Cabinet scraps automatic group asylum

The Hague - Asylum seekers from dangerous countries will no longer automatically qualify for shelter in the Netherlands. The cabinet adopted the proposal by Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak on Friday.

From now on, all asylum requests will be judged on an individual basis.

Albayrak says the former collective policy was attracting many fraudulent requests.

Until now people from Ivory Coast, parts of Sudan, and, before that, Iraq and Somalia, qualified for asylum automatically.

Dutch immigration and residency regulations