Artículo 6, apartado 1, letra b): pareja + residencia de tres años

This is the option ground for people who were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and have been stateless ever since. It exists to give a nationality to children who would otherwise have none, and it is the most protective of the seventeen option grounds.

As at 25 July 2026, under article 6(1)(b) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap (the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023), you qualify if you were born in the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba; you have been stateless since birth; and you have had lawful admission and hoofdverblijf (principal residence) there for three uninterrupted years. Birth aboard a vessel or aircraft registered in the Kingdom counts as birth in the territory (article 6(7)).

Two features set this ground apart. There is no age limit — an adult who has been stateless from birth can use it. And it is one of only two grounds exempt from the public-order refusal, because the Kingdom's obligations under international law forbid refusing on that basis. As with every option, there is no language test and no duty to renounce another nationality.

El solicitante debe cumplir TODOS los elementos sustantivos palabra por palabra: (i) SOCIO NACIONAL HOLANDÉS continuamente durante el período de referencia de 3 años (el socio no puede perder la nacionalidad a mitad del período; los eventos de pérdida del Artículo 15 descalifican); (ii) DUURZAAM SAMENWONEN con registro conjunto de BRP en la misma dirección gemeente durante al menos 3 años inmediatamente antes de la optieverklaring; (iii) 3 AÑOS DE RESIDENCIA LEGAL CONTINUA en NL European o BES según el artículo 6(1)(b) de RWN: registrado en BRP con ausencias <3 meses toleradas según la práctica de HRWN; (iv) edad mínima de 18 años según la norma procesal del artículo 6; (v) investigación de antecedentes penales según la referencia cruzada del Artículo 9(1)(a) (buen carácter). Procesal: optieverklaring presentado ante gemeente (NO IND) conforme al artículo 6(3); tasa 170 € (horario BVVN 2025 + ciclo de indexación IND). NO exención de hamburguesas húmedas (a diferencia de OPT-01 menor); Marco de integración Wi2021 comprometido donde el sujeto solicitante. Resultado: reconocimiento declarativo por gemeente seguido de la publicación del Real Decreto en Staatscourant.

Afirmaciones clave etiquetadas en ruta:

• El artículo 6 de RWN, opción por declaración, establece 8 motivos distintos (a-h): nacimiento+3 años para apátridas; pareja+3 años; reconocimiento antillano; ex holandés+1 año; niño expósito; etc. - sustancialmente más amplio que naturali..

• Birth in the Kingdom. In the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or the public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Birth aboard a sea-going vessel or aircraft registered in one of those territories counts as birth there (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(7), in force since 1 October 2023).
• Stateless since birth. You must have held no nationality from birth up to the moment of confirmation. The burden of showing this rests on you.
• Three uninterrupted years of admission and principal residence. Both limbs run together: lawful admission (toelating) and factual principal residence (hoofdverblijf) in one or more of those territories, without a break, immediately preceding the declaration (art 6(1)(b)). A gap in lawful residence does not pause the three years — it resets them to zero.
• No age limit. Unlike most option grounds, this one contains no minimum or maximum age.
• No public-order bar. The refusal ground in article 6(4) does not apply to this ground; the decree implementing the statute exempts it from the public-order investigation altogether, because refusal would conflict with the Kingdom's obligations under international law.
• No previous acquisition by option. Anyone who has already become Dutch by option once may afterwards use only the ground for former Dutch nationals and the restoration ground for disproportionate automatic loss (art 6(9)).
• Declaration of solidarity. If you are an adult or a minor aged 16 or over you must be willing to make the verklaring van verbondenheid, a fixed oath or affirmation in Dutch (arts 6(2) and 23(2)).

There is no language or civic-integration examination for any option — that condition sits in article 8(1)(d), which governs naturalisation only. There is no renunciation duty either: article 6a(1) confines that to one different option ground, and statelessness makes the point moot in any event.

You must supply a defined set of personal data — names; date, place and country of birth; address; sex; nationalities; present and earlier residence status; length of admitted stay; marriage or partnership and spouse's details; minor children; and anything further the authority considers necessary — and sign a written statement that they are truthful and that nothing relevant has been concealed (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap, in force since 1 March 2017). The authority may require documentary proof, legalised and where necessary verified as to content.

For this ground specifically the load-bearing items are your birth certificate showing birth in the Kingdom, your residence document, a population-register history evidencing three uninterrupted years of admission and principal residence, and evidence of statelessness since birth.

On statelessness the register entry matters a great deal. A person recorded as "staatloos" in the population register is not required to produce a foreign travel document. A person recorded as "onbekende nationaliteit" (unknown nationality) is expressly not treated as stateless, and in principle must still produce a valid foreign passport. If your entry says "unknown", correcting it — or obtaining a judicial determination of statelessness from the rechtbank Den Haag — is the first practical step. Statelessness is also a recognised ground of bewijsnood (evidentiary impossibility) excusing the passport requirement.

Translation. In the European Netherlands anything not in Dutch, English, German or French must be translated by a beëdigd vertaler (sworn translator), preferably into Dutch, and attached to the original or certified copy, at your cost. On Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba only Dutch and English pass untranslated.

Legalisation. Foreign public documents need an apostille where the issuing state is party to the Apostille Convention; in the Netherlands an apostille is a court-issued sticker, and the Netherlands accepts foreign digital apostilles but issues paper ones only. Legalisation proves only formal authenticity — signature, capacity, seal — never that the content is correct, so a document may still be checked substantively. Nothing is required from states the Netherlands does not recognise: Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia and Taiwan. Documents already legalised and absorbed into the population register or a Dutch civil-status record need not be produced again absent well-founded doubt. As at 25 July 2026 the policy manual still points to "the legalisation circular currently in force", but the most recent located version was withdrawn with effect from 1 January 2024 and no successor was identified — confirm the route before paying for legalisation.

You lodge the declaration in person with the authority for the place where you live: the burgemeester of your municipality in the European Netherlands; the Minister of Justice and Security — in practice the IND unit Caribbean Netherlands — on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba; the Governor of Aruba, Curaçao or Sint Maarten in those countries; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Dutch diplomatic or consular post covering your residence if you are outside the Kingdom (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap, in force since 1 March 2017). Each authority handles only its own catchment; a proxy is allowed only for compelling reasons. In Curaçao personal appearance is mandatory.

The declaration is date-stamped on receipt and you receive a copy. The authority that receives it also decides it: the IND is not the decision-maker for option cases and there is no Royal Decree. It checks the fee obligation before taking the file into treatment, then completeness, then tests your data against the population register — asking another Dutch municipality to verify within four weeks, or a Caribbean authority or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within ten weeks, where needed. Because this ground is exempt from the public-order investigation, that step is omitted for you.

If the conditions are met the authority must confirm; article 6(3) leaves it no discretion on the merits. It then writes to you setting out how the confirmation will be made known and who is covered, and states at the same time in respect of whom it is refused, with the objection deadline.

Nationality vests on handover, which must take place within nine weeks of the finding that you qualify (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap art 60a(7)). If you are 16 or over you must first make the declaration of solidarity, in principle orally and in person at a ceremony; the confirmation may not be made known before you have made it. The confirmation takes effect on handover and backdates to the date it bears. If it is not handed over within a year of that date it lapses by operation of law and you must start again (art 60a(11)).

The legal deadline. The receiving authority must decide within thirteen weeks of receiving the declaration, extendable once by at most a further thirteen weeks — an absolute ceiling of twenty-six weeks (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(5), in force since 1 October 2023).

When the clock starts. Not on filing: only once the fee has been received or fully waived and any requested supplementary documents supplied. An incomplete declaration suspends it again (Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, version in force since 1 July 2026).

When it ends. On a positive outcome, when you take receipt of the decision — in principle at a ceremony. Since handover may follow up to nine weeks after the authority finds you qualify, the policy manual advises invoking the thirteen-week extension immediately wherever a ceremony is involved; twenty-six weeks is the realistic ceiling.

If the authority is late. There is no silent approval. Serve a written notice of default; two weeks later a penalty payment runs automatically — €23 a day for fourteen days, then €35, then €45, capped at forty-two days (Algemene wet bestuursrecht arts 4:17–4:20) — and you may appeal for failure to decide at the same time. Do not assume this regime reaches the Governors' Cabinets in Aruba, Curaçao or Sint Maarten, or the BES islands; those constituencies have their own administrative-procedure law and the point was not established.

A separate clock if statelessness must first be established in court. Where your statelessness is not evident and has to be determined by the rechtbank Den Haag under the Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid (in force since 1 October 2023), the court must decide within six months, extendable once by a further six months, and only an appeal in cassation lies against its ruling. That runs before any option declaration, and adds to the total.

Real-world duration. No national processing-time series exists for option cases: the IND records only confirmations and plays no part in handling them (IND, Monitor Naturalisatie en Optie 2018-2024, June 2025). Aruba's and Curaçao's Governor's Cabinets each report an average of six to nine months — observed practice, not a lawful period.

Amounts are fixed separately in each currency — do not convert between them.

In the European Netherlands the 2026 tariffs are €241 for a single declaration, €412 where two people declare together, and €27 for each minor child included in a parent's declaration (2026 schedule; WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825, in force 1 January 2026). In force on the same date elsewhere: Aruba Afl. 501 / 857 / 56; Curaçao Cg 502 / 858 / 56; Sint Maarten Cg 502 / 858 / 56; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba USD 282 / 481 / 32.

A warning specific to Sint Maarten: the Cabinet of the Governor publishes Cg 481 / 823 / 52 for 2026, which does not match the governing instrument. The instrument governs, and underpaying has the same effect as not paying — confirm before transferring.

Statelessness does not reduce the option fee. It reduces the naturalisation fee (the reduced single tariff in the European Netherlands is €847 in 2026), but the option tariff has no reduced rate at all. If you are weighing the two routes, note that option at €241 is roughly a fifth of standard naturalisation at €1,139.

Payment is in one instalment to the authority that received the declaration, which keeps the whole amount (Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002, arts 5 and 7). If it is not paid within six weeks of receipt of the declaration, the declaration is set aside unexamined (art 6). No fee is due from a person treated as a Netherlander under the Wet betreffende de positie van Molukkers (art 4(1)), and the Minister may waive it for a minor declaring on their own account, or for someone wrongly treated as Dutch for over a year through an administrative error — but not where that error was caused by the applicant's own fraud or carelessness (art 4(2)–(4)).

Related costs. A judicial determination of statelessness carries the ordinary court fee for a request of unspecified value: €341 for a natural person and €93 for a person without means in 2026 (Stcrt. 2025, 39855, in force 1 January 2026). The classification of a statelessness petition in that fee category is not expressly confirmed in the sources, so verify before filing. An IND document staatloosheid costs €254 for an adult and €85 for a child under 18 (IND tariffs, 2026).

This pathway rests on article 6(1)(b) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, the Kingdom nationality statute, whose consolidated text has been in force since 1 October 2023 with no amendment in force since (checked 25 July 2026). Its terms are: born in the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or the public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba; three uninterrupted years of toelating (lawful admission) and hoofdverblijf (principal residence) there; and statelessness since birth.

Article 6(1) provides that nationality is acquired through a confirmation following a written declaration, and article 6(3) obliges the receiving authority to assess the ground on the documents put before it and to confirm where the conditions are met. The confirmation is therefore a bound administrative decision — not a discretionary grant — and it is constitutive of acquisition on its own date rather than declaratory of a status already held.

The distinguishing legal feature of this ground is its exemption from the public-order refusal in article 6(4). The implementing decree excludes it from the public-order investigation altogether, and the policy manual identifies the reason as the Kingdom's obligations under international law — an exemption shared with only one other option ground.

Other provisions of article 6 apply normally: article 6(2) (declaration of solidarity for adults and those aged 16 or over, and the bar on making the confirmation known before it is made); article 6(5) (thirteen-week decision period); article 6(6) (fixing of names); article 6(9) (no second acquisition by option). Article 14(1) permits withdrawal afterwards only for a false statement, fraud or concealment of a relevant fact.

Below the statute: the Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap (in force since 1 March 2017) governs filing, verification and handover; the Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 governs fees; and the Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap 2003 (version in force since 1 July 2026) is the binding policy manual. Where statelessness itself is in dispute, the Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid (in force since 1 October 2023) supplies the determination procedure before the rechtbank Den Haag.

ID de fuente	Cita

Recuento de pines: 4.

A refusal to confirm is an ordinary administrative decision, and the refusal letter must state the deadline for objecting.

You first lodge a bezwaar (administrative objection) with the authority that refused, within six weeks of notification, running from the day after the decision was properly made known (Algemene wet bestuursrecht arts 6:7 and 6:8). There is no fee (art 7:15), you have the right to be heard (art 7:2), and the review is a full reconsideration on the merits, not a legality check (art 7:11). The authority decides within six weeks, or twelve where an advisory committee is involved, extendable once by six weeks (art 7:10).

If that fails, beroep lies to the rechtbank within six weeks at a 2026 court fee of €200 for a natural person, payable within four weeks of the registrar's notice; non-payment makes the appeal inadmissible unless you were not at fault or prove you cannot pay. Hoger beroep then lies to the Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State within six weeks at €297 (2026 tariffs; Stcrt. 2025, 39855, in force 1 January 2026). Worst case in court fees, excluding lawyers: €497.

Outside the European Netherlands the courts, fees and currencies differ. Curaçao and Sint Maarten apply their Landsverordening administratieve rechtspraak: objection and appeal both six weeks, NAf 150 at first instance, NAf 300 before the Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie. For Aruba the Court's own guidance gives six weeks, AWG 25 and AWG 75. The BES islands apply the Wet administratieve rechtspraak BES: six weeks to the Gerecht in eerste aanleg at USD 84; the objection deadline there is not established.

A route specific to this ground. If the only obstacle is that your statelessness since birth is not evident, the policy manual directs the authority to point you to the rechtbank Den Haag to have statelessness formally established under the Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid, after which you re-file the declaration. That is faster and cleaner than objecting. The court has six months, extendable once by six months, and only cassation lies from its ruling. Note that the statutory determination procedure is open only to people whose residence is in the Netherlands.

Two things you cannot appeal. The automatic lapse of a confirmation not handed over within a year of its date, and a refusal to hand over because the declaration of solidarity was not made. Neither is a decision in the administrative-law sense.

• "Unknown nationality" is not statelessness. The distinction is decisive and is applied literally. A population-register entry of "onbekende nationaliteit" does not establish this ground and does not excuse the passport requirement; only an entry of "staatloos", or a judicial determination, does.

• Statelessness must be from birth. Someone who held a nationality at birth and lost it later does not qualify on this ground, however long they have been stateless since.

• A gap in lawful residence resets the three years to zero. The period must be uninterrupted. There is no gap where you applied for an extension in time and met the conditions at that moment, or where the IND grants the new permit immediately consecutive to the old one even on a late application. There is a gap whenever the new permit does not directly follow the previous one — and then the clock starts again from nothing.

• The absence thresholds. More than six consecutive months abroad is treated as a move abroad unless the overrun was beyond your fault; so is more than four consecutive months for the third year running, unless your centre of activities did not move. Registration in the population register as a niet-ingezetene (non-resident) counts against you, as do tax deregistration for departure, letting out your home and shipping your household effects abroad.

• No public-order bar, and that is deliberate. This is one of only two option grounds exempt from the public-order investigation, because refusing would conflict with the Kingdom's obligations under international law. A criminal record does not defeat this ground.

• The one-shot rule still applies. If you have already become Dutch by option once before, this ground is closed to you (article 6(9)); only the former-national ground and the restoration ground for disproportionate automatic loss remain open.

• A related but different young-person's ground exists. A separate lettered ground covers people under 21 who were born in the Kingdom, have been stateless since birth, have had stable principal residence there for five uninterrupted years and cannot reasonably acquire any other nationality. Its residence test is stricter in length but is measured as stable principal residence rather than lawful admission, and it also asks whether the departure process was frustrated or supervision evaded. If you have been here five years but lack lawful admission, ask which of the two fits your facts.

• Names. Where you have no surname or its spelling is unsettled it is fixed in consultation with you and recorded in the confirmation. Option, unlike naturalisation, offers no opportunity to change your name.

• Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute. Consolidated text in force since 1 October 2023, with no amendment in force since (checked 25 July 2026). https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0003738/2023-10-01
• Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom decree on filing, verification, the public-order investigation and the handover of the confirmation. In force since 1 March 2017.
• Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid — the statutory procedure for having statelessness determined by the rechtbank Den Haag. Act of 7 June 2023, Stb. 2023, 230, in force 1 October 2023. https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2023-230.html
• Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 — the fee decree. Consolidated text in force since 1 January 2011; the amounts printed in it are 2011 amounts and are not what you pay. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013782
• Besluit van de Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825 of 19 September 2025, in force 1 January 2026 — the 2026 fee tariffs for the European Netherlands. https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2025-31825.html
• Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap 2003 — the binding policy manual. Version in force since 1 July 2026. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBW33099
• Algemene wet bestuursrecht — objection, appeal and the penalty-payment regime. Consolidated text as consulted on 25 July 2026. https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005537
• Regeling indexering, Stcrt. 2025, 39855 of 24 November 2025, in force 1 January 2026 — the 2026 court fees. https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2025-39855.html
• IND, Monitor Naturalisatie en Optie 2018-2024, June 2025 — the statistical report explaining why no national option processing-time series exists. https://ind.nl/nl/documenten/07-2025/monitor-naturalisatie-en-optie-2018-2024.pdf