immigration ... citizenship...residency...

Jarl69 wrote:

Hello Cynic,
Thank you for taking the time to responed.
I think I may have misrepresented myself, I am semi retired (working 8-10 months of the year travelling the rest, I fully intend to a contributing member of the Dutch society, ( taxes / Health insurance / buying a home ) apart from my travel lust I have an elderly father in the UK whom I would like to vist occasionally.
So not really just parking my bike. I already do this in Eindhoven
my question is would I have to stay within the Netherlands for the whole period of five years, to gain citizenship by naturalisation.
Thanks in Advance.
Tot ziens Karlb

Hi again.

No, you don't have to stay in-country for the whole 5 years.  You would have to be registered with the Gemeente (so have somewhere to live in your name - they will want to see a rental contract) and have a BSN for all that time, if you've already lived there, you may already have a BSN.

You only need to notify them you are living abroad if it's for more than 8 months; while you are away on your travels, you'll still have to maintain your residence, pay your taxes, health insurance etc.

You should be aware that as it stands, assuming the EU and UK agree on the current deal, then you have until 31 Dec 2020 to move to the Netherlands.  If either side does not agree (so, no deal), then you've already missed the boat as far as the guaranteed residence is concerned, you would need to apply as a 3rd nation citizen; this in itself is no big deal, many thousands do it every year.

The latest update from the IND can be viewed at this link.  The British Embassy in Den Haag has a Facebook page, this link will take you there.

One last point, the Dutch don't permit dual citizenship unless by birth (i.e. my daughter is a dual national because I'm a Brit and her mother is Dutch), so if you take up Dutch nationality, then you would have to surrender your UK passport.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Jarl69 wrote:

Thanks Cynic for the fast response.
You really know your stuff?!
I did have a SOFI number back in 2000 guessing that's the BSN you mentioned.
All the other information is greatly appreciated.
Our governmental system is a complete mess and no one knows which way this whole brexit shambles is going to go. So I will check out the 3rd nation citizenship.
...
Thanks again..
Tot ziens
Karl

Hi again ('n graag gedaan).

SOFI number is now known as a BSN number (at least my SOFI number became my BSN).  You will need a valid BSN (so one that is live in the system) in order to get Health Insurance, register a car, open a bank account, pay your taxes and more important, get your DigiD which enables you to do lots of stuff online, life is almost impossible without it

3rd nation citizen is a name that's cropped up recently, I'm not even sure it has any legal recognition, it refers to those wishing to live and/or work in the EU, but have no right to it, it's nothing derogatory.

It's down to individual nations how they admit people to live and work in their country.  Strangely enough, because the UK doesn't have a legal registration system, it's one of the easiest to enter illegally, once you're in, you can just vanish; not so easy to do in the Netherlands because you can't do anything without a BSN/DigiD.

To enter the Netherlands as a non-EU national, the first thing you need to realise is that the Dutch don't issue retirement visas, if you tell them you are coming to retire, you will probably be turned away.  Mainly because you haven't paid (28% of annual salary goes into it) into their social fund that finances pensioners and their needs.

You either go there to work (and you or your employer sponsor you) or to join a close family member (wife/partner) who is working there and they will sponsor you.  The important thing to realise is that the Dutch require you to integrate into Dutch society, so many people have to learn Dutch and pass a Dutch language exam in order to get their joint residence/work permit; I say many because some countries/classes are exempt.  My opinion is that you need to learn Dutch to live there, yes, many Dutch people speak English, but many don't - you want to live there, life around you is in Dutch, so learn the lingo; you will be really pissed off if you end up with some horrible disease because you couldn't read the poster in the Doctors waiting room.  I did it, so it can't be that hard.

So, you need to find a job or have some work skills that will reassure them that you are employable and won't become a burden on the state.  If you check the back of your old alien card that has your SOFI number on it, you will see that it says "not entitled to social benefits" or something like that.  If you end up being a burden on the state, they will send you back from where you came from (which gives you one clue about later nationality requirements), you will need to have worked there and paid into the system for at least 5 years to even get assessed.

So, work skills - you can either get a job or set up your own business; if they don't think you are employable or they don't need people with your skillset, you won't even get a short-term visa - many think that this is starting to sound a bit like the UK post-Brexit.

Think this enough for now.

If you have any further specific questions, please come back and ask us.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team