Legislation regarding dual nationality has more than once been a point of contention in the House of Representatives. Are you allowed to retain your original nationality or not when you become Dutch? And what if you go to live abroad and at some point want to become an American, for example, can you keep your Dutch passport or will you lose it?
Dual nationality at birth and through the option procedure
You can be born with two nationalities. In some countries the law stipulates that if you have parents with different passports, you will receive the nationality of both. You can also obtain Dutch citizenship through the option procedure. In that case, you are usually not required to give up your original or first passport. In the Netherlands, however, if you are over eighteen years old and you have lived in the Netherlands since the age of four, you are required to renounce your original nationality.
This rule has been in effect since October 2010. However, your country of birth may require you to keep your original passport, meaning that ‘ loss of nationality ‘ is legally impossible. If that is the case, as we know from Morocco, for example, the Dutch government cannot of course oblige you to do anything. However, if the law of your country of birth prescribes that you can keep your nationality, i.e. that it is optional, the Dutch government can force you to renounce it and you will therefore irrevocably lose it. This is called a waiver obligation.
Obligation to renounce naturalization
One of the reasons that the Dutch government wants to limit the possession of multiple nationalities is the lack of clarity that arises about your legal position. For example, problems may arise if you have to perform military service in countries such as Turkey, Israel or Austria. Do you hide behind your Dutch passport or do your civic duty in your mother or father country? The government here would prefer that such a problem does not have the opportunity to arise. So we have the distance obligation here, but some exceptions must be taken into account.
Not everyone can give up nationality
As mentioned earlier, there are countries that do not allow their nationals to renounce their nationality, such as Morocco and Greece. The same applies to many other countries in Africa and Latin America. The position there is that a nationality acquired at birth cannot be given up. It is always the country of origin that determines this and the Dutch government must comply with this. Moroccans and Greeks can therefore maintain dual nationality without any problems. Even if you marry a Dutch citizen or enter into a registered partnership, you can retain your own nationality and also apply for Dutch nationality. Retention of nationality is also possible for refugees who are recognized as such here or in Aruba, Curaçao or Sint Maarten.