Nederländsk integrationsminister vill minska importen av brudar

140 000 personer invandrade till Nederländerna under 2008. Det som fått många att höja på ögonbrynen är att antalet "importerade brudar" åter ökar. Detta trots att landet infört höga krav för att minska invandringen pga. giftermål. Integrationsminister Eberhard van der Laan är inte nöjd.

Since 2004, brides brought in from abroad must be at least 21-years-old and their partner's income must be 120% times the minimum wage. Compulsory integration tests for people from outside the EU were launched in 2007. These should be taken in the country of origin.

Measures introduced in 2004 to reduce the number of women coming to Holland to marry men from Morocco and Turkey had been working, the minister said. But their effect was being offset by new arrivals from Iran, Somalia and Afghanistan who 'did not always come to marry the most emancipated men', the Volkskrant quoted the minister as saying.

A record number of 140,000 migrants were recorded last year, and are made up mainly of 'import brides' and eastern European immigrants. The number of 'import brides' increased by 32 percent to 15,330 and come mainly from Turkey and Morocco.

The ministry said immigrants have found way to circumvent the rules by, for instance, first bringing a partner to another EU country.

And the Netherlands cannot possibly integrate all these newcomers, said Van der Laan.

De Telegraaf reports Van der Laan “wants to end the inflow of unskilled marriage candidates because it negates all the energy and money invested in integration”.