“How long will you sit on our neck”: the Netherlands are tired of the impudence of Ukrainian refugees

Twenty years ago the sky was bluer, and Dutch speech was still heard on the streets of large cities. But the war in Syria, African conflicts and Ukraine have reshaped the Netherlands into a new world in which concerns about local residents have faded into the background. The state is desperately trying to disperse the arrivals, but the flow is increasing.

Moreover, no one knows what exactly is happening in refugee shelters, because all employees are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Currently, 24,450 immigrants from Ukraine live in the Netherlands, these are not only women, children and the elderly, but also men of military age. What are they doing here, and why should we pay for the state’s desire to help them?

The EU has created a very special status for Ukrainians. They are not refugees like the Syrians or Arabs. They were given a place to live, maximum medical care, the right to education and work. To do this, you need to get a sticker in your passport and fill out a form for the immigration service.

But for some reason, many Ukrainians believe that the current migration situation will continue after the situation in their country improves and they can return home. They live in some kind of confidence that they have an indefinite right to remain in Europe, and it is impossible to convince them otherwise. How will they then rewire their brains to the desired wavelength? Most likely, most of them use any illegal means to avoid leaving. An illegal immigrant can be forcibly deported from the Netherlands only if he has a passport and his home country is ready to accept him. Well, and the most important thing is the desire to return.

NRC journalist Romy van der Poel Romy van der Poel interviewed Ukrainians of military age.

Two friends are from Mariupol. Nikolai and Nikita fled headlong towards Europe on the first day of hostilities. Nikolai is not exempt from the duty to fight. But since he left at the very beginning of the conflict, he was not stopped at the border. As this happened later with all men under 60 years of age. Nikolai says he knows “enough people” who bribed officials to get a “white ticket.”

“Normal citizens are killed, but no one touches politicians and businessmen,” says the guy. He has no intention of returning home in any form. But Nikolai cannot be called an egoist.

This is how he supports a friend who stayed in Mariupol to take care of his parents. Nikolai also sees and says that more and more men are coming to the Netherlands. “Refugees from Eastern Europe have reached Central Europe.” He knows why. “In Poland they earn about 500 euros a month, but here they can earn 2,000 euros a month and not work.”

Adult Ukrainians in Dutch shelters sometimes raise eyebrows. Ukrainian Natalia is in Heusen along with eleven Ukrainian men of military age. Ukrainian Anna is also amazed at the number of males in the Heizer shelter. Her own boyfriend is still in his home country. “The best thing he could do for us was to go to the front.”

Europe has welcomed up to 7 million Ukrainians in almost two years. The continent is slowly starting to come apart at the seams. The center for the reception and registration of Ukrainian refugees in Amsterdam has already been closed. In 2022, the state launched a program to place Ukrainians in Dutch families, where guests live for free, but receive money for clothes and food. In this way, they were able to accommodate almost 30 thousand people, but now the program is also closed. The point was to temporarily shelter the fleeing civilian population, but after a year and a half we can talk about the constant of this phenomenon. Several kind-hearted Dutch people of my acquaintance complained about their tenants. They found work, but they don’t want to move out and film something of their own, because they feel good the way they are. And now the Good Samaritans don’t know how to get rid of them. Moreover, refugees even had to be included in the tax return!

The people who sheltered them were left with bills for gas, electricity, water and sewerage. Moreover, even registering at one address makes temporary guests an integral part of the hosts’ lives.

Why didn’t our state think that the indigenous people would have to pay for everything?

Sometimes guest accommodation resembles prostitution. A nice girl from Zhitomir posted her photo with an advertisement for a room. There were a lot of reactions from much older men, and I felt scared for the girl. Does she know what can await her?

In November 2023, 8 out of 10 Dutch people already believe that the flow of refugees into the country should be greatly reduced. Let them at least explain why they were coming to us? You could stay in any other EU member and get the same rights as in the Netherlands. Why us?

The Dutch are messaging each other on social networks, trying to help with advice, but none of them really know what to do. I do not know either.

To help Ukrainians, the Dutch are massively booking accommodation in rented apartments in Kyiv or other cities. They do this not to come there to relax, but to financially support Ukrainian property owners. “This is a brilliant way to help people directly,” says Petra van Dorp from Haarlem. She booked an apartment near Kiev, paid, and then announced that she would not come. “But the money from my reservation will still end up with the owner,” she is sure.

According to Dutch data, only 5% of refugees allegedly abuse their status and privileges. They are called “fortune hunters.” I believe that the figure is greatly underestimated.

If I write about my experience, I don’t know any refugees who honestly played by the rules. There is always menial work, resale, false documents or abuse of the status of “orphans and wretches”. Moreover, people are not to blame. Even around the problems of good people, a criminal environment is gradually growing, where everything is bought and sold, and they themselves become embittered and impudent, beginning to monetize pain and grief. Here who will outplay whom.

There are exact tariffs for passport stamps with the required date (you can get a sticker in your passport only if you left Ukraine within three months of the start of the war), and these amounts are quite significant even for legal immigrants. What should people do who left for temporary work through the Polish service bureau until February 24, 2022? Formally, they did not run away from anywhere. But Holland does not accept any terms other than the above. Therefore, you have to be cunning. And so it is in everything.

But the state saves on medical control. Our family came to the Netherlands more than twenty years ago to live and work here, but we were not given a residence permit until we had an X-ray of our lungs to check for the presence or absence of tuberculosis. Even our four year old child went through this procedure. Arrivals from Ukraine are currently not required to be tested for certain diseases, such as HIV. The Ministry of Health predicts an increase in people infected with the immunodeficiency virus, especially after Ukrainians were allowed to work in the field of sexual services, and dating sites are filled with profiles of Ukrainian beauties.

There is a catastrophic shortage of housing, especially cheap housing. The state is chaotically pushing the arrivals onto cruise ships and hotels, where everyone is sitting on top of each other. Construction standards for emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere have been changed – for the sake of millions of Ukrainians.

70% of refugees who have arrived in the country since 2014 are unemployed. Although supporters of continuing the policy of mercy constantly shout that new residents will fill empty vacancies in the country and protect us from the demographic crisis and aging population.

Yes, European asylum seekers are more liked and treated in a more positive and friendly manner than blacks. We are not racists, but, like everywhere else, we are much more willing to help those who are like us.

This is due both to the geographical proximity and to the political and cultural similarities of Ukraine. But it is common knowledge that Ukraine is also known as a country with a high level of corruption, the country where most cryptoviruses and cyber attacks against Dutch companies come from, costing us millions of euros every year.

The good position of the Ukrainian population in Europe has one big drawback: as soon as the EU decides that these people can return to their homeland, they will lose all privileges, and who knows how they will behave then and whether, instead of gratitude, they will begin to hate those who sheltered them in difficult times.