The Dutch asylum system has been in crisis mode for years. An international investigation by Dutch investigative journalism collective Spit, together with Altreconomia in Italy, scrutinised the enormous amounts of public funds in Europe disappearing into asylum reception and detention. Who benefits from the cash flow generated by the asylum crisis?

In the Netherlands, commercial companies such as hotel chains, holiday parks, and cruise ship rental companies are earning good money from this crisis. A thriving market has emerged, where substantial profits can be made from emergency solutions, while the quality of care is often substandard.

The reception crisis in the Netherlands is not caused by a particularly high influx of asylum seekers. This demographic has fluctuated around 55,000 per year since 2022, following a temporary dip between 2016 and 2021.

The crisis is caused by the closure of asylum reception centres.

A hotel room for an asylum seeker costs the COA an average of €250 per night, or €91,000 per year, while Fletcher advertises to regular hotel guests and tourists, with hotel stays for less than €50 per night.

The newspaper AD previously uncovered that the COA was spending €110,000 a day to rent a cruise ship to house refugees and newspaper NRC revealed how savvy entrepreneurs profited from asylum housing on river ships by exploiting cheap migrant labour.

An investigation by Investico journalists revealed how commercial companies turned medical care in asylum centres into a profit model, supplying doctors and nurses at exorbitant rates.