Hendrikus Wilhelmus Maria Schoof was born on 8 March 1957 in Santpoort into a Roman Catholic family, as the second-youngest of seven children (six sons and one daughter).

[3][11] The Netherlands was experiencing a relatively high influx of asylum seekers as a result of the Kosovo War, and the organization had a significant backlog of requests.

Schoof was responsible for implementing reforms to the Aliens Act by State Secretary for Justice Job Cohen in 2001 that simplified the asylum procedure, and he worked to deport applicants that did not qualify.

[5] Following the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014 after it left Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, he coordinated the Dutch crisis response, strengthening his relationship with Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

In 2022, a court in the Netherlands convicted three men linked to the Russian military of murder in connection with the plane’s destruction, which killed all passengers onboard, including 196 Dutch citizens.

[14] When Schoof requested an independent investigation by Twente University into the performance of his office, he and his employees interfered with the questions, the composition of the committee and the publication date.

[14] Under Schoof's leadership, the NCTV was accused by civil rights group Bits of Freedom of carrying out illegal surveilliance of Dutch citizens, especially Muslims, on the internet.

[17] In 2019, an investigation by GeenStijl determined that Schoof ordered subordinates to create fake social media profiles to monitor "potential terrorists."

[9] On 16 May 2024, the PVV presented a right-wing coalition agreement with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC), and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB).

[24][26] He was sworn in on 2 July by King Willem-Alexander as part of the Schoof cabinet, and he became the first independent politician to serve as prime minister since Cort van der Linden (1913–1918).

[27][28] Dutch news weekly Elsevier Weekblad opined: "The top official knows all the nooks and crannies of The Hague and is an expert in the field of immigration and security.

[33][34] Schoof subsequently facilitated negotiations between the coalition parties, and an agreement on asylum measures was reached in October 2024 that excluded the use of emergency powers.

"[41] Media outlets reported on offensive, radical, and potentially racist remarks about the Amsterdam attacks during a meeting of the Council of Ministers.

"[50] He said that one reason their motives are difficult to detect is that Dutch Salafi Muslim organisations use what he referred to as "facade politics", by espousing moderation in public, but preaching harsh extremism in private.

"[55] Schoof pledged to adopt a stricter approach to immigration, stating that he viewed current asylum and migration levels as placing pressure on society, particularly on social services and cohesion.

He suggested that labor migration rates could be adjusted to support a desired state of the economy, and he proposed assessing asylum applications based on individual circumstances rather than broad country-specific guidelines.

[55] Schoof lives in Zoetermeer with his partner, Loes Meurs, who is a psychologist active in the Hague and a former policy advisor for the Custodial Institutions Agency.