THE HAGUE, 27/11/03 - Problems between the Netherlands and Bulgaria concerning the seizure of passports of deported Bulgarians have been resolved. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) has come to agreements with the Bulgarian Home Minister, making it possible to seize passports of deported Bulgarians for a period of two years.

The Netherlands and Bulgaria already had arrangements on passport seizure but these were not lived up to. The reason for this was that Sofia requested motivation from The Hague on its grounds for taking passports from deported compatriots. The Netherlands could not comply as it would have endangered the privacy of deported illegal immigrants.

The privacy regulations made it possible for deported Bulgarians to return to the Netherlands immediately after arriving in their own country. The new agreement states that Bulgaria will henceforth only request information that the Netherlands can provide without violating its own privacy legislation, as the IND reported yesterday.

During the past year, agreements have been made with various countries on the return of rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. For example, Iraqis who wish to return to their country can travel through Jordan and arrangements have been made with Afghanistan on the return of Afghans. Rumania entered into an agreement with the Netherlands similar to the Bulgarian arrangement and Nigeria is helping with inquiries into the identity and nationality of rejected Nigerians.