POSSIBLE
Can you claim Dutch citizenship through a parent?
Citizen by descent
A child of a Dutch parent is Dutch by descent, but Dutch nationality is lost after thirteen years abroad without a Dutch passport or identity card, so whether your parent (and you) still hold it is the question.
What would settle itWhether your parent held a valid Dutch passport or identity card at least every thirteen years while living outside the EU, and did not naturalize elsewhere before you were born.
- A child acquires Dutch nationality if a parent is Dutch at the birth. Netherlands Nationality Act (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap), as in force September 2026, Art. 3(1)
- An adult Dutch national with another nationality who lives outside the Kingdom and the EU for an uninterrupted thirteen years loses Dutch nationality; a Dutch passport, identity card or declaration of nationality restarts the period. Netherlands Nationality Act (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap), as in force September 2026, Art. 15(1)(c) and (4)
- The Court of Justice held that automatic loss after years abroad must allow an individual examination of its consequences; the Netherlands then lengthened the term to thirteen years and allowed recovery with retroactive effect. Court of Justice of the EU, Tjebbes and Others, C-221/17 (12 March 2019)
What changes the answer
- UNLIKELYIf someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was born
A Dutch parent who voluntarily took another nationality before you were born usually lost Dutch nationality at that moment, so it did not pass to you.
- LIKELYIf the parent is your mother and you were born before 1985Option (pre-1985 maternal line)
Born before 1985 to a Dutch mother, you did not acquire nationality at birth, but since 2010 you can opt for Dutch nationality by declaration, without conditions.