BritInParis

If you're married to a Dutch citizen then you don't need to renounce your British citizenship so why not just get married?

Fugee

Shouldn't getting married be something you want to do and not something you're forced to do because of the actions of others?

BritInParis

If you were that bothered about it I would expect you would have already. If you're not that bothered then what's the problem? And yes, you need to pay to renounce your British citizenship, it's £372.

SushiFan

This translates more or less to:
"The government prepares proposals to modernise the right of nationality. For first generation immigrants and emigrants will it give the possibility to hold multiple nationalities. At the same time will there a be a compulsory decision moment for following generations, leading to them holding not more than one nationality."
I am neither a lawyer nor a certified translator. Use this translation at your own risk

Pollyana

Unfortunately, for many people in relationships that cross international borders, getting married is the only way they can be together, just cohabiting is often not an option.

Fugee

I have no desired and, luckily, no need to get married But I can emphasize with people who get told to get married as a way for their worries to disappear, particularly if they are not ready, cannot afford or do not wish to get married.

Fugee

Hoezo? This is a forum for British expats living in the Netherlands after all.

calman014

I have an acquaintance who registered long ago as Dutch in order to legalise his relationship here, but still retains his UK Passport.
The procedure to get NL Nationality was just that much easier and cheaper than the necessary paperwork from UK.
There is no current requirement to denounce UK Nationality.

Pollyana

But its also part of a large forum for expats everywhere, Some of us find it interesting to see how the rules differ in other countries so we dip nto the other forums

Tweedpipe

Slightly off-topic, but nevertheless relevent to this thread as getting married for convenience has been mentioned.
Not sure about other countries in Europe, but here in France although a legal partnership i.e. Pacs 'Pacte civil de solidarite' does have it's advantages, it doesn't allow the full advantages of a married partnership.
As an example, my elderly m-i-law became Pac'sd, and for some time afterwards her ageing partner tried to convince her to marry him, as he was financially very comfortable. She blindly refused his proposals, and after a short illness he passed-away. Although he left her in a relatively confortable position financially with an unambiguous clear-cut will, it became obvious that his very considerable work pension, and far from insignificant military pension could not be inherited as they were not married. That additional five-figure annual sum could have been hers had she graciously said, "Yes" to marriage. We did't want to interfere, but he clearly had her future welfare in mind.
I wonder how this relates to other countries in Europe.

TessaNL

I have been struggling with this question for some time, although my situation is slightly different.

I was born in the UK in 1983 to a Dutch mother who was married to my British father. Because she was a married woman, I was not entitled to the Dutch nationality (this law changed in 1985, too late for me). I have now - completely coincidentally - been living in the Netherlands, together with my British husband, for nearly 9 years.

We have trawled all of the IND and Rijksoverheid webpages trying to find an example similar to my situation, as people keep telling me that I should be entitled to dual nationality. I can't find anything that suggests I wouldn't have to renounce my British citizenship. Eventually I contacted the IND and they confirmed that I indeed would need to renounce it. Yet somehow I can't help thinking that there must be a way around it.

Last week I spoke to a neighbour who works for our gemeente and she said that if you are entitled to become Dutch through an 'optie' then you are entitled to dual citizenship. I haven't found any evidence of this: in fact, that page of the website tells me precisely the opposite.

The posts here seem very conflicting. Lots of people say there's no need to renounce your British citizenship, but where does this information come from?

Added later: Yet more searching has led me to the Factsheet about becoming Dutch. It says,

"Bent u door optie Nederlander geworden? U mag uw oude nationaliteit dan houden, met uitzondering van de meerder-jarigen die vanaf het bereiken van de leeftijd van vier jaar toelating en hoofdverblijf binnen Europees Nederland, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten of de openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint
Eustatius en Saba hebben gehad."

This suggests to me that only adults who have been resident here since the age of 4 need to renounce their first nationality. Or do they mean those who arrived any time after the age of 4? It is very oddly written!

BritInParis

My understanding is that you do not need to renounce if you go via the option procedure unless you started living in the Netherlands before the age of four, one of the eligibility categories, which doesn’t apply to you.

SushiFan

The way how I read that Dutch sentence: adults who came to the Netherlands at age four or older are not allowed to keep their original nationality.

Fugee

Brexit made it on to Nieuwsuur last night - it rarely does. Passport issues were also touched on.

https://tinyurl.com/ycp37lj4

Scroll down for the video - they speak English. Two opposing views.

Red_Wine_Fairy

Here is the 'Brexit' page on the IND website. This is discussed here:

Obtaining Dutch nationality through naturalisation (costs: € 866)

If you have lived continuously in the Netherlands for 5 years or longer with a valid residence permit, you can apply for naturalisation. There are exceptions to the 5-year period. Do you, for example, have a long-term relationship with a Dutch partner (married, registered partnership or unmarried living together)? Then you can apply for naturalization after 3 years of living together uninterruptedly with your Dutch partner. Living together outside of the Netherlands only counts if you were married to your Dutch partner during that period.

On the page Naturalisation you will find all conditions you must meet. For example, in most cases you have to obtain the civic integration diploma. You must also renounce your British nationality. There are exceptions to this rule. For example if you are married to or have a registered partnership with a Dutch citizen. On the page about naturalisation you can also read more about the application procedure and the possibility to let minor children participate in naturalisation.





However, as others have said, there appears to be no checks that you have actually renounced it, unless someone else has experienced this?