Verlenging naturalisatietermijnen

Reactie

Vraag1

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to express my concern about the proposal to extend the minimum residence requirement for naturalisation from 5 years to 10 years.

My family and I came to the Netherlands with the sincere intention of making this country our home. We have already been living here for 3 years. We sold our homes in our country of origin, placed our children in Dutch schools, and follow Dutch laws and rules to integrate into society. We are learning the language, contributing to the community, and building our future here.

Under the current law, we planned our lives with the expectation that after 5 years of residence we would be able to apply for Dutch citizenship, which is an important step in fully integrating. Changing the rule now to 10 years would suddenly extend our path by 5 more years, creating insecurity and frustration for families like ours who are already well on the way to integration.

I respectfully urge you: if the government wishes to introduce a new 10-year rule, it should apply only to new applicants who arrive after the law is enacted. Those who have already started their integration process under the current rules should be allowed to complete it under those rules.

This would be both fair and consistent with the trust people placed in the Netherlands when they made the life-changing decision to move here and integrate.