Amnesty

The government have agreed on the amnesty for refugee claimants & illegal migrants to get residency in the Netherlands. The amnesty applies to those who arrived prior to 2001 and is good news for more than 20,000 people.

However deportations of those who arrived more recently and who have exhausted the refugee application system will now resume, and the city councils will co-operate by not providing emergency housing for people in that group.

Possibly related, I have seen a lot of "workers wanted" advertisements up in restaurants and shops around town, I know the economy is growing but it seems to be every second window. I've heard on the grapevine that employers hiring illegal migrants could now face a fine of up to 8,000 euro per illegal worker. I'm not sure if it's a new rule, or is now being implemented more seriously.