Marriage in Netherlands.

What nationality passport do you have?

I still have a British Passport.

You got married in Holland and will have received a Trouwboek, that's your Dutch marriage certificate; all things related to your BSN should automatically update, but it's worthwhile checking, so pop in to your Gemeente and make sure that all your details have been updated (the degree of efficiency varies); also things like the Belastingdienst, UWV etc.  When we got married BSN was a SOFI nummer and was not linked, so we had a bit of walking to do.

It will get complicated; under Dutch law, you never lose your maiden name (meisjesnaam), you will notice that any Dutch documentation you get will now say e/v (echtgenote van), followed by your husband's surname.  So, assuming your name before marriage was Jan Smith and your husband was called Pieter de Klomp, your official name is now Jan Smith, e/v de Klomp; some Dutch systems will turn your name into a double-barrelled version, so JanSmith-van Klomp.  The next time you renew your British passport, it will be in your married name and your maiden name will have vanished, which will be different to every other piece of Dutch legal documentation, of which a passport will always take supremacy and cause even more confusion; until they find someone who has experienced it before, who will say "Engels eh?", to which you'll say "Ja" and they will nod their head sagely.

My wife (Dutch) and I (Brit) have been married for over 30 years; it has been (and still is) a nightmare trying to book flights/hotels anywhere.  The booking is fine until you try and check-in at any airport where the name on the flight manifest does not agree 100% with your passport.  So, we now book travel under whatever name is in the passport and put up with sniggers at hotel check-in.

Word of advice regarding UK hotel bookings; when you check in, the form will ask your nationality, just fill in British for both of you, the receptionist doesn't care where you're from and the hassle when you try and explain is just not worth it.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks so much for your reply, very helpful. I'm considering getting naturalized and taking a dutch passport. This will hopefully simplify things !
Thanks again

Janet.

Probably a wise decision, it will certainly remove all the problems we encountered; the only potential issue is that you will have to surrender your British nationality, but for most of us, it wouldn't be a problem.