Cabinet plans to extend naturalization period from 5 to 10 years

Currently, people can submit a naturalization request after 5 years of legal residence in the Kingdom. This bill extends this period to 10 years. The cabinet expects that this extension will ensure that citizenship is granted to people who have actually established a sustainable bond with the Netherlands or one of the other countries of the Kingdom. This provides more time to fully participate in society before citizenship is granted.

State Secretary Rutte: “By extending the naturalization period from 5 to 10 years, we ensure that people have a stronger bond with our Kingdom and are truly well-integrated and can fully participate in society before they become Dutch.”

The bill is now first going for advice in (internet) consultation for a period of 2 months. Everyone can respond to this. The responses will be used to further improve the bill before it is submitted to the Council of State for advice and then presented to the House of Representatives.