Jus soli מונע חסר אזרחות סעיף 6(1)(א)

This route is for a person who was born in the Kingdom and has been stateless from birth. Dutch law provides two ways in, and the difference between them is age and length of residence.

The first is open at any age: born in the Kingdom, stateless since birth, and three years of uninterrupted admission and main residence there. The second is for young people: under 21 at the time of the declaration, born in the Kingdom, stateless since birth, five years of uninterrupted stable main residence immediately beforehand, and unable reasonably to acquire any other nationality.

One point has to be stated plainly because it is widely got wrong. On these grounds Dutch nationality is not conferred automatically at birth. It is acquired through the option procedure: you lodge a written declaration, and the authority that receives it confirms your acquisition in writing if the conditions are met. That confirmation is what creates the nationality, and it does so from the date the confirmation itself bears — there is no backdating to birth. Until the confirmation is handed over, nothing has happened. As of 25 July 2026 that is the position under the statute as consolidated on 1 October 2023.

The compensation is that option is comparatively light. There is no language or integration requirement, the fee is roughly a fifth of the naturalisation fee, and the authority has no discretion to refuse someone who qualifies.

יש לציין תחילה את המנגנון, כי זו הנקודה שלרוב השתבשה. אזרחות נרכשת באמצעות הצהרה בכתב ואישור בכתב, שלא מכוח החוק בלידה. סעיף 6(1) אומר שאדם רוכש אזרחות הולנדית באמצעות אישור כאמור בסעיף 6(3); האישור הוא זה שיוצר את הלאום, והוא עושה זאת מהתאריך שבו האישור עצמו נושא. אין תאריך אחורה ללידה. עד למסירת האישור לא קרה כלום.

הפשרה היא שההחלטה מחייבת, לא שיקול דעת: אם מתקיימים התנאים על הרשות לאשר (סעיף 6(3)). היא אינה יכולה לסרב למצהיר זכאי, אינה יכולה לדרוש מבחן שפה או שילוב, ואינה יכולה לדרוש ממך לוותר על לאום אחר - החובה הזו קשורה לעילת אופציה אחרת.

הקרקע לשלוש שנים. נולד בחלק האירופי של הולנד, ארובה, קוראסאו, סנט מארטן או בונייר, סנט יוסטטיוס וסבא; חסר אזרחות מאז הלידה; שלוש שנים של קבלה רצופה ומגורים עיקריים באותם שטחים. אין הגבלת גיל. עילה זו פטורה לחלוטין מחקירת סרבנות הסדר הציבורי, משום שהתחייבויות המשפט הבינלאומי שוללות אותה.

המגרש מתחת לגיל 21. מתחת לגיל 21 בהכרזה; נולד באותם שטחים; חסר אזרחות מאז הלידה; חמש שנים רצופות של מגורים ראשי יציב מיד לפני ההכרזה; ואינו מסוגל באופן סביר לרכוש אזרחות אחרת. מקום מגורים ראשי יציב הוא מבחן בן שלושה חלקים: חמש שנים של מגורים רצופים בפועל; שלא הצעיר ולא ההורים תסכלו את תהליך העזיבה; וששניהם לא התחמקו מפיקוח הרשויות.

חוסר אזרחות חייב לרוץ מלידה משני הסיבות; מי שהפך לחסר אזרחות מאוחר יותר, על ידי איבוד אזרחות, נמצא מחוץ לשניהם. ורישום לאום במרשם 'onbekend' אינו זהה במפורש ל-'staatloos'; תיקון רישום זה, או קבלת קביעה לפי נוהל Wet vaststellingsstaatloosheid (חוק מ-7 ביוני 2023, Stb. 2023, 230, בתוקף מאז 1 באוקטובר 2023), הוא בדרך כלל הצעד הראשון האמיתי.

זו אינה העילה הנפרדת בסעיף 6(1)(א), המיועד למבוגר מודה יליד הממלכה, אשר מאז ועד היום יש לו מקום מגורים עיקרי ואין לו אלמנט של חוסר אזרחות. כל מי שרכש בכל עת אזרחות הולנדית מאופציה מוגבל לאחר מכן לשתי עילות, אף לא אחת מהן (סעיף 6(9)). החל מה-25 ביולי 2026 החוק אינו שונה מ-1 באוקטובר 2023.

The heart of this route is proving two things: that you were born in the Kingdom, and that you have been stateless since birth. The second is much harder than the first.

Registration matters, and one distinction decides cases. Where the population register records you as "staatloos", the requirement to produce a valid foreign passport falls away, and statelessness is itself a listed ground of evidentiary impossibility for that requirement. Where it records your nationality as "onbekend" — unknown — that is expressly not the same thing, and a valid foreign passport must in principle still be produced. Applicants routinely assume the two entries are interchangeable. They are not, and correcting an "unknown" entry is usually the first practical step on this route.

Where statelessness is not evident, there is a court procedure for establishing it. A petition is filed with the rechtbank Den Haag by a person with an immediate interest who has their residence or habitual residence in the Netherlands. The court establishes statelessness if it has not been shown that any State considers the applicant a national under its law. The State is heard. The court decides within six months, extendable once by a further six months, and only cassation to the Hoge Raad lies against the outcome (Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid arts 2 and 3, in force since 1 October 2023). Note the geographic limit in that Act: the applicant must be resident in the Netherlands, so the procedure is not available to residents of Aruba, Curacao or Sint Maarten, and its availability in the Caribbean Netherlands is not established. The Act also provides for evident statelessness to be established administratively, under conditions to be set by decree.

Residence evidence. For the three-year ground, the residence document together with the register history. For the under-21 ground the standard is "stable main residence", and register entries are only the starting point: where they are absent or fragmentary, actual residence has to be proved by other means, and the burden of proof on every condition rests on the declarant.

Foreign documents. Where any are needed, they may be required in legalised and, where necessary, content-verified form. Legalisation establishes only formal authenticity — signature, capacity, seal — never that the contents are true. A translation is required where a document is in a language other than Dutch, English, German or French; on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba the accepted set is narrower, Dutch or English only. Translations must be by a sworn translator, preferably into Dutch, and physically attached to the original or certified copy. Where you were exempted from the passport requirement in the residence procedure because there is no recognised central authority in the country concerned, legalisation and verification of the substitute documents cannot be demanded, and no documents are required at all from Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia or Taiwan.

As of 25 July 2026 the country-by-country legalisation chain is not established here: the policy manual refers to "the legalisation circulaire currently in force", but the most recent located version lapsed on 1 January 2024 and no successor was found.

You lodge a written declaration in person with the competent authority. Which authority that is depends on where you live: the mayor of your municipality in the European Netherlands; the Minister, in practice through the IND's Caribbean Netherlands unit, on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba; the Governor in Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the diplomatic or consular post covering your main residence if you are outside the Kingdom (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap arts 7, 13, 19 and 25, in force since 1 March 2017). Each authority handles only its own catchment. Filing in person is required, with a proxy allowed only for weighty reasons. The declaration is date- and service-stamped on receipt and you are given a copy.

You supply a defined data set — names, date and place of birth, address, sex, nationality or the absence of one, current and earlier residence status, duration of admitted stay, family details — and sign a written statement that the data are truthful and nothing relevant has been concealed. The authority may require you to prove the accuracy of that data with legalised and, where necessary, content-verified documents.

The fee is checked before the file is taken into treatment. The authority then checks completeness, cross-checks the register, and investigates residence status. On the three-year ground it does not run the public-order investigation — that ground is exempt because of international-law obligations. On the under-21 ground the assessment of stable main residence is a three-part test: five years of actual uninterrupted residence in the Kingdom; that neither the young person nor the parents frustrated the departure process; and that neither evaded the supervision of the authorities. Register entries are the starting point, and where they are absent or fragmentary actual residence has to be proved another way. The municipality may seek an advice from the IND on the frustration and evasion questions.

If the conditions are met, the authority confirms your acquisition in writing. It must tell you in writing how the confirmation will be made known and in respect of whom, and simultaneously state in respect of whom confirmation is refused, with the objection deadline.

When the nationality vests. The confirmation takes effect when it is handed over to you, and it then backdates to the date the confirmation itself bears — no further (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap art 60a(1)). Before the handover you must make the declaration of solidarity if you are an adult or aged 16 or over: a fixed statutory text, in Dutch, normally spoken in person, by which you swear or declare that you respect the constitutional order of the Kingdom, its freedoms and rights, and will faithfully perform the duties of citizenship. The handover must take place within nine weeks after it is established that you meet the conditions, extendable by a reasonable period for special circumstances (art 60a(7)).

The legal deadline. Thirteen weeks from receipt of the declaration, extendable once by at most thirteen further weeks, giving a ceiling of twenty-six weeks (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(5), in force since 1 October 2023). The four-week extension available where ministerial advice on giving up another nationality is sought does not arise on these grounds — the renunciation duty does not attach to them.

The clock does not start when you file. It starts only once the fee has been received or full exemption granted, and any requested supplementary data and documents supplied. An incomplete file postpones the start without anyone telling you. If you are formally put in default for an incomplete declaration, the thirteen weeks are suspended until the missing material arrives or the period to supply it expires.

Expiry of the period confers nothing. There is no rule that silence means yes: if the deadline passes without a decision, your nationality has not been silently confirmed. On a positive outcome the period ends when you take receipt of the notification, in principle at a ceremony — which is why the twenty-six-week figure, not thirteen weeks, is the realistic ceiling whenever a ceremony is involved.

Where a decision is late. In the European Netherlands the remedy is a written notice of default; if no decision follows within two weeks of the authority receiving it, a penalty payment starts running by operation of law, and an appeal for failure to decide may be lodged at the same time. The penalty runs at 23 euro a day for the first fourteen days, 35 euro for the next fourteen and 45 euro thereafter, capped at 42 days (Algemene wet bestuursrecht art 4:17). Ordinary capacity problems do not count as force majeure and do not suspend the clock. Whether the same penalty machinery is available against a Governor's cabinet or in the Caribbean Netherlands is not established and should not be assumed.

The deadline that ends everything. A confirmation not made known to you within one year of the date it bears lapses by operation of law (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap art 60a(11), in force since 1 March 2017). You are not Dutch, no objection or appeal lies against the lapse because it happens automatically, and the only way forward is a fresh declaration. The year is suspended while an objection or appeal runs about how the declaration of solidarity is to be made or how the decision is to be made known.

On the 2026 European Netherlands schedule (WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825, published 19 September 2025, in force 1 January 2026) an option declaration costs 241 euro for a single declarant, 412 euro where two spouses, registered partners or two people in a durable unmarried relationship declare simultaneously, and 27 euro for each minor included in someone else's declaration. Those amounts run to 31 December 2026 unless re-indexed; the 2026 uplift was 4.4 per cent.

Elsewhere in the Kingdom, in force from the same date and each a legally fixed amount in its own currency rather than a conversion: Aruba 501 Aruban florin single, 857 joint, 56 per minor (WBN-A 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31841); Curacao and Sint Maarten 502 Caribbean guilder single, 858 joint, 56 per minor (WBN-CM 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31847); Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 282 US dollars single, 481 joint, 32 per minor (WBN-BES 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31842).

One caution for declarants in Sint Maarten: the Cabinet of the Governor of Sint Maarten publishes, under a 2026 heading, option figures of 481, 823 and 52 Caribbean guilder — below the figures in the instrument, which are 502, 858 and 56. The instrument governs. A declarant who pays the published website figure would underpay, and an underpaid file is set aside after six weeks.

Payment is made to the mayor, the Governor, the Minister or the head of post as applicable, in a single instalment. If the fee is not paid within six weeks of receipt of the declaration, the declaration is set aside without being handled; that six weeks is suspended while a request for exemption is pending (Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 arts 5 and 6). The receiving authority keeps the whole of the option fee — unlike naturalisation money, none of it is remitted onward.

The exemption most relevant here. Where a minor lodges a declaration independently, the Minister may grant exemption from payment (art 4(2)(a), applied to option by art 4(3)). So may they where a person has been wrongly treated as a Dutch national for over a year through an administrative error. Neither is available where the situation was caused by the applicant's own fraud or carelessness (art 4(4)). Ask expressly; the payment clock stops while the request is considered. No payment at all is due from a person treated as a Dutch national under the legislation on the position of Moluccans (art 4(1)).

Separate document costs. A document evidencing statelessness applied for from the IND costs 254 euro for an adult and 85 euro for a child under 18 (IND fee page, accessed 25 July 2026). A judicial statelessness determination attracts the ordinary civil court fee — on the 2026 schedule 341 euro for a natural person and 93 euro for a person of limited means (Stcrt. 2025, 39855, in force 1 January 2026), though treating the petition as one of unspecified value is an inference rather than a verified classification.

The governing statute is the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, consolidated text in force since 1 October 2023 with no amendment in force since. Nationality is a Kingdom affair under art 3(1)(c) of the Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, so the grounds are identical in every part of the Kingdom.

Art 6(1) opens with the acquisition mechanism itself: after making a written declaration to that effect, a person acquires Dutch nationality through a confirmation as referred to in art 6(3). Seventeen grounds follow, lettered (a) to (q). Two of them carry this route.

Art 6(1)(b) — a person born in the European part of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten or the public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, who has had uninterrupted admission and main residence there for three years and has been stateless since birth. There is no age limit on this ground.

Art 6(1)(q) — a person under 21 who was born in those territories, has had stable main residence there for an uninterrupted five years immediately preceding the declaration, has been stateless since birth, and cannot reasonably acquire another nationality. This ground is the newer of the two and is consistent with the statelessness determination package that took effect on 1 October 2023; the precise instrument that inserted it was not pinned in this research.

Art 6(3) sets the assessment and the duty to confirm: the authority receiving the declaration assesses the grounds on the basis of the documents put before it, and if the conditions are met it confirms the acquisition in writing. There is no discretion. Art 6(4) contains the single refusal ground in the article — serious suspicions of danger to public order, morals or the security of the Kingdom — but the investigation underlying it does not apply to the three-year stateless ground at all, because international-law obligations rule it out. Art 6(2) requires the declaration of solidarity from adults and from minors aged 16 or over, and forbids the confirmation being made known before it has been made. Art 6(9) is the one-shot bar: a person who has at any time acquired Dutch nationality by option is afterwards confined to two of the grounds.

Procedure is set by the Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap, in force since 1 March 2017: the receiving authorities at arts 7, 13, 19 and 25, the required data set at art 6, the notification and objection deadline at art 11, and the handover, effect and lapse rules at art 60a. The fee is governed by the Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 and set annually under its art 9.

Statelessness itself is determined under the Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid, an Act of 7 June 2023 published as Stb. 2023, 230 and in force since 1 October 2023.

הרשות שלוקחת את ההצהרה שלך מחליטה גם היא, ואיזו תלויה רק ​​במקום שבו אתה גר. בהולנד האירופית זה ראש העיר של העירייה שלך. בבונייר, סנט אוסטטיוס וסבא זה השר, בפועל יחידת הולנד הקאריבית של ה-IND. בארובה, קוראסאו וסנט מרטן זה המושל. מחוץ לממלכה זה שר החוץ, בעמדה הקונסולרית המכסה את מקום המגורים הראשי שלך. המסמך הוא אישור בכתב, וכאשר מתקיימים התנאים על הרשות להוציאו, ללא צו מלכותי וללא שיקול דעת מיניסטריאלי (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(3), בתוקף מאז 1 באוקטובר 2023). ה-IND מייעץ מסיבות ספציפיות בלבד, והייעוץ הזה אינו מחייב אף אחד.

בתי המשפט פועלים באותה גיאוגרפיה. בהולנד האירופית זה ה-rechtbank ולאחר מכן מועצת המדינה. בארובה, קוראסאו וסנט מרטן לא חל חוק המשפט המינהלי הכללי: לכל אחד יש פקודת סמכות מינהלית משלו, עם ערעור ל-Gerecht in eerste aanleg ולאחר מכן ל-Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie. להולנד הקאריבית יש את אותו מבנה של שני בתי משפט לפי החוק שלה.

A refusal to confirm is an ordinary administrative decision and the refusal letter must state the objection deadline (Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap art 11(1), in force since 1 March 2017).

In the European Netherlands. Object to the authority that decided, within six weeks (Algemene wet bestuursrecht art 6:7). Objection is free (art 7:15(1)), you have a right to be heard (art 7:2), and the authority must reconsider the decision in full rather than review its legality (art 7:11). It must decide within six weeks, or twelve where an advisory committee is involved, and may postpone once by six weeks (art 7:10). Then appeal to the rechtbank within six weeks, court fee 200 euro for a natural person on the 2026 schedule (art 8:41(2)(b), as indexed by Stcrt. 2025, 39855, in force 1 January 2026), payable within four weeks of the registry's notice or the appeal is inadmissible. Then a further appeal to the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State, 297 euro (art 8:109(1)(b), 2026 schedule). Worst case in court fees is 497 euro, excluding representation. If you live abroad, the competent rechtbank is the one for the district where the deciding authority has its seat.

Elsewhere in the Kingdom the chain is different. Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten each apply their own Landsverordening administratieve rechtspraak, and the Caribbean Netherlands applies the Wet administratieve rechtspraak BES. Appeal lies to the local Gerecht in eerste aanleg and then to the Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie, not to the Council of State. The deadlines are six weeks in Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten; the court fee is 25 Aruban florin at first instance and 75 on further appeal in Aruba, and 150 Netherlands Antillean guilder at first instance with double that on further appeal in Curacao and Sint Maarten. In the Caribbean Netherlands the appeal deadline is six weeks and the court fee 84 US dollars; the objection deadline there is not established.

The escape route that matters most on this route. Where the only obstacle is that your statelessness since birth is not evident, the right response is usually not to appeal but to establish statelessness. Policy directs the authority to point the declarant to the rechtbank Den Haag for a determination under the Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid, after which a fresh declaration can be lodged. That is faster and cheaper than litigating the option refusal.

On IND advice. Where the municipality has sought an advice from the IND on the frustration or evasion limbs of the under-21 ground, that advice is a preparatory act: there is no separate objection against it. It can, however, be reconsidered — where new facts emerge, a fresh advice may be sought during the objection stage.

If the dispute is about status rather than a refusal. A petition to establish whether you are or are not a Dutch national is filed with the rechtbank Den Haag, or with the Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie if you live in Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten or the Caribbean Netherlands. Only cassation to the Hoge Raad lies against the outcome, and a final ruling binds every body applying any statutory rule (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap arts 17-19, in force since 1 October 2023).

The age cliff on the under-21 ground. It is tested at the declaration, and 21 arrives without warning. Someone approaching it who has five years of stable residence should lodge before the birthday rather than wait for a statelessness determination to conclude — the determination itself can take six months, extendable to twelve.

Statelessness must be from birth on both grounds. A person who became stateless later — by losing a nationality — is outside both. That is a different situation with different routes.

"Unknown nationality" is not statelessness. It is worth repeating because it is the most common blocker: the register entry "onbekend" carries none of the reliefs that "staatloos" carries, and correcting it is usually the real first step.

Option is a one-shot instrument. A person who has at any time acquired Dutch nationality by option is afterwards confined to two of the seventeen grounds (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap art 6(9)). If nationality acquired this way is later lost, coming back through a different option ground is not available.

There is no renunciation duty here and no language test. The duty to give up another nationality attaches to exactly one option ground and not to these; and option carries no integration requirement at all, so a confirmation cannot be refused because the declarant does not speak Dutch. The declaration of solidarity still applies to adults and to those aged 16 or over.

If option fails, naturalisation treats stateless applicants favourably. The residence period drops from five years to three (art 8(4)) — though not where Dutch nationality was previously withdrawn for fraud — and the fee drops to the reduced tariff, 847 euro single and 1,163 euro joint on the 2026 European Netherlands schedule (WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825, in force 1 January 2026). Naturalisation does bring the A2 language requirement and the good-character conditions that option does not.

Residence counts Kingdom-wide, but check the ground's own wording. For naturalisation the five years are counted across the European part of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and the public bodies as a single aggregate (art 8(1)(c)). A gap in lawful admission resets that clock to zero rather than pausing it.

A geographic gap to be aware of. The judicial statelessness determination is open only to a person resident in the Netherlands. Residents of Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten cannot use it, and its availability in the Caribbean Netherlands is not established — which leaves stateless people in parts of the Kingdom without the procedure that is, in the European Netherlands, the practical gateway to these grounds.

The instruments this route rests on, in the versions consulted on 25 July 2026.

Nationality. Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap (BWBR0003738), consolidated text in force since 1 October 2023 with no amendment in force since; the option grounds at art 6(1)(b) and art 6(1)(q), the acquisition mechanism at art 6(1) and 6(3), the decision period at art 6(5), the one-shot bar at art 6(9), the declaration of solidarity at arts 6(2) and 23(2), and the reduced naturalisation residence period for stateless applicants at art 8(4) — https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0003738/2023-10-01.

Procedure. Besluit verkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap (BWBR0013605), in force since 1 March 2017; receiving authorities at arts 7, 13, 19 and 25, the data set at art 6, notification and objection deadline at art 11, and handover, effect and lapse at art 60a — https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013605.

Statelessness determination. Wet vaststellingsprocedure staatloosheid, Act of 7 June 2023, Stb. 2023, 230, in force since 1 October 2023 — https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2023-230.html; consolidated text at https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0048458. The judicial route is at art 2, the procedure and cassation-only rule at art 3, and administrative determination of evident statelessness at art 5.

Policy manual. Handleiding Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap 2003 (BWBW33099), in force since 1 July 2026 — https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBW33099.

Fees. Besluit optie- en naturalisatiegelden 2002 (BWBR0013782), consolidated text in force since 1 January 2011 — https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0013782; this text still carries the 2011 base amounts and must never be quoted as a current fee. The operative 2026 tariffs are WBN 2025/3, Stcrt. 2025, 31825 (European Netherlands) — https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2025-31825.html; 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). Court fees: Regeling of 14 November 2025, Stcrt. 2025, 39855, in force 1 January 2026 — https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2025-39855.html.

Administrative procedure. Algemene wet bestuursrecht (BWBR0005537) — https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005537.

Statistics. IND, Monitor Naturalisatie en Optie 2018-2024, final report, June 2025 — https://ind.nl/nl/documenten/07-2025/monitor-naturalisatie-en-optie-2018-2024.pdf.