2023-12-07 07:12:35
Since August, and at an accelerated pace since October, dozens of Belgian municipalities have received letters from the Foreigners’ Office, asking them to withdraw the Belgian nationality of children born in Belgium to Palestinian parents. This is what lawyer Julien Wolsey, president of the Association for Foreigners’ Law, notes and denounces, writing Litter in its Thursday edition.
Most of these letters were sent by the Foreigners’ Office to Antwerp municipalities, but also to Liège, the Brussels Region and East Flanders. Several municipalities have followed the recommendations of the Immigration Office.
Contacted, the office of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor (CD&V), recognizes the repeated sending of these letters. But denies any link with the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the Secretary of State takes full responsibility for sending these letters. “The Foreigners’ Office regularly notes that Palestinians in the European Union go to Belgium to have children with a view to acquiring Belgian nationality and, consequently, benefiting from family reunification,” points out Moor’s office.
“Beyond the timing which is completely detestable and adds fuel to the fire, this is a legally scandalous practice, because the Immigration Office has no competence in matters of nationality and does not can give orders to the municipalities,” says Julien Wolsey.
1701937018
#Municipalities #withdraw #Belgian #nationality #children #born #Palestinian #parents
