Dutch naturalization in 2026: requirements and timeline

How long do you have to live in the Netherlands to get citizenship

Five consecutive years on a residence permit, with not a single day of gap between cards: that is the basic rule, and in practice it is stricter than it sounds. According to the immigration service report on naturalization in 2018-2024, applicants file after an average of 5.8 years in the country. The buffer is needed: the exam, the paperwork and fixing mistakes in a permit history eat up months.

The rule comes from the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap (RWN, the Kingdom of the Netherlands Nationality Act): 5 years of toelating en hoofdverblijf immediately before you apply. In plain English, that means lawful residence on a permit plus your main residence in the country. Every renewal must be filed before the old card expires. If a gap opens between the old and the new permit, the 5-year clock starts again from zero.

Filing early in the hope that the years will add up while the application is pending does not work: under the official guidance to the Act such an application is rejected. There must be no gap after filing either, right up to the decision. The clock is one of the most common stumbling blocks after criminal records and documents: among the grounds for refusal in 2018-2024, 13% involved too short a period of uninterrupted lawful residence and another 10% an unproven main residence.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is more than the European part of the country. It also includes Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, as well as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, and years spent there on a permit count too. For comparison, neighboring Germany abolished its 3-year fast track on 30 October 2025, so on paper the two countries now ask for the same 5 years.

Dutch naturalization requirements: the conditions you must meet

Dutch naturalization rests on seven conditions, and the Dutch immigration service checks them not only on the day you apply: some must still be met on the day of the ceremony. Fail any one of them and the answer is no, while the fee is paid up front when you file.

Immigration service statistics show how most people get there. In 2018-2024, 52% of applicants became Dutch under the standard 5-year rule, 30% were children included in a parent's application, and 10% were spouses of Dutch citizens.

The last two are the main reasons for refusal. In 2018-2024 the immigration service turned down about 7,400 applications. Among the grounds for refusal, 24% were a threat to public order, meaning criminal records and fines, and 17% were unproven identity and nationality.

Unlike Austria, the Netherlands has no separate income test for citizenship: income is checked when you get a work or family permit, not when you naturalize. What it does have is a compulsory ceremony with a declaration of solidarity, and without it there is no citizenship.

Which residence permits count towards Dutch citizenship

Getting the permit type wrong costs more than any fee: you can live in the Netherlands for six years and still not be allowed to apply. The law separates two questions - which years count towards the 5-year term, and which permit you must hold when you file.

Years that count are years on any permit issued under the Vreemdelingenwet 2000 (the Aliens Act): temporary and permanent, regular and asylum. That includes study, the orientation year after graduation and intra-corporate transfer. Citizens of the European Union, the EEA (European Economic Area: the European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and Switzerland need no permit at all. Years that do not count are periods when you only had the right to stay pending a decision: a temporary protection sticker, asylum seeker status, a tourist entry.

To file, you need a permanent permit or a temporary permit with a non-temporary purpose of stay (niet-tijdelijk verblijfsdoel: a ground designed for long-term life in the country, such as work or family, rather than study). It must be valid both on the day you apply and on the day of the ceremony.

A typical graduate path is a master's degree, a search year and then a highly skilled migrant contract. All of those years form one continuous term, but you can only file after switching to the work permit. The danger is not the study itself but a gap: if the application for the new permit went in after the old one expired, the clock resets unless the immigration service issues the new card back to back with the old one.

New rules for refugees. Since 12 June 2026, when the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum took effect, permanent asylum permits are no longer issued, and a new asylum card is valid for 3 years. You cannot apply for citizenship on a temporary asylum permit unless you are stateless. Anyone who already held a permanent asylum permit on 12 June keeps it and can still naturalize with it. Everyone else has the European Union long-term resident permit after 5 years.

Which exams you need and what level of Dutch is required

€250 for five exams at level A2 is one of the mildest language requirements in the region: Germany and Austria ask for B1, one step higher. But in 2026 the road to the diploma has slowed down: in July, the Dutch Education Executive Agency, the government agency that runs the civic integration exams, announced that it now takes up to 16 weeks instead of the usual 8 to mark the A2 speaking and writing parts.

For naturalization you need an inburgeringsdiploma, the civic integration diploma: it certifies Dutch at level A2 and knowledge of the country. A2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages is basic: you understand simple texts and can get by in everyday situations. You book the exams in the Mijn Inburgering account through DigiD, the Dutch government's digital login. Exam dates can be 6 weeks or more away, so it makes sense to start a year before your 5 years are up.

Each part is paid for separately and for every attempt: fail writing and you pay another €50 and wait for another result. People in work are exempt from ONA if they worked at least 48 hours a month in the Netherlands in 6 of the last 12 months. The PVT (Participatieverklaringstraject, the participation statement course) is not needed for naturalization if you were never obliged to integrate.

What can replace the A2 exam. The NT2 state exam (Nederlands als tweede taal, Dutch as a second language) program I or II, which are levels B1 and B2, costs €50 per part and €200 for the full exam. Also accepted: a Dutch school or university diploma taught in Dutch, a Belgian or Surinamese diploma in Dutch with an apostille, and 8 years of residence in the Netherlands between the ages of 5 and 16. Serious illness or disability can lead to an exemption based on a medical report from Argonaut, the adviser to the Ministry of Social Affairs. According to the immigration service report, an exemption was requested in 22.6% of cases in 2018-2024 and was almost always granted.

The trap for highly skilled migrants. A kennismigrant does not have to integrate to get a permit, but that does not exempt you from the exam for citizenship. Five years are up, there is no A2 diploma, and the application slips by months.

Will B1 come in? In 2026 the immigration service requires A2. The coalition agreement of D66 (social liberals), VVD (right-wing liberals) and CDA (Christian Democrats) of 30 January 2026 mentions B1 only for naturalization of asylum permit holders. If you are learning Dutch anyway, aiming straight for B1 is sensible: it is a buffer against new rules and a very different level on the job market.

Does the Netherlands allow dual citizenship

The Netherlands is one of the few countries in Western Europe where a new passport still costs you your old one, and the government has no plans to change that. The 2026 coalition agreement says it plainly: for newcomers who want to naturalize, the starting point is that they give up their other nationality. The neighbors moved on long ago: Germany allowed dual citizenship in June 2024, and Belgium and Luxembourg have allowed it for years.

Here is how it works. When you file, you sign an undertaking to renounce your current nationality after naturalization. After the ceremony the immigration service sends a letter, within several months. From then on you have 3 months to send proof that you have applied to renounce; the application goes through your country's embassy or consulate. Once the renunciation is finalized, you send a copy of that document to the immigration service as well. No proof, and your Dutch citizenship can be revoked.

When you do not have to renounce:

• you are married to or in a registered partnership with a Dutch citizen on the date the Royal Decree granting citizenship is signed; a wedding after that date does not help;
• you hold an asylum permit or a European Union long-term resident permit marked as international protection;
• you were born in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and live here now;
• you are a national of a country the Netherlands does not recognize, such as Taiwan;
• your country's law does not allow you to give up its nationality;
• you are under 18 and included in a parent's application.

You can also ask for an exemption if renouncing would have serious consequences: a large payment to the state, loss of inheritance rights and significant assets, compulsory military service or a buy-out of it. You ask for this during the procedure, with evidence: once you are Dutch, the door is closed.

If you need a second passport without losing your first, the Netherlands loses out to its neighbors, other things being equal. Countries that allow dual citizenship and the scenarios that work are covered in our article on dual citizenship in 2026.

How much does Dutch citizenship cost in 2026

About $1,280 (1,139 euros) per adult is what a Dutch naturalization application costs in 2026. That is more than four times the German fee of $287 (255 euros), per adult. You pay at the municipality on the day you file, and that is when the decision period starts. The immigration service revises its fees every year on 1 January.

Applying as a couple pays off: about $1,700 for both instead of $2,600 for two separate applications, a saving of more than $900.

On top come language courses, legalization and translation of birth and marriage certificates, and your own country's charges for renouncing nationality. The immigration service accepts a written translation into English just like one into Dutch, and the cost of translations and apostilles at the Murblz bureau is on request from a manager. Each family member adds their own fee and exams, so the total depends on who applies: rates per family member are in the table above, and our manager calculates the full amount for your family in the chat.

US dollar amounts are converted at the market rate of 20 October 2026, 1.1229 dollars per euro, and rounded up. Fees are taken from the immigration service fee table, exams from the education agency.

Foreign documents are translated into Dutch, English, French or German and legalized with an apostille or consular legalization. If a document is already recorded in the population register, you will not be asked for it again. We can arrange the translation and apostille: translations and apostille.

How much Dutch citizenship costs per family member

The fee is paid per application, and everyone filing together adds their own rate: a partner about $360, a child under 18 about $190. Every adult sits the A2 exam: about $280 for five parts if everything is passed first time.

What documents you need for Dutch citizenship

The naturalization file is short, but every document is checked as an original: the municipality does not accept copies. Mistakes here cost months, because legalization is done in the country that issued the document.

• A valid passport of your country of nationality.
• A residence permit valid on the day you file and on the day of the ceremony: permanent or with a non-temporary purpose of stay.
• A birth certificate with an apostille or consular legalization and a translation into Dutch, English, French or German, unless it is already in the population register.
• The civic integration diploma from your account with the education agency, or documents for an exemption: an NT2 diploma, a Dutch school or university diploma, a medical report.
• A marriage or registered partnership certificate for the 3-year route, also legalized and translated unless it is in the population register.
• An explanation and evidence if a document cannot be obtained: there is a lack-of-evidence procedure for this.

Where to get them. Certificates from Russia and Ukraine are issued or reissued by the civil registry office, and the apostille is placed there or at the justice ministry of the issuing country; from abroad this is done through a consulate or by power of attorney. Once all parts are passed, the civic integration diploma appears in digital form in your education agency account. The immigration service sets out its translation and legalization requirements on its page on civic integration for naturalisation.

How long does Dutch naturalization take after you apply

Naturalization is a rare corner of the immigration service where the state meets its own deadlines. According to the service's annual figures, 100% of naturalization decisions in 2025 were made on time, and 98% of applications were approved. Asylum is the opposite story: in the general procedure only 34% of decisions came on time, and the immigration service paid applicants €79 million in penalties for delays.

By law the immigration service has 12 months from payment of the fee to decide, and that period can be extended. In reality it is faster: in 2024 the path from filing to ceremony for approved cases took an average of 182 days, down from 344 days in 2018. 82% of approved applicants in the European Netherlands attend their ceremony within a year of filing a complete application at the municipality.

You become a citizen not on the day of the decision, nor on the day the decree is signed, but only at the ceremony. There are eight steps between filing and the passport.

You can track your case in the immigration service's online account. If 12 months have passed with no decision, you can send the immigration service a formal notice of default (ingebrekestelling). Penalties under such notices and court appeals over late decisions are what added up to that €79 million in 2025.

Children. Minors are included in a parent's application. Children aged 16-17 need 3 consecutive years in the country and their own consent, and they attend the ceremony themselves. Younger children need no residence period but must hold a permit with a non-temporary purpose. Children aged 12 and over come to the municipality when the application is filed, and minors do not have to renounce their other nationality.

Dutch citizenship for people under temporary protection: does it count

More than four years under temporary protection add exactly zero days towards Dutch citizenship. For the immigration service it is not a residence permit: while the directive applies, the service takes no decision on an application and issues only a sticker or card confirming the right to live and work. And the 5 years only count on a permit.

The protection itself has been extended. The European Union extended the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) until 4 March 2028, and for those who received protection before 5 August 2026 the extension is automatic. New applications from 5 August 2026 face a new condition: men with military obligations must show that they have fulfilled them or are exempt.

What comes after protection is known only in outline. The government has promised a transitiedocument, a transition document valid for 3 years with the right to work without a permit, and the coalition agreement a separate temporary status for Ukrainians. The authorities have not said whether those years will count towards naturalization, and the official description of the transition document puts the emphasis on voluntary return.

What to do if a passport is the goal. Start the clock with a regular permit: highly skilled migrant, paid employment, partner permit, self-employment or the Dutch start-up visa. The immigration service allows Ukrainians under temporary protection to apply for a regular permit from inside the country, without a long-stay entry visa.

All the options are on our Netherlands residence permit page. Worked example: a 32-year-old Ukrainian woman gets a highly skilled migrant permit in 2026 and renews it without gaps. She can apply for citizenship no earlier than 2031 and only with a passed A2 exam, and none of her earlier years under temporary protection will count.

Dual citizenship. Ukraine allowed it with Law No. 4502-IX of 18 June 2025, which took effect on 16 January 2026. The Netherlands is on the Cabinet of Ministers' list of 34 countries whose citizenship can be combined with Ukrainian. But that is a Ukrainian rule. It does not override the Dutch requirement to give up your previous nationality: only the Dutch grounds listed above, such as marriage to a Dutch citizen, exempt you.

The passports compared by the number of destinations open without a visa or with a visa on arrival: Ukraine has 142 destinations, the Netherlands 186.

Dutch citizenship: what happens to your previous passport

A Dutch passport opens 72 more destinations than a Russian one: 186 against 114. But for a Russian citizen the main question is neither the clock nor the exam. It is giving up Russian citizenship.

Renunciation goes through the Russian consulate, and you need to start right after the immigration service letter arrives, not after you get your new passport: the 3 months to provide proof go quickly. The immigration service warns openly that renouncing a nationality always costs money and time, and advises checking the cost and timing with your country's consulate before you even apply to naturalize.

If your country's law does not allow you to leave, or sets disproportionate conditions, ask for an exemption at the time of filing and attach evidence. The immigration service decides this during the review, and once you are Dutch it is too late to ask. The simplest way to keep a Russian passport is marriage: spouses of Dutch citizens who are married on the date of the Royal Decree are not required to renounce.

Russian documents for naturalization are legalized with an apostille and translated. An old-style birth certificate, differences in the transliteration of your surname between your international passport and the population register, a name change after marriage - all of this is better sorted out before the municipality appointment rather than after an immigration service request.

While you still travel on a Russian passport, keep an eye on its format too: which countries no longer accept old non-biometric passports is covered in a separate article. How passports move in the world ranking is shown in our passport ranking 2026 review.

Dutch citizenship by marriage: 3 years instead of 5

Marriage to a Dutch citizen saves two years and removes the biggest pain of Dutch naturalization - giving up your old passport. One applicant in ten takes this route: according to the immigration service report, spouses of citizens accounted for 10% of naturalizations in 2018-2024.

Marriage itself does not make you Dutch. It shortens the term to 3 years of living together with the same Dutch partner, whether married, in a registered partnership or unregistered. Years spent living together before the wedding count too. Your partner must be Dutch on the date you apply, but not necessarily for 3 years: a recently naturalized partner qualifies.

You must live together until the end of the procedure. There is one exception: if the Dutch partner dies during the review, the immigration service can still grant citizenship. A wedding after the decree is signed does not spare you from renunciation: the immigration service looks at the date of the decree.

For couples who have lived in the Netherlands for 15 years there is an even shorter route - the option procedure: 3 years of marriage, €241 and no exam. More on it below.

The option procedure and citizenship by birth: who gets a passport more easily

The option procedure (optie) costs €241 instead of €1,139, takes 13 weeks and needs no exam, but it is open only to those with long-standing ties to the Netherlands. The municipality decides, not the immigration service: 13 weeks, extendable by another 13. In most cases you do not have to give up your other nationality.

The option is available if you:

• were born in the Kingdom, have always lived here, are 18 or over and hold a permit;
• have lived in the Kingdom since age 4, always on a permit, and are now an adult - in this case you will have to renounce your other nationality;
• have lived in the Kingdom for 15 consecutive years on a permit and have been married to or in a registered partnership with a Dutch citizen for at least 3 years;
• have lived in the Kingdom for 15 consecutive years on a permit and are 65 or older;
• were born before 1 January 1985 to a Dutch mother and a foreign father, or are the child of such a person;
• were Dutch in the past and have lived in the Kingdom for a year on a permanent permit or one with a non-temporary purpose, unless you lost Dutch citizenship because you failed to renounce another nationality.

According to the immigration service report for 2018-2024, 44% of all confirmed options went to spouses of citizens with 15 years in the country, and another 22% to adults who have lived in the Kingdom since birth. For an adult who moved for work, the option becomes realistic only after 15 years, so for most readers the route is naturalization.

Dutch citizenship by birth. A child of foreign parents born in the Netherlands does not become Dutch automatically: there is no birthright citizenship here, and nationality passes from a Dutch parent. A child of a Dutch mother is Dutch from birth wherever it is born. A child of a Dutch father is Dutch from birth if the father is married to the mother or recognized the child before birth. Being born in the country to foreign parents gives only the right to the option procedure after coming of age.

Taxes after you become a Dutch citizen

A Dutch passport does not change your taxes by itself: tax residence follows where you live, not your nationality. While you live in the country, Dutch tax applies to worldwide income; after you leave, only to Dutch-source income.

One rule applies to citizens specifically. If a Dutch national moves abroad, for the next 10 years they are still treated as resident for inheritance and gift tax: a gift or estate from them is taxed in the Netherlands as if they had never left. The tax authority applies this only to people who were Dutch both when they left and at the time of the gift or death. Rates, the expat scheme and taxes when you move are covered on our Netherlands taxes page.

Why applications fail and who Dutch naturalization does not suit

A 98% approval rate describes those who reached the filing stage with the right documents. The traps that stop applications short of approval are mostly formal, but they cost years.

• A gap between permits. A renewal filed one day after the card expired can wipe out five years. People find out at the municipality.
• The wrong permit on the filing date. The five years are there, but the permit is still a study or intra-corporate one - the application will not be accepted, and you first need to change the purpose of stay.
• Main residence. Your population register registration must be up to date and your life must be in the Netherlands. Long absences call your main residence (hoofdverblijf) into question even with a valid card.
• Criminal records and fines in the 5 years before filing. Any prison sentence, including a suspended one, community service of 36 hours or more, a fine of €900 or more, several fines of €450 or more each totalling €1,350 or more, or a driving ban of 2 months or longer closes the door. An open criminal case also blocks the decision.
• Documents. No birth certificate, or one that cannot be legalized, or a name spelled differently in the passport and the population register. If a document is impossible to obtain there is the bewijsnood procedure for lack of evidence, but it is a separate piece of work.
• The ceremony. Miss it within a year of the decision and there is no citizenship: you apply again and pay the fee again.
• Renouncing your old nationality. No proof within 3 months of the immigration service letter, and your citizenship can be revoked. Keep your population register address current: if the immigration service letter does not reach you, the deadline passes anyway.

Who Dutch naturalization does not suit:

• anyone for whom losing their current nationality is unacceptable and who has no exemption: no marriage to a Dutch citizen, no asylum status;
• anyone not ready to live in the country: the 5 years count only with your main residence in the Netherlands, and a permit card in your pocket while living elsewhere does not work;
• anyone looking for Dutch citizenship by investment: there is no such program, and the residence scheme for wealthy foreign nationals investing at least €1,250,000 closed on 17 April 2024, having produced fewer than 10 permits in its final years;
• Ukrainians planning to wait for a passport on temporary protection: that road does not lead to citizenship;
• anyone not prepared to learn Dutch to at least A2.

If you need a European Union passport without moving or without losing your first nationality, compare the Netherlands with other countries in our second citizenship section.

What is changing: the 10-year rule dropped, B1 only for refugees

The 10-year term that loomed over expats throughout autumn 2025 never happened. Dick Schoof's government put out for public consultation a bill that doubled the naturalization term from 5 to 10 years and cut back the exceptions. The consultation ran from 30 September to 1 December 2025, but the bill never became law: the new coalition dropped it.

After the election of 29 October 2025 the government changed. The D66, VVD and CDA coalition presented its agreement on 30 January 2026, and Rob Jetten's cabinet was sworn in on 23 February. It is a minority cabinet that needs opposition votes to pass laws. Jetten himself had said in October 2025 that the 10-year rule would only make integration harder, and the agreement contains no such term. It does contain three points on future citizens:

• renouncing the previous nationality remains the starting point for newcomers;
• asylum permit holders will be able to naturalize after two temporary permits, after 6 years and with B1 Dutch, with a hardship clause for those for whom the language requirement is impossible;
• Ukrainians will get a separate temporary status after temporary protection.

Everything in the agreement is a plan, not a rule in force. For everyone else the window in 2026 is unchanged: 5 years and A2. If you have already built up the term, you gain by filing now rather than waiting for new rules: since 2024 the country has had two governments, and each came with its own plans for naturalization. The timeline of changes is in our article on Dutch citizenship in 2026.

How we help you get Dutch citizenship

The most expensive mistake in Dutch naturalization is not a refusal but a year lost to a gap between permits or an exam booked too late. We count your term from the dates and purposes of your permits and find gaps in your renewal history before the municipality does.

We plan the exam, collect and legalize documents, check how renouncing your current nationality will work and, where needed, prepare an exemption request. We handle correspondence with the municipality and the immigration service and keep track of response deadlines. If it is too early to file, we say so and propose a plan for the next year or two.

Taxes after the move are covered on our Netherlands taxes page, and the overall picture of the country on the Netherlands page.

What a Dutch passport gives you

How to get Dutch citizenship: step by step

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