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First Chamber of Dutch Parliament rejects bill to increase period for naturalization from 5 to 7 years
Today the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament rejected a bill to increase the period of stay required for naturalization from 5 to 7 years. The political parties, VVD, PVV, CDA and SGP voted in favour of the bill (37 of the 75 seats), but all the other parties voted against it. Therefore, the proposed increase of the period required for naturalization from 5 to 7 years is now cancelled. The introduction of a criminal record review for individuals in the age group of 12 to 16 years has also been abandoned. Furthermore, spouses of Dutch nationals can naturalize after 3 years of marriage, even if they haven’t yet lived together in the Netherlands. Moreover, it remains possible for spouses of Dutch nationals living abroad to naturalize when they are living in any country other than the country of their own nationality.
The rejection of this bill is bad news for some former Dutch nationals. In the proposed legislation, there was an option which enabled former Dutch nationals to regain their nationality. This option is now off the table. In addition, Dutch nationals who live outside of the Netherlands and don’t renew their passport on time, will after 10 years, still automatically lose their Dutch nationality. The bill proposed to increase this period of time from 10 to 15 years because as per January 1st 2014, Dutch passports are issued for a period of 10 years instead of 5 years.
