Brexit and dual nationality

As a British citizen you probably hold a residence permit under the Withdrawal Agreement. It is also possible that you hold a national residence permit (for example, as a highly skilled migrant or for permanent residency). You could use this residence permit to demonstrate that you have legal residency in the Netherlands.   With your registration in the Personal Records Database (BRP), you can prove that you have had main residence in the Netherlands for 5 years, without interruptions.

A naturalisation procedure can take 12 months. During the time your application is pending, you must continue to meet the conditions of legal residence and main residence. You must therefore remain registered in the BRP and have legal residence throughout the naturalisation procedure.

You have passed the civic integration exam. You may also be exempted from the civic integration exam (for example, because you obtained the NT-2 diploma, ‘State Examination Dutch as a Second Language,’ or for medical reasons).

If you submit the application for naturalisation from abroad (see ‘exceptions to 5-year term legal residence and main residence’ below) you could take the exam at a Dutch Embassy or Consulate abroad. However, you can also choose to take the civic integration examination in the Netherlands.

You do not endanger public order, good morals, or the safety of the Netherlands. In the 5 years prior to your application, you have not received a prison sentence, training or community service order or paid or had to pay a large fine (€ 810 or higher, or multiple fines of € 405 or higher with a total amount of € 1,215 or higher) for a crime either in the Netherlands or abroad. You should also not have an open criminal case against you.

You also have a right of residence that is non-temporary and you have legal residence (“toelating”) in the Netherlands, see the explanation under ‘5 years of uninterrupted legal residence and main residence’.

If you submit the application for naturalisation from abroad (see ‘exceptions to 5-year term of legal residence and main residence’), it will be determined ex officio whether you, as a British citizen, could qualify for a right of residence in the Netherlands of a non-temporary nature, if you requested. This is called a ‘fictieve test’ (fictional test ).

You hereby declare that you are aware that the laws of the Netherlands also apply to you. The statement is made in person. You are obligated to participate in the naturalisation ceremony.

You do not automatically lose UK nationality if you become a Dutch national, but you are obliged to do everything possible to give up this nationality after your naturalisation, unless this cannot reasonably be required. You will have to provide a statement from the British authorities confirming that you have renounced your British nationality. If it becomes clear that you have not done everything possible to give up your British nationality, the decision granting your Dutch citizenship can be revoked.

To invoke this provision, you must not only prove with a marriage certificate / deed of registered partnership that you have been married to / have a registered partnership with the same Dutch citizen for at least 3 years, but also that you have lived together continuously with this Dutch citizen. You must also have had legal residence (see the explanation under ‘5 years of uninterrupted legal residence and main residence’) during this period. You can demonstrate uninterrupted cohabitation for example by means of proof of address registration. If you were registered together for three years at the same address and you can prove this with, for example, a BRP extract then the IND will – in principle – assume uninterrupted cohabitation.

In many cases, however, the situation is more complicated. Some couples first lived in Great Britain (or another country) before they moved to the Netherlands. It is possible to count this period of uninterrupted residency abroad towards the 3 years, however in some countries (such as the UK) there is no official system of address registration. It also happens that there are so-called ‘interruptions’ in the cohabitation, for example because, for practical reasons, one partner has registered at the address in question earlier than the other partner. In such cases, it must be demonstrated with objective evidence that in the period in question, there was indeed continuous cohabitation.

You can submit the naturalisation request in the Netherlands or abroad. If you want to submit the naturalisation request in the Netherlands, you must do so at the municipality where you are registered. Would you like to submit the naturalisation request abroad? Then you can only do this if you have your main residence in the country of which you do not hold the nationality. As a British citizen you can therefore not be naturalised from Great Britain, but you can be naturalised from, for example, Spain or South Africa. You must have a valid right of residence (i.e. valid residence permit) in this country.

Please note: Not only must you satisfy the condition of marriage/registered partnership and continuous cohabitation at the time the naturalisation request is submitted, but also during the naturalisation procedure. If the marriage/registered partnership is dissolved or the cohabitation ends, then this is a reason to reject your naturalisation request.

If you are in a durable relationship with the same unmarried Dutch citizen and have lived together uninterruptedly with this partner for at least 3 consecutive years in the Netherlands (unmarried cohabitation abroad does not count) and had legal residence (see the explanation under ‘5 years of uninterrupted legal residence and main residence’) during this period, you can submit a naturalisation request. In this case, the uninterrupted cohabitation is relatively easy to demonstrate with a BRP extract that shows that you have been registered as a couple for three years at the same address.

Note: Not only do you have to meet the condition of uninterrupted cohabitation at the time the naturalisation request is submitted, but also during the naturalisation procedure. If you terminate your relationship and are no longer registered at the same address in the BRP, this is a reason to reject your naturalisation request.

If you have had 10 years of legal residence and main residence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba), of which the last 2 years have been uninterruptedly in the Netherlands, you can submit a naturalisation request. This exception is particularly relevant for people who have temporarily interrupted their main residence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or did not have a continuous period of legal residence (‘toelating’) during the period in which they had main residence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Please note that during the naturalisation procedure you must continue to meet the condition of uninterrupted legal residence and main residence in the Netherlands.

Of course, you must also comply with the other naturalisation conditions, as set out above.

Are you a former Dutch national or are you recognized, legitimized, or adopted by a Dutch citizen? Then the 5-year term (most likely) does not apply to you either.

With your partner’s Dutch passport and the marriage certificate / deed of registered partnership, you can demonstrate that you are exempted from the renunciation requirement.

Please note: British citizens who have a durable relationship with a Dutch national and are not married or have not entered a registered partnership are obliged to renounce their original nationality.

The request for joint granting of Dutch citizenship to the children must be submitted by the parent to his/her application for citizenship. In the case of minor children under the age of sixteen, the request for co-naturalisation is granted if the child, since the time of the request, has legal residence for an indefinite period and main residence in the Netherlands. This means that the child must be registered in the BRP and must have a non-temporary right of residence in the Netherlands.

If the child is older than 16 years, the parent’s request to jointly grant Dutch citizenship to the child is accepted if the child has had legal residence and main residence in the Kingdom (the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) for an uninterrupted period of at least three years immediately prior to the request for naturalisation and, since the time of the request, has legal residence for an indefinite period and main residence in the Kingdom. The child must agree with the joint granting of Dutch citizenship and make the declaration of solidarity during the naturalisation ceremony. Also, the child may not constitute a danger to public order, good morals, or the security of the Kingdom.

If the parent of the child is naturalized from abroad, the child can also join in the granting of Dutch citizenship. The child does not have to prove that he or she has legal residence and main residence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but only needs to show that he or she actually belongs to the family of this parent and that he or she could qualify for a right of residence in the Netherlands of a non-temporary nature, if requested. However, the child cannot co-naturalise if his or her main residence is in the country of which he or she is a national.