badri

Hi All,

I don't know were to put this question.

Myself and My wife are dutch citizens.
By becoming citizens of australia do we lose our citizenship?

I hear various stories so I have no idea what we should do?

Any reply will help

Thanks guys
Badri

Gabriel

If The Netherlands accepts dual citizenship, then you don't have to give up your Dutch one. Australia accepts dual citizenship.

Gabriel

Jaj

As far as I'm aware Dutch citizens do usually lose their citizenship but
there are exceptions. The following page should be of help:
http://www.netherlands.org.au/embassy.php?id=258

I've heard of cases where one Dutch partner decides to become Australian
while the other remains Dutch.

If you do decide to take Australian citizenship also consider:
- whether this causes your children to lose Dutch citizenship
- what immigration rights (if any) you would have in the Netherlands
- what rights you might have to resume your Dutch citizenship
- note that immigration and citizenship resumption law can always change.

On the other hand, by not taking Australian citizenship, you are denied
some important rights in Australia.

So it may not be an easy decision to take. Find out the law exactly
from the official source (above) and then consider the options.

Jeremy



badri wrote:
    > Hi All,
    >
    > I don't know were to put this question.
    >
    > Myself and My wife are
    > dutch citizens.
    > By becoming citizens of australia do we lose our
    > citizenship?
    >
    > I hear various stories so I have no idea what we should
    > do?
    >
    > Any reply will help
    >
    > Thanks guys
    > Badri
    >
    >

Hans de Visser

Hi Jay,
Couldn't find an answer to the following question on the site you mentioned, so I was hoping you might have some pointers as to where to find the answer. The question is:
Will the children, born in Australia, of an Australian woman and her husband with a Dutch/Australian dual nationality, get Dutch citizenship? [Some long term planning here: basically I'm tossing up between getting an Australian passport after having spent >2 years in Aus as a PR (and gotten married) so I can keep my Dutch one as well; and staying in Aus as a PR for years and years and not taking out dual citizenship until after the kids are born, to ensure they'll get dual citizenships.]

BillBen

I don't know about the Netherlands but I held two passports for a few years before it became accepted. I just got my Australian passport and the next time I was in London took my Birth Certificate etc and got a new British Passport.

I think it depends on which boxes that you tick on the forms as to if they check up or not. Try telephoning your nearest passport office and ask them (But don't give your real name!).

badri

Thanks folks for the reply,

I called the immigration office in Holland three times. Each time they gave me different answers:
1. They said if you keep renewing the dutch nationality then there will not be an issue.
2. On the website they have indicated that if a dutch person voluntarily takes the australian nationality then they will lose thier Dutch nationality.
3. Other said contact the dutch embassy at Caneberra. I called them they said we will lose the dutch nationality.

While gathering all this information they also informed me about an exception in the rule.

If I am married to australian then I can still keep my dutch passport.

So what we are thinking is that My wife gets Aussie citizenship and based on that I can keep the dutch as well as Aussie citizenship.

By the way I have one more question on the PR visa.
If you get a PR and stay in Australia for more than three years will you will be eligible for social security and other stuff. I just wanna know because say if due to some circumstances a person loses his job does he has the social security if he holds PR.

Thanks folks
Badri

Jaj

Hi Hans
The site is an official Dutch one, so I doubt I can help more.
The best I can suggest is *write* to the Dutch embassy and ask the
question. You are much more likely to get a considered reply if you do
this rather than call them.

I would have thought that as long as you keep your Dutch nationality you
can pass it on, but you should check. It's well worth being very sure
on points like this, and many countries have quirks in their nationality
laws that aren't described on official websites.

Other options:

- write to the authorities in Holland directly:
http://www.immigratiedienst.nl/Home.asp?LangID=1

- hire a Dutch lawyer familiar with nationality matters.

Jeremy

>Hans de Visser wrote:
    >
    > Hi Jay,
    > Couldn't find an
    > answer to the following question on the site you mentioned, so I was
    > hoping you might have some pointers as to where to find the answer. The
    > question is:
    > Will the children, born in Australia, of an Australian
    > woman and her husband with a Dutch/Australian dual nationality, get
    > Dutch citizenship? [Some long term planning here: basically I'm tossing
    > up between getting an Australian passport after having spent >2 years in
    > Aus as a PR (and gotten married) so I can keep my Dutch one as well; and
    > staying in Aus as a PR for years and years and not taking out dual
    > citizenship until after the kids are born, to ensure they'll get dual
    > citizenships.]
    >
    >

Jaj

    >BillBen wrote:
    > I don't know about the
    > Netherlands but I held two passports for a few years before it became
    > accepted. I just got my Australian passport and the next time I was in
    > London took my Birth Certificate etc and got a new British Passport.
    >

It's always been legal for Australians to have two passports provided
they legally held dual citizenship. This was never a problem in a
variety of cases before the law on naturalisation overseas changed in
April 2002.

For example, people born in the UK who naturalise as Australian citizens
have always been able to have dual citizenship quite legally. Or people
born in the UK to Australian parents (British by birth, Australian by
descent, that's also always been ok). These are just two examples.

If on the other hand, an Australian lost citizenship by naturalising
elswehere before 4.4.02, keeping an Australian passport or not telling
the Australian government, makes no difference at all. Australian
citizenship would have been lost and will have to be resumed.

How did you get your British and Australian citizenship?

Jeremy

Jaj

badri wrote:
    > Thanks folks for the reply,
    >
    > I called the immigration office in Holland
    > three times. Each time they gave me different answers:


Which rather proves my point that dealings with public authorities on
complex matters should always be in writing.


    >
    > By the way I have one more question on the PR visa.
    > If you
    > get a PR and stay in Australia for more than three years will you will
    > be eligible for social security and other stuff. I just wanna know
    > because say if due to some circumstances a person loses his job does he
    > has the social security if he holds PR.


Social security entitlement is not affected if you stay a PR.
For university fees, HECS funding is restricted for PRs who are eligible
for Australian citizenship but who have not taken it out.

The consequences are more to do with the risks of losing PR if you
commit crimes or stay outside Australia too long. You need to stay
eligible for Resident Return Visas. It's also harder for PRs to sponsor
for some visas, and children born *outside* Australia to PRs can'e be
registered as Australian citizens.

Also, you are not allowed to vote if you are not an Australian citizen,
and usually it's not possible for PRs to work for the federal
government. There are some other disadvantages to being a PR, but these
are the main ones.

Jeremy