The IND offices in The Hague. Photo: Depositphotos.com
Two young women who put themselves through school, partly while living in a windowless storage space bordering on Amsterdam’s A10 ring road, will not be deported to Morocco after all.
Sisters Sofia and Najoua Sabbar, aged 21 and 24, came to the Netherlands with their mother as a seven and four-year-old and applied for papers in 2019, when both had turned 18. Their applications were twice rejected by the IND, and when the sisters won their case in court the IND launched an appeal.
However, the immigration service has now changed its mind about the appeal, and will give the young women residency permits after all. Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema was among those who had appealed to the minister for a rethink, and MPs had asked questions in parliament.