Wijziging RWN herkrijging en verlies Nederlanderschap na langdurig verblijf buiten Koninkrijk en EU

Reactie

Vraag1

Good day
Despite my reasonable understanding of Dutch as a fourth language, I comment on these proposed changes in English as it is my first language:

As a former Dutch national, that is likewise the child of a former Dutch national, and as a lawyer, these proposed changes are nearly incomprehensible to me. I emphasise that even as a lawyer, I have great difficulty in forming a coherent understanding of what the proposed amendments seek to achieve.

Dutch citizenship and nationality law is notoriously complicated. It is no secret how difficult it is to understand, especially for non-lawyers. I fear that the Dutch government is not seeing the opportunity to create a more coherent law that is accessible and easy to understand.

If the Dutch government is serious about modernising the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, I respectfully submit that the goal of the amendments be clearly defined as simply permitting dual citizenship. Further to this, I respectfully submit that former Dutch nationals (regardless of when or how they lost their citizenship), be granted a simple and easy way to regain this citizenship by way of option/exercising a choice.

How this could look, I submit, could simply be as follows:
1. Dutch law explicitly recognises and permits dual nationality;
2. Former Dutch nationals have the right to request the restoration of their nationality;
3. Requests for nationality restoration shall be granted, unless there are reasonable grounds that restoration would not be in the interests of Dutch national or domestic security.

As I currently understand the proposed amendments, I would benefit from the changes. Despite this, I hope to see the final amendment as a more inclusive and modern document for citizenship law reform.

Yours sincerely
Jonathan Haydn Faure Wright