Dual Nationality Netherlands – Update January 2026

Last month we already heard that the political discussions on this topic hadn’t yielded many positive results. The coalition agreement text now presented regarding nationality is even more vague and diplomatic than before. Let’s be honest, it simply means there’s no agreement between the parties.

It very likely means the 2016 bill will be shelved. But since it’s scheduled for a plenary debate in the House of Representatives on 23 March 2026, it’s also possible it will be rejected. There’s possibly again no effort or momentum going into it, and just like with the last two agreements/governments, the government will likely fall before any legislation is in place. In short, the agreement’s text is a weak sweetener for those affected who continue to make a racket. So, more of a racket is needed.

Coalitieakkoord 2026-2030 “Aan de slag – Bouwen aan een beter Nederland”
D66, VVD en CDA
Rob Jetten (D66), Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD) en Henri Bontenbal (CDA) state in the coalition agreement the following:

“Anyone who joins a terrorist organization loses their Dutch citizenship if they hold dual nationality. That’s why we’re implementing the Permanent Revocation of Dutch Citizenship Act in the interest of national security.”

This is on page 16 of the coalition agreement and is therefore apparently more important than a proportional nationality legislation for Dutch citizens themselves. It’s only on page 40, one of the last points, where the following is stated:

“By modernizing the nationality law, Dutch citizens abroad will not lose their nationality any faster than those in our neighbouring countries, Germany, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. For newcomers who wish to naturalise in the Netherlands, the starting point is that they renounce their other nationality.”

“Modernisation” !
The question is, what is meant by this? Not losing faster still means loss. So, it looks like the disproportionate automatic losses will persist if this minority coalition/minority cabinet has its way.

The Dutch Council of State and the European Court of Justice have previously ruled that automatic loss is disproportionate. Automatic loss without knowledge or any choice for a regular citizen (without a criminal record, etc.) is also morally reprehensible. Disproportionate, according to the highest judicial authorities. But it is up to politicians to truly modernize; they write the law (or not).

With GroenLinks-PvdA and other parties, there might well be a majority to truly modernize the legislation. But at the same time, we’re already pretty certain that the VVD and CDA aren’t in favor of this. Will D66 then (once again) abandon its own proposal and its norms and values? Who knows. If D66 wants to, there’s a possibility, but this will upset its coalition partners. Are they willing, or are they morally weak? We’ll see.

“A minority cabinet must always try to secure a parliamentary majority for its proposals. (Dutch) Parliamentary history has shown that minority cabinets haven’t always been able to do this. Several minority cabinets have suffered parliamentary defeats.”

“Newcomers” “Renounce” !
The fact that newcomers must renounce/lose their other nationality contradicts the 2016 bill that D66 promised to defend and implement at the recent elections. It’s clear that D66 has abandoned this proposal once again. Elections won, promises abandoned..

The Netherlands has agreed to certain EU/UN treaties regarding nationality in the past, and sometimes even proposed them themselves. This gives people the right to dual nationality in some situations. Without renouncing these treaties and potentially the EU/UN membership, it’s not possible to return to a very strict single-nationality principle. Therefore, while they may want to modernize the legislation for Dutch citizens (although we still need to hear how and what), they apparently don’t want to do this for newcomers.

Dual nationality for newcomers is ultimately still allowed.
Yet, these same newcomers are ultimately allowed dual nationality anyway. The absurdity of our legislation is that, according to Dutch law, a newcomer must first relinquish/lose their nationality when possible, but that this person can immediately afterwards regain/take back their original nationality without losing their Dutch nationality. Ultimately, they are allowed to have two or more nationalities. So, what are we making a fuss about?

Discrimination
Newcomers have it somewhat easier in this regard, despite the more bureaucratic complexity, than Dutch citizens abroad who may also want to adopt a different nationality there. Making a distinction between Dutch citizens and newcomers is neither possible nor permitted under the constitution; discrimination. That is what you would think.

There are exceptions for (new) Dutch citizens to acquire another nationality without losing their Dutch nationality. For example, by being married to someone of the same nationality. But what if you’re not married? Then you are discriminated against based on your marital status. And according to the law and court rulings, this kind of discrimination is permitted. Should it?

“Permanent residence permits will be abolished under the European Migration Pact, meaning that someone can no longer naturalise as a Dutch citizen based on such a permit. We are therefore making naturalization possible based on a temporary residence permit, but we are raising the bar higher than before. Anyone who has received a temporary residence permit twice and meets a language requirement at level B1 may naturalise after six years. A hardship clause applies to those who cannot meet a language requirement.”

The language requirement for naturalisation from A2 to B1 has been proposed several times. It’s not cheap for the government, and its merits are also scientifically disputed. But the (far)right parties in the coalition naturally want something to support their ideology and voters. Will it actually happen?

Increasing the residency period for naturalisation from 5 to 6 years is another (far)right political gesture. Previously, they wanted 10 years, but that was also scientifically discouraged. So, 6 years looks like a political compromise, completely pointless, except for the (far)right itself.

This agreement remains silent on many nationality issues, which demonstrates that there is no agreement, or agreement but a desire not to make it public now.

Background:
1893, Netherlands first Dutch nationality law introduced – this was based on old feudal principles of loyalty and citizens being owned by the monarch/state. Introduction of the single nationality principle in law, similarly like the rest of Europe.

1945-1985/2026, most of Europe and the modern world modernised its nationality law allowing dual nationality/citizenship. To date not the Netherlands which maintains its principle of a single nationality and due to international treaties (UN/EU) it does allow dual nationality through certain exceptions creating a complex nationality law.

1995, due to a change of the nationality law in 1985 thousands of Dutch nationals lose their Dutch nationality automatically (mostly unwillingly and unaware). The change of law was not publicised much and Dutch embassies mostly did not warn citizens about this.

2005, a temporary possibility for the 1995 nationality loss victims allowed repair of Dutch nationality for adults (not children who legally missed out on this possibility). However, again people were mostly not advised or informed.

2010, Kris von Habsburg asks attention for the 1985/1995 victims and (re)starts Nederlanders in den Vreemde.

2010, a change of law allows children who were victim of gender discrimination in Dutch nationality law prior to 1985 to get the Dutch nationality after all (latent Dutch nationals), this is still possible today.

2013, due to a change of the nationality law in 2003 thousands of Dutch nationals lose ‘again’ their Dutch nationality automatically (mostly unwillingly and unaware). The change of law was ‘again’ not publicised much and Dutch embassies mostly did not warn citizens about this.

2015, Kris von Habsburg, Nederlanders in den Vreemde and new organisations like Stichting GOED raise the issue with the Nationale Ombudsman which starts an investigation. It is surprised by the volume of respondents and closes its investigation after 500 respondents.

10 May 2016, the Nationale Ombudsman issues a damming rapport on its 2015 investigation explaining how the government inactions resulted in the disproportionate automatic loss of Dutch nationality of thousands.

16 December 2016, some politicians (D66 and GroenLinks-PvdA) recognise the issues with the Dutch nationality law and submit a proposal to modernise the Dutch nationality law allowing dual nationality. Both for new Dutch nationals, as well as Dutch nationals who want to have another nationality. This proposal is not pushed through and over the following years only appears shortly before new elections.

2016-2026, we see many small changes to the Dutch nationality law, but not many that really modernise the law where it comes to dual nationality, or acknowledgement of the victims of 1985/1995-2003/2013.

Complex legislation
Due to numerous amendments to modernize things here and there, but not truely, Dutch nationality legislation has become complex. Civil servants are often at a loss. After many errors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructs its staff to no longer advise on nationality or passport matters and to refer only to their website and brochures, which is often incomplete. People go on social media and hear the wildest stories there because of the complexity. We have enough customers because of this. This should change. Stop creating legislation with conditions for conditional exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions.

However well-intentioned, legislation can certainly be modernized. But in that case, the best approach would be to largely ignore the current law and start writing most of it from scratch. Perhaps, due to its complexity, previous announcements in coalition agreements were never implemented. Perhaps it wasn’t always a matter of reluctance on the part of certain politicians and parties? Or?Previous Dutch coalition agreements offered somewhat more promise than now. Ultimately, nothing happened, but at least there was a more positive, and less diplomatic, approach. Except, of course, for the last, thankfully short-lived PVV coalition.

While the Dutch media is now (rightly) outraged about ICE practices and Trump’s policies in the US, they fail to acknowledge that the Netherlands has a long history of denaturalising people. Automatic loss of Dutch citizenship has existed since 1893, and the possibilities for redress are only becoming fewer and more difficult with time, both in legislation and in implementation (policy). Yes, this primarily affects people who have counted Dutch cheese-heads as ancestors for hundreds of years. We often think and talk about newcomers, but that’s not how the law works.

In the US, policy has changed under Trump, and as of the beginning of this year, there’s even an official policy to denaturalise up to 200 Americans per month. The fact that this policy is a number speaks volumes about the intentions. They may also want to disallow dual citizenship in the US. Whether this is all legally possible in the US remains to be seen. But as Trump wants, even minor (traffic) violations could lead to the loss of nationality. I thought that was impossible, but I thought that about many other things in the US.

In the Netherlands, too, they want to make it easier to strip criminals of their nationality. It started years ago with terrorists, understandably. But some politicians also want to lower the threshold. Fortunately, the Netherlands isn’t yet at the level of the US, but if we gradually allow this, a far-right government could potentially abuse it later. Just as the Germans during WWII were very happy with the Dutch municipality identity cards (persoonskaarten) introduced in 1939 (current municipal civil registration). Anyway, although related, this is a different topic, hopefully not something we’ll have to worry about in the Netherlands in the future.

Nationality/Dutch citizenship in the previous coalition agreements:

Hoofdlijnenakkoord 2024–2028 “Hoop, Lef en Trots”
PVV, VVD, NSC, BBB

“Foreigners who wish to adopt our nationality will, where possible, renounce/lose their other nationality.”

That is/was already the case, and thus this sentence means nothing, except that it was a political gesture.

“The language requirement for naturalization will in principle be raised to B1 for everyone.”

This is a bill that has faced significant criticism. The intention still exists, but what will actually happen is unknown. Expensive for the government, scientifically speaking of little benefit.

“The standard term for naturalization will be extended to 10 years, regardless of whether residence is fixed-term or indefinite.”

That’s a bill that’s been heavily criticized and may or may not be implemented. A draft bill was already prepared. Now it might be six years. But the previous draft bill added much more than was announced in the coalition agreement. Now in 2026?

“Furthermore, it will be investigated whether the deprivation of Dutch citizenship can be legally extended to all categories of offenses permitted by the European Convention on Nationality.”

Political gesture. But worrying.

“Research will be conducted into expanding the legal categories of convicted persons from whom Dutch citizenship can be revoked. To this end, it will be investigated, among other things, whether both terrorism and serious criminal offenses can be added to the European Convention on Nationality as grounds for denaturalization.”

Political gesture. But worrying.

Regeerakkoord 2021–2025 “Omzien naar elkaar, vooruitkijken naar de toekomst”
VVD, D66, CDA, ChristenUnie

“The Dutch nationality law leads to undesirable problems in some situations. We are revising
the automatic loss whereby Dutch citizens with multiple nationalities outside EU territory lose their Dutch citizenship (after ten years) and making it easier for them to retain Dutch citizenship alongside their other nationality or, for those who lost it after April 1, 2003, to regain it.”

This is the most positive announcement so far. However, nothing ever came of it, and after the elections, it became suspiciously quiet again. This is something that could still be considered. Politicians in left-wing and (far) right-wing parties informally stated they were in favour of a possible repair of nationality. So, it is still possible (if they really want it). It is only fair that this will be considered since 1985, and not just since 2003.

“For people with multiple nationalities who only want Dutch nationality as a single nationality but cannot give up their other nationality(ies), we support a private Dutch register of unwanted nationalities.”

A government survey was conducted for this purpose. Only around 40 people responded. Legally, it was already insignificant, but apparently there was more political enthusiasm for this line of thought than actual real people wanting this.

Regeerakkoord 2017-2021 “Vertrouwen in de toekomst”
VVD, CDA, D66 en ChristenUnie

“The cabinet is jointly preparing proposals to modernize nationality law. This concerns expanding the possibility of holding multiple nationalities for upcoming first-generation emigrants and immigrants. At the same time, there will be a mandatory choice moment for subsequent generations that will actually lead to retaining only one nationality.”

This is what some countries are doing. But the devil is in the details. But nothing ever came of this either.

And now???
Silence???

At least perhaps until 23 March 2026, when the 2016 bill will be discussed in plenary debate. It will then become clear whether it will be shelved again or…?

It is therefore important to remain vocal about this. Numerous surveys and studies have already been conducted on this topic, but please keep your voices heard because they may look into it in March. A survey by the GOED Foundation is still ongoing; you can still have your say here, link. It would be great if your family and friends in the Netherlands also want to positively contribute to this research.

The research currently shows that that 93.5% want to allow dual citizenship, 90.6% oppose automatic loss, and 96.9% want to make it easier for former Dutch citizens to regain their nationality. Link to survey results.

Also the SNBN is also actively involved in politics (behind the scenes) to promote better/modern legislation; see here. The more support organizations like the SNBN, the GOED Foundation, and Nederlanders in den Vreemde receive from you, your family, and friends, the better. Let these organizations and the politicians themselves hear from you, and perhaps consider supporting them financially or by volunteering behind the scenes.

It would be great if the legislation was truly modernized so that we could close this part of our business and I could become unemployed 😊. And I mean that. (Kris von Habsburg)

The rest of the world:

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still unable to issue passports within the statutory deadlines. Months are spent waiting for an appointment, followed by months of waiting for a passport. The ministry is struggling with a backlog of hundreds of objections that need to be processed, even going back two years.

Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)
The IND is struggling to complete applications for residence permits and EU proportionality assessments within the statutory deadlines. Putting the IND in default for this (ingebrekestelling) can result in rapid negative decisions, or requests for (already submitted) documentation to avoid fines.

Kris von Habsburg
I’m struggling a bit as now, with BZ/IND failing, we also get more clients with urgent deadlines. In addition, my health has not been good recently, but fortunately it’s improving. As a result, some clients have had to wait, or are still waiting. If you haven’t heard from me, please feel free to send an email or WhatsApp message; I appreciate being chased. For new clients, I ask for a little more patience. Fortunately, I have good colleagues who are also assisting.

Brexit
Some Dutch lawyers argue that Dutch-British citizens living in the UK since or before Brexit could lose their Dutch nationality as early as 01 February 2033, due to the 13-year clock (version 1). This loss is preventable; see the link for free information. While it’s good to be on time and take the 2033 Brexit date into account, we, and the government, argue that the correct date is the end date of the Withdrawal Agreement transition, plus 13 years, which would be 01 January 2034. Of course, for some it’s even later. It’s still a long time away and not really something to worry about now, but due time don’t be disappointed and leave it at that. There’s a lot of misinformation circulating, both from Dutch officials and some lawyers. We understand that it’s difficult to know who’s right. We do not only advise our clients, we also explain the legal arguments to them, so they can also argue for themselves if/when necessary.

The text below confirms our date, but the last sentence is also somewhat misleading. If you moved to the UK after 01January 2021 it depends on where you came from. If you moved to the UK from an EU country, then the statement is correct. If you came from outside of the EU then the 10/13-year period may have started earlier. Government websites/information 😠… Sigh!!!….

Why Dual Nationality / Citizenship?
People sometimes talk about loyalty and similar aspects to oppose having other nationalities. But in the history of spies, terrorists, traitors, and wars, we see that in 99% of cases, those involved only had one nationality. If they had evil intentions, nationality apparently had no bearing on that.

Dual nationality is about dual ties/bonds. Maintaining ties and bonds with another country. This is due to family, work, culture, and numerous personal reasons. Many Dutch people migrate and want to maintain their ties with family, etc., including their nationality. Newcomers want this too, and can often do so even more easily than Dutch people themselves.

Introduction: passports, residence permits, visas, and the new type of (soft) visa called ‘travel information and authorization’. Such as ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) in the EU, ETA in the UK, and many other abbreviations and names in other countries. You’re only allowed to visit for 90 days; you’re not allowed to stay any longer in the country to care for your parents, or move back for a job offer, or…

In the US, we recently saw a sudden halt to issuing visas for 75 countries. With a growing risk of war in the world, perhaps even a world war, foreigners might soon be banned from crossing borders altogether. Including Dutch/EU borders. But this is not just a matter of potential war; we saw this during COVID-19, for example. Back then, it wasn’t just about travelling to family/home. We also saw Dutch people unable to renew their passports due to the closed doors of consulates/embassies, and consequently involuntarily losing their Dutch nationality.

Having ties and bonds to more than one country, or family in more than one country, is therefore being disproportionately punished. And the Netherlands has been doing this the old-fashioned feudal way since 1893.

D66, VVD en CDA politicians and voters:

“The German calamity of years ago repeats itself: People acquiesce without resistance and align themselves with the forces of evil.”
Albert Einstein

“How long shall we tolerate that politicians, hungry for power, try to gain political advantages in such a way?”
Albert Einstein

“The most important human endeavour is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.”
Albert Einstein