Article 6(1)(a) — birth in NL + 3y residence (stateless)
If you were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and have never had your principal home anywhere else, you may be able to become Dutch by lodging a written declaration instead of applying for naturalisation. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(a) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — asks that you be an adult, that you were born in the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba, that your principal residence has been in the Kingdom without a break since birth, and that you hold lawful residence when the declaration is confirmed.
Article 6(1)(b) — partner + 3y residence
This route is for people who were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and have been stateless ever since. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(b) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — lets you become Dutch by written declaration if you were born in the European Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba, have held no nationality since birth, and have had lawful admission together with principal residence there for three uninterrupted years. There is no age limit, and no criminal-record bar.
Article 6(1)(c) — Antillean recognition (post-2010)
This route is for a child who has been recognised (*erkend*) by a Dutch national but did not become Dutch automatically through that recognition. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(c) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — lets such a child acquire Dutch nationality by written declaration, provided the child is still a minor and the Dutch parent has had the care and upbringing of the child for at least three uninterrupted years running up to the day the declaration is lodged.
Article 6(1)(d) — former Dutch + 1y residence
This route is for a child who is under the joint parental authority of a Dutch national — typically alongside a non-Dutch parent — and who has been cared for and brought up by that Dutch person for at least three years. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(d) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — lets such a child become Dutch by written declaration. Two conditions do most of the work: the three years count only from the moment the joint authority came into existence, and the child's principal residence must not be in the country of the child's own nationality.
Article 6(1)(e) — special status options
This route is for adults who have lived lawfully in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, without interruption, since they were four years old — the second generation, and children who arrived as infants. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(e) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — requires lawful admission together with principal residence in the Kingdom from your fourth birthday through to the moment your declaration is confirmed. It is the only one of the seventeen option grounds that carries a duty to give up your other nationality.
Article 6(1)(f) — recognition cohort
This route is for people who were once Dutch and want to become Dutch again, and for anyone who once held the historic status of *Nederlands onderdaan-niet-Nederlander*. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(f) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — requires that you be an adult, that you held Dutch nationality or that status at some time, and that you have had admission for an indefinite period together with principal residence in the Kingdom for at least one uninterrupted year when the declaration is confirmed. It cannot be used from abroad.
Article 6(1)(g) — special status options
This route is for the long-settled spouse or registered partner of a Dutch national. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(g) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — asks for two things together: at least three years as the spouse or registered partner of one and the same Dutch national, and at least fifteen uninterrupted years of lawful admission with principal residence in the Kingdom. Because of that fifteen-year bar, option is usually not the fast route for a spouse; naturalisation is generally available years earlier.
Article 6(1)(h) — special status options
Article 6(1) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — lists seventeen grounds on which a person may become Dutch by lodging a written declaration rather than applying for naturalisation. This page covers the ground at letter (h). As at 25 July 2026 its defining condition is not established in the sources consulted, and none is asserted here. What is established is that the binding policy manual attaches a fifteen-year period of lawful admission and principal residence to it. Ask the authority that would receive your declaration to identify the right ground before you file.
Article 6(1)(i) — minor of recognised refugee
This route is for people born before 1 January 1985 to a mother who was a Dutch national and a father who was not. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(i) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — turns on those two facts and nothing else. There is no residence condition attached to this ground, so it can be exercised from outside the Kingdom, at a Dutch diplomatic or consular post. What it does demand is proof of your parentage and of your mother's Dutch nationality at the time of your birth.
Article 6(1)(j) — recognition under Slotwet (Antillean residual cohort)
This route is for people adopted before 1 January 1985, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, by a woman who held Dutch nationality when the adoption judgment became final. As at 25 July 2026, article 6(1)(j) of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap — the Kingdom nationality statute, in force in its present form since 1 October 2023 — also requires that you were a minor at the time of the first-instance judgment. It is the adoption counterpart to the ground for people born before 1985 to a Dutch mother, and the policy manual attaches no residence period to it.
Article 6(1)(k) — surviving partner of deceased Dutch
You qualify if you were born as the child of a parent who can themselves claim Dutch nationality through the pre-1985 maternal-descent ground, or through the parallel ground for a person adopted in the Kingdom before 1 January 1985 by a woman who was Dutch when the adoption judgment became final (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(k), read with art 6(1)(i) and (j); consolidated text in force since 1 October 2023). One rule decides most cases: your parent must actually have acquired Dutch nationality before your own declaration can succeed.
Article 6(1)(l) — minor under joint authority with Dutch parent
You qualify if you were recognised (erkend) before your seventh birthday by a parent who can themselves claim Dutch nationality through the pre-1985 maternal-descent ground, or through the parallel ground for a person adopted in the Kingdom before 1 January 1985 by a woman who was Dutch when the adoption judgment became final (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(l), in force since 1 October 2023). The age limit bites on the date of the recognition, not on the date you declare, and your parent must have acquired Dutch nationality first.
Article 6(1)(m) — adult acquired under joint authority pre-majority
You qualify if you were recognised (erkend) during your minority by a parent who can themselves claim Dutch nationality through the pre-1985 maternal-descent ground, or through the parallel ground for a person adopted in the Kingdom before 1 January 1985 by a woman who was Dutch when the adoption judgment became final, and if biological paternity is proved (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(m), in force since 1 October 2023). The proof of biological paternity is what distinguishes this route, and it is usually the whole case. Your parent must have acquired Dutch nationality first.
Article 6(1)(n) — stateless minor under Dutch authority
You qualify if your parentage in relation to a qualifying parent was established by a court, that parent being someone who can themselves claim Dutch nationality through the pre-1985 maternal-descent ground, or through the parallel ground for a person adopted in the Kingdom before 1 January 1985 by a woman who was Dutch when the adoption judgment became final (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(n), in force since 1 October 2023). What matters is the instrument that created the legal link: a judicial decision, not a voluntary recognition.
Article 6(1)(o) — adopted child special case
You qualify if you were adopted in the Kingdom, while still a minor, by a parent who can themselves claim Dutch nationality through the pre-1985 maternal-descent ground, or through the parallel ground for a person adopted in the Kingdom before 1 January 1985 by a woman who was Dutch when the adoption judgment became final (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(o), in force since 1 October 2023). Two limits bite hard: the adoption must have taken place in the Kingdom, and while you were a minor.
Article 6(1)(p) — Tjebbes Article 15 restoration (Rijkswet 35 859 R2157, EIF 2022-04-01)
You qualify if you lost Dutch nationality automatically, by operation of law rather than by renouncing it; if EU citizenship was lost with it; and if it was reasonably foreseeable at that moment that the loss would have disproportionate consequences from the standpoint of EU law (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(p), inserted by the Rijkswet of 17 November 2021, Stb. 2021, 572, in force since 1 April 2022). Because EU citizenship did not exist before 1 November 1993, losses before that date are outside the ground. Re-acquisition is retroactive to the moment of loss.
Article 6(1)(q) — Wet vaststellingsprocedure (Wet 35687, EIF 2023-10-01)
You qualify if you are under 21, were born in the Kingdom, have been stateless since birth, have had stable main residence in the Kingdom for five uninterrupted years immediately before you declare, and cannot reasonably acquire any other nationality (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(1)(q), in force since 1 October 2023). The residence test asks about actual, stable main residence rather than about holding a residence permit, which is what separates this route from the three-year pathway for people born in the Kingdom and stateless since birth.
