Verlenging naturalisatietermijnen

Reactie

Vraag1

Ultimately, the goal is to make sure that new Dutch citizens are truly and sincerely "Dutch". This isn't something only dependant on the length of stay. In such an international environment, like Amsterdam, The Hague or Rotterdam, you could stay inside your own micro-ghetto for as long as you want without having to integrate deeply into Dutch society and change your ways. You can see it with people from Turkey, Russia, Arab countries, Latin American communities, etc. While there's nothing wrong with having a cultural community, there are a lot of groups, particularly among young people, who not only barely speak Dutch, but can't even speak good English, because they're able to always stay within their cultural community.

Looking at a country with a more successful integration policy, like Finland - they have free mandatory integration courses which aim to familiarise immigrants with local culture, make language learning accessible and ingrain a sense of national pride into them by teaching them about the national treasures and ways of life. Netherlands, then, has nothing like that. Integrating yourself into a new culture has to be an accessible process that should be made as friendly as possible, however here in the Netherlands Dutch courses for non-european citizens are only accessible via very expensive private classes, and residents aren't incentivised to take them.

To truly help people become Dutch, there should be government initiatives that make integration more accessible, and perhaps mandatory, via culture courses at local Gemeenten and mandatory Dutch courses for international students. It's truly bizarre to me that international students aren't required to learn any Dutch during their course. At least that should be an option for those who express their desire to stay in the Netherlands after they finish their degree.

Overall, I am for raising the required language level to B1 or B2, but there needs to be more investment into education of Dutch as a foreign language, as there aren't currently that many programs and resources to choose from, with most options being unaffordable, especially for students. Raising the length of stay to 10 years I find unnecessary. I think it should be quality over quantity. As long as residents are provided with accessible ways to integrate and are incentivised to do so, 5 years should be enough, but with the current state of language learning and culture integration even 10 years might not be.