Netherlands visa applicant over-stay risk assessments

The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been using an opaque, discriminatory, and possibly illegal algorithm to calculate the risk score of short-stay visa applicants applying to enter the Netherlands and Schengen area, according to an investigation by journalism collective Lighthouse Reports and NRC. 

Known internally as Informatie Ondersteund Beslissen (IOB), the system uses variables such as nationality, gender and age to profile visa applicants. Those categorised as ‘high risk’ are automatically moved to an 'intensive track' that can involve extensive investigation and delay.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' privacy chief had recommended the system be dropped, to no avail. The Ministry had been called out as riddled with 'structural racism' in a report it had commissioned into its culture in 2022.