There is no change to dual citizenship, but the 10-year residency plan has been canceled.
The upcoming Dutch government does not plan to change dual citizenship laws to allow all foreigners to retain their original nationality when obtaining Dutch citizenship, but it has abandoned the plan to raise the residency requirement to ten years.
According to the plans published on Friday, Dutch citizens living abroad will not lose their Dutch passports "more quickly" compared to their counterparts in Germany, Belgium, France, and the UK. In contrast, newcomers to the Netherlands wishing to pursue naturalisation will still be required to renounce their other nationality. The practical application of this policy remains unclear, especially since the Netherlands and Austria are the only two countries in the European Union that still prohibit dual nationality, while Germany has enacted a new law allowing the retention of original nationality when obtaining German citizenship.
Legal experts believe that allowing native Dutch citizens to hold more than one passport, while preventing new Dutch citizens from doing so, constitutes discrimination. Martin Fink, a professor of citizenship studies at the European Institute in Florence, described the proposed amendments to the nationality law as "ambiguous, morally inconsistent, and practically impossible." In contrast, the coalition agreement refers to the dropping of the outgoing government's widely controversial plan to extend the residency requirement from five to ten years. However, the duration will increase to six years for refugees, equivalent to two temporary residence permits.
Immigration lawyer Jeremy Berbach explained that this "clearly means there is no intention for a significant change in the requirements for non-asylum-seeking migrants," considering that the previous plan was "a desperate move before the elections." It is also understood from the new coalition document that the language requirement for obtaining Dutch citizenship through the naturalization route will increase from level A2 to B1, without a precise clarification of its impact on non-refugee applications.
Naturalization is one of two pathways to obtain Dutch citizenship, and it often requires renouncing original citizenship. The other pathway, which is obtaining citizenship through 'option', is more complex but allows for holding more than one passport for those who meet the criteria.