Verlenging naturalisatietermijnen

Reactie

Vraag1

I wanted to share my strong concerns and fundamental opposition to the proposal to extend the naturalization period from five to ten years. While I completely understand and support the government’s goal of ensuring new citizens are genuinely integrated into Dutch society, simply doubling the waiting time feels like an arbitrary and ineffective tool for achieving that.

If the concern is truly about the depth of integration, the focus should be on raising the bar for what people must achieve, not just how long they have to wait. It would be far more productive to implement tougher, measurable requirements. For instance, demanding a higher language proficiency level or introducing a significantly more rigorous and comprehensive exam on Dutch history and civic life would be a much better test of commitment than the mere passage of time. We all know people who are already fully connected and contributing after just a few years, and this proposal unfairly penalizes their commitment.

This proposal also creates a major fairness issue, especially for expats and highly skilled migrants. Many people made life-altering career and family decisions—including moving here—based on the existing five-year path to citizenship. Doubling the term now, after they’ve settled and invested years in the Netherlands, feels like moving the goalposts and frankly, it undermines the trust we place in government policies.

This will inevitably make the Netherlands a less attractive country for global talent, pushing potential residents toward countries with a more predictable and shorter route to citizenship. Therefore, at the very least, if this bill moves forward, there must be a fair and clear transitional arrangement for anyone who is already living here and started their residency under the five-year expectation. That is the only just way to handle this change.