, EMN Netherlands surveyed whether other EU Member States have a similar procedure and or any other procedures that allow asylum seekers to lodge objections with the immigration authority itself or with another government agency before the decision is made final by the court.
Preliminary decision procedures in other EU Member States
In addition to the Netherlands, an asylum seeker in Estonia is also given the opportunity to express their objections before a (negative) decision is made. Austria has a separate admissibility procedure to assess the admissibility of an asylum application. If the authorities intend to reject the application at this stage, they notify the applicant. With the introduction of the migration pact, Austria will abolish this procedure.
Procedures in Luxembourg, Poland, and Sweden
In three Member States, an asylum seeker can object to a negative decision made by the immigration authority itself or by another government agency before lodging an administrative appeal with the court. In Luxembourg, such an extrajudicial appeal is called a ‘recours gracieux’. If the applicant wishes to challenge the decision later in court, it must still be done within the legal time frame (one month after notification).
In Poland, asylum seekers can lodge objections to decisions of the asylum authority (Office for Foreigners) with a special appeals body (Refugee Board). If they wish to challenge a decision made by the Refugee Board, they must go to court. In Sweden, the appeals process begins when an objection is filed with the migration authority. The authority first assesses whether the appeal was submitted in time and whether the decision should be reconsidered. If there are no grounds for reconsideration, they forward the appeal to the court.
The remaining EU Member States that responded to the ad hoc query do not have a procedure that allows asylum seekers to challenge a negative decision made by the competent asylum authorities before they can appeal to the court.
*Participating countries: Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (GE), Greece (EL), Hungary (HU), Italy (IT), Croatia (HR), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Czech Republic (CZ), Sweden (SE)
**An ad-hoc query (AHQ) is an EMN instrument used to gather information on migration and asylum policies in EU Member States and EMN observer countries.
