Written July 2021. This page reflects the situation at the time of writing. For the current rules on losing Dutch nationality, see The 5-10-13-Year Clocks and Loss of Dutch Nationality.
The law and why the Zuidwijk children are still Dutch.
(Law as on 16 Juli 2021)
Mr G. Zuidwijk got the Argentine nationality without asking for it when he was born in Argentinia. His parents weren’t Argentine, and didn’t become Argentine later. Mr Zuidwijk lost his nationality in June 2013, 10 years after the last issue of his last Dutch passport. At the time he wasn’t aware of the loss due to Version 3 of the so called 10-Year Clock,Netherlands nationality law Article 15 paragraph 1c. You can read in the full story how this unnoticed loss came about.
Mr Zuidwijk has some (practically difficult) legal avenues to get his own nationality back. However, his children’s nationality is more important and he wants to ensure they don’t lose theirs. Keeping in mind that due time they are also at risk of losing their nationality in the same way as their father. That is why the family applied for Dutch passports for the children.
When they applied for passports the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs states “no, your minor children at the time lost the Dutch nationality together with you.” (Dutch nationality law Article 16 paragraph 1d). Luckily three of the six children were already adults in 2013 and the authorities do regard those as still being Dutch. The other children, says the ministry of foreign affairs, are therefore no longer Dutch. Two of those became adults recently and their clock is ticking.
Incorrect
We do not agree. You can read here why we think that Dutch Nationality Law RWN Article 16 paragraph 2e applies to these children and these children are still Dutch.
Specifically for the Zuidwijk family we want to point out that Mr Zuidwijk did not lose his nationality because he voluntarily got the Argentine nationality through naturalisation, option or another active method of acquiring the nationality. No, in fact the opposite is the case, the Zuidwijk family were given Argentine nationality automatically at birth. Just like our Dutch-Argentine Queen (Maxima) they can’t even renounce or relinquish the nationality. The convention of Strasbourg which the authorities look states that only where the parent actively and voluntarily acquires another nationality will children join in the loss of nationality. And that was not the case for Mr Zuidwijk or his children. And even if that would have been the case, Argentine is like the rest of the world not a member of this convention. Only Austria and the Netherlands are still in this treaty. But we really should be looking for this at our nationality law. You can read here how the law is correctly read and implemented by us and some officials.
Opa Zuidwijk, Congratulations with the recent 90th birthday!