Vía de libre circulación de la UE

EU citizens naturalise on the same terms as everyone else. Free movement gives you the right to live in the Netherlands; it gives you no shortcut to Dutch nationality, and there is no reduced term, reduced fee or relaxed integration standard for EU nationals.

The conditions as of 25 July 2026 are the ordinary ones: five years of lawful admission and principal residence immediately before the application, counted across the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean public bodies (RWN art 8(1)(c); consolidated text in force since 1 October 2023); no objection to your continued residence for an indefinite period (art 8(1)(b)); the naturalisation test at CEFR A2 (art 8(1)(d)); a conduct record free of relevant criminal sanctions; in principle the surrender of your existing nationality (art 9(1)(b)); and the declaration of solidarity made in person at a ceremony (art 8(1)(e)). Nationality is granted by Royal Decree on the Minister's proposal (RWN art 7(1)) and vests only when your personal extract is handed to you, backdated to the date of the decree.

The question that decides most EU cases is dual nationality, and the answer is more nuanced than the internet suggests. The renunciation duty applies, but there are four statutory exemptions and eleven further policy categories, and one treaty in particular does something unusual to Austrian nationals — see the edge cases.

The second thing to watch is mobility. The habits that make EU life convenient — long stretches working in another member state, deregistering, registering as a non-resident — are precisely what defeats the residence condition. The rules are unforgiving and they are set out below.

A proposal to extend the general five-year term to ten years exists but, verified on 25 July 2026, has not been submitted to parliament. It is not law.

Los ciudadanos de la UE que soliciten la naturalización holandesa deben cumplir (i) 5 años de residencia legal continua en NL (normalmente anclada en la Directiva de Ciudadanos 2004/38, derechos de residencia permanente posteriores al artículo 16) Y (ii) Wi 2021 inburgering (A2 + KNM/KNS) Y (iii) buen carácter Y (iv) autosuficiencia financiera Y (v) Artículo 9(1)(b) renuncia (con excepciones limitadas). La Directiva sobre el estatuto de residencia permanente establece la base para el permiso de residencia, pero no acorta el plazo del RWN.

Aserciones clave etiquetadas en ruta:

• Directiva 2004/38/CE Ciudadanos de la UE + familia: residencia permanente de 5 años + vía de naturalización; transpuesto a través de Vw 2000…

As of 25 July 2026:

• Five years of lawful admission and principal residence immediately before the application, counted across the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean public bodies (RWN art 8(1)(c)). Principal residence (hoofdverblijf) is a strictly factual test — the place where you clearly and regularly stay and have the centre of your activities — and since the population-register legislation it is assessed primarily on register data. Principal residence in the European Netherlands may be assumed where you are registered as a resident (ingezetene), unless there are indications of relocation abroad.
• Reduced to two years where your admission and principal residence in those territories total at least ten years (RWN art 8(3)); to three years for a stateless applicant or an unmarried person cohabiting for at least three years in a durable relationship with an unmarried Dutch national (art 8(4)). The residence condition falls away entirely for a former Dutch national, for a person who has been the spouse of and cohabits with a Dutch national for at least three years, and for a person adopted as an adult in the Kingdom (art 8(2)).
• No objection to your continued residence for an indefinite period (RWN art 8(1)(b)).
• The naturalisation test, which is the civic integration examination, at CEFR A2 in reading, listening, speaking and writing (Besluit naturalisatietoets arts 3(1)(h)(2) and 5(1); in force since 26 May 2022). B1 is sufficient but never required. A person who was never subject to the civic integration obligation — which includes most EU citizens — must in principle still sit it.
• Conduct: no serious suspicion, based on your conduct, that you present a danger to public order, good morals or the security of the Kingdom (RWN art 9(1)(a)), over a five-year rehabilitation period raised from four with effect from 1 May 2018. Only indictable offences count.
• Renunciation: you must do what you can to lose your other nationality unless that cannot reasonably be required (RWN art 9(1)(b)), subject to four statutory exemptions (art 9(3)) and eleven further policy categories.
• The declaration of solidarity, spoken in Dutch at a ceremony (RWN arts 8(1)(e) and 23(2)). Attendance is compulsory for everyone aged 16 or over.

Several alternative qualifications exempt you from the test outright, and EU citizens are more likely than most to hold one: a Dutch-medium diploma issued on a statutory basis for university, higher, general secondary or vocational education; the NT2 state examination diploma, programme I or II; a comparable Dutch-medium diploma from Belgium with a pass in the subject Dutch; the European Baccalaureate of the European School including Dutch as first or second language with a pass; and an International Baccalaureate, IB Middle Years Certificate or IGCSE where a course including the subject Dutch was taken with a pass — for IGCSE, grades A to G count as a pass and Ungraded does not. There is also an exemption for anyone resident in the European part of the Netherlands for at least eight years during compulsory-school age.

The main rule for a person holding a regular residence status is a legalised or apostilled foreign birth certificate together with a valid foreign passport (Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap 2003, art 7, in force since 1 July 2026).

For EU applicants the apostille is normally the relevant route rather than full consular legalisation, since it is the abbreviated formality available between states party to the Apostille Convention. Two practical points from the Dutch side: in the Netherlands an apostille is a sticker issued by the courts, and the Netherlands accepts digital apostilles issued abroad but issues paper ones only.

The wider civil-status set: your own birth certificate; birth certificates of any children included in the application, with adoption deed or judgment where relevant; a marriage certificate where the application rests on three years of marriage to a Dutch national or where marriage conferred majority; and a divorce or repudiation deed where applicable. The birth certificate does more work than people expect — it establishes your names under your own law and whether you have a surname at all. Where it is missing or the spelling is not established, your names are fixed in consultation with you and recorded in the granting decision.

Translation. In the European Netherlands a sworn translation is required only where the document is in a language other than Dutch, English, German or French — which exempts a substantial share of EU documents. Where translation is needed it must be by a sworn translator, preferably into Dutch, and must be physically attached to the original or the certified copy. In the Caribbean Netherlands the trigger set is narrower: anything other than Dutch or English.

You bear the cost and effort of obtaining, legalising and translating everything.

Re-submission. Documents already legalised or apostilled and processed into the population register or into a Dutch civil-status deed need not be produced again, unless there is well-founded doubt — in which case fresh originals must be produced.

Conduct. You sign a declaration on residence and conduct (model 2.3), which every adult applicant and every child aged 16 or over must sign. The immigration service obtains a judicial-records extract and asks the police to check their systems. There is no Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag in this procedure. Convictions in other member states must be disclosed with maximum detail — the facts, the court and chamber, the date, any appeal and its outcome, and the place and date of enforcement — with copies of the judgments and sworn translations at your own cost.

The per-country routing between apostille and legalisation is published separately by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is not reproduced here.

There is no EU rate. The standard naturalisation tariffs apply. The reduced tariff exists only for a stateless applicant or a holder of an asylum residence permit under Vw 2000 art 28 or 33, or a comparable Caribbean permit (BON 2002 art 3(2)).

In force 1 January 2026, per constituency. Each column is a separately fixed amount in its own currency, produced by the annual indexation — do not convert between them.

• European Netherlands (WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825): single applicant EUR 1,139; two applicants filing together EUR 1,454; each co-naturalising child EUR 168.
• Aruba (WBN-A 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31841): single Afl. 2,368; joint Afl. 3,023; per child Afl. 349.
• Curacao and Sint Maarten (WBN-CM 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31847): single Cg 2,373; joint Cg 3,029; per child Cg 350.
• Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (WBN-BES 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31842): single USD 1,331; joint USD 1,699; per child USD 196.

The joint tariff is for two spouses, registered partners, or two unmarried people in a durable relationship filing at the same time.

The 2026 euro uplift was 4.4 per cent. The Caribbean uplifts were much larger — 13.9 per cent for Aruba and the Caribbean Netherlands, 13.8 per cent for Curacao and Sint Maarten — because those amounts are recalculated at the exchange rate of the preceding 1 July.

Payment. One instalment, paid to the burgemeester in the European Netherlands, the Governor in Aruba, Curacao or Sint Maarten, the Minister for the Caribbean Netherlands, or the head of the diplomatic or consular post abroad. If payment does not arrive within six weeks of receipt of the application, the application is set aside without being handled (BON 2002 arts 5 and 6). The one-year decision period does not begin until the fee is paid or fully waived (RWN art 9(4)).

A cost that catches EU applicants specifically: if you claim exemption from the renunciation duty on the ground that the fee your own state charges to renounce is unaffordable, a renunciation fee equal to or lower than the reduced Dutch tariff for a single application can never succeed, whatever your means, while a fee equal to or higher than ten times the standard Dutch tariff always succeeds. Applying the 2026 European Netherlands figures, that is a floor of EUR 847 and a ceiling of EUR 11,390.

No separate statutory charge exists for the ceremony. Whether individual Dutch municipalities levy a local charge around it is not established.

Directiva 2004/38 + RWN Artículo 7

ID de fuente	Cita

Recuento de pines: 2.

Austrians should read this first. Chapter 1 of the 1963 Strasbourg Convention has been in force for the whole Kingdom since 10 June 1985, and only the Netherlands and Austria remain bound by it. Policy records that the Convention has direct effect, so that the original nationality is lost on acquiring Dutch nationality even where the other state's own law does not provide for that loss. If you are Austrian, the dual-nationality question is not resolved by anything in Austrian law alone.

The Second Protocol exemption is not what its name suggests. The exemption in RWN art 9(3)(a) is drafted for nationals of a State party to the Second Protocol of 2 February 1993 to the Strasbourg Convention. Since 4 June 2010 the Netherlands has been the only remaining party — France left on 5 March 2009 and Italy on 4 June 2010 — and policy records that the Protocol's provisions are consequently not applied in practice. The relief that actually survives runs through the groups the Protocol was aimed at: mixed-nationality spouses, their children, and second-generation migrants, to whom RWN art 9(3) has extended the exemption since 1 April 2003 regardless of whether their state is a party. Secondary sources routinely state the opposite.

The other statutory exemptions are worth checking too: being married to a Dutch national, and being born in the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao or Sint Maarten and principally resident there at the time of the application, each remove the renunciation duty outright.

Mobility is the main risk to the residence condition. Relocation abroad is assumed where you have stayed outside the country for more than six consecutive months, rebuttable only by showing the overrun resulted from circumstances beyond your fault. It is assumed again where, for the third consecutive year, you have stayed outside for more than four consecutive months, rebuttable by showing your centre of activities did not move. Telling the police in advance about an intended absence of no more than six months counts in your favour. Protected categories cover students temporarily studying abroad to complete a Dutch higher-education programme, permit holders whose work is performed wholly or partly abroad, and the spouse or partner of a posted Dutch diplomat.

Registration as a non-resident is evidence against you, not for you. The population register holds both residents and non-residents; registration as a non-resident is expressly listed as an indication that your principal residence has moved abroad. So is deregistering with the tax authority for departure abroad, closing a bank account, redirecting periodic benefits abroad, and vacating your home and moving your household effects across the border.

A gap in lawful residence resets the clock to zero rather than pausing it. There is no gap where you applied for extension in time and met the conditions at that moment.

Civic integration exemptions do not carry over. Even if a municipality or DUO exempted you from the integration obligation, the exemption must independently qualify under the Besluit naturalisatietoets to count in the naturalisation procedure.

Missing the ceremony ends the grant. If your extract is not handed to you within one year of the date the Royal Decree bears, it lapses by operation of law and you are not Dutch. No objection or appeal lies against that lapse.

Verified as in force on 25 July 2026:

• Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap (RWN), in force since 1 October 2023 — art 7(1) grant by Royal Decree, art 8(1) conditions, art 8(2)-(4) reduced and disapplied terms, art 9(1)(a) conduct, art 9(1)(b) renunciation duty, art 9(3)(a)-(d) the four statutory exemptions, art 9(4) decision period, art 12(2) name change on naturalisation, art 23(2) the declaration of solidarity. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0003738/2023-10-01
• Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap (BVVN), in force since 1 March 2017 — filing authorities and the handover regime in art 60b. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013605
• Besluit naturalisatietoets, in force since 26 May 2022 — the CEFR A2 level in arts 3(1)(h)(2) and 5(1), and the alternative-diploma exemptions in art 3 including the European Baccalaureate, the International Baccalaureate and IGCSE. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013604
• Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 — art 3(2) reduced tariff, arts 5-6 payment and the six-week rule, art 9 the annual indexation mechanism. The consolidated text prints 2011 amounts and must never be cited for a current fee. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013782
• Besluit WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825 of 19 September 2025 (European Netherlands); WBN-A 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31841 (Aruba); WBN-CM 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31847 (Curacao and Sint Maarten); WBN-BES 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31842 (Caribbean Netherlands) — all in force 1 January 2026.
• Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap 2003, in force since 1 July 2026 — the principal-residence test and absence windows, the residence-gap rule, the conduct evidence and five-year rehabilitation period, the fifteen renunciation exemption categories with their financial floor and ceiling, and the status of the Second Protocol and of Chapter 1 of the 1963 Strasbourg Convention. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBW33099
• Second Protocol of 2 February 1993 to the 1963 Strasbourg Convention, Trb. 1994, 265, in force for the whole Kingdom since 20 August 1996; 1963 Strasbourg Convention Chapter 1, in force for the whole Kingdom since 10 June 1985.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nederland Wereldwijd, on apostilles and legalisation, accessed 25 July 2026. https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/legaliseren/apostille