Nareis is the special form of family reunification for the relatives of someone holding an asylum residence permit. The conditions are lighter than for ordinary family reunification, provided the application is filed within three months of the permit being granted.
Legal basis
The regime rests on Article 29(2) of the Aliens Act 2000 and on Family Reunification Directive 2003/86/EC, whose Article 12 prohibits imposing income, housing or integration requirements on refugees, provided the application is made within three months of protection being granted. After that the ordinary conditions apply. The application covers the spouse or partner and minor children, and in some circumstances other dependent relatives. The key question is whether the family bond already existed before the journey to the Netherlands and still exists in fact. Where official documents are missing, the evidential distress regime applies and the Service must offer additional investigation, such as identifying interviews or DNA testing; in E. v Netherlands the Court of Justice held that a Member State may not simply refuse for want of documents. The Dual Status System Act, adopted in April 2026, distinguishes between the entitlements of refugees and of those with subsidiary protection.
How it works in practice
The three-month period is strict: a day late means the ordinary route with income and housing requirements. The file turns on documents and on consistent statements about the family composition. For foster children and adult children, factual dependency is the decisive point.
Where it goes wrong
Status holders wait to apply until they have housing and miss the deadline. A second error is an application containing contradictory statements about the date of marriage or cohabitation. Third, evidential distress is not invoked even though documents demonstrably cannot be obtained.
Related terms
Nareis connects to the asylum residence permit and to ordinary family reunification.
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