Can my Thai wife lose her Dutch passport?
17 August 2022
Dear readers,
My (Thai) wife, who has had a Dutch passport for more than 25 years and lives in the Netherlands, recently had a Thai passport made.
That seemed useful to us because of holidays longer than 30 days, but now I also read that she can lose the Dutch passport because of this?
Who knows more about this?
Regards,
Other
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Those who are married to a Dutch national may also retain the nationality of the country of birth, which is one of the grounds for exception (in principle, the Netherlands only allows one single nationality, with exceptions for married couples, parents with a different nationality, or if the nationality has been lost). would not be possible or would have disproportionate consequences).
Anyone can lose your passport or ID card, applying for it (again) is nothing more than a paper/plastic proof of nationality.
However, someone with multiple nationalities who moves abroad and then (by memory) stays away for 10 years and does not have a Dutch passport renewed would lose their nationality. So if you ever emigrate…
But for now, nothing to worry about, if there had been a problem it would have already emerged around naturalization as a Dutch citizen.
When travelling: leave the EU with the NL passport, cross the Thai border with the TH passport, leave Thailand on the TH passport and re-enter the EU on the NL passport.
NB: the primary source for questions about nationality and passport is the website of the national government and/or the IND. Search there for a keyword such as “nationality” , “loss of nationality” , “acquiring nationality” , “naturalization” and so on.
For example: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/nederlandse-nationaliteit
For example, I saw there that the scenario I mentioned is not 10 but 13 years -see the danger of typing by heart-. DE central government about loss of NL-schap: “Or if you have lived outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba and Sint Maarten) or the European Union (EU) for 13 years with dual nationality and you do not renew your Dutch passport in time .” .
Legislation also wants to change and so does your own situation, then checking with a primary source is recommended, where blogs and forums can sometimes be supplemented with useful advice and practical experience.
My wife has been living in the Netherlands for 15 years now, after 13 years she has applied for Dutch nationality. It is important that the person also makes a Thai ID for information, she can go to the Thai embassy.
We are currently in Thailand my kids have made their Thai ID now also own two passports.
What a service here you are there and your ID is created immediately, no matter of waiting for days.
Succes
Moderator: You are supposed to answer questions from the above reader here and not ask questions yourself.
If your wife always keeps a valid Dutch passport or ID card, she will never lose her Dutch nationality.
If she were to live outside the EU (whether or not with you) and never apply for a Dutch passport again, she would lose her Dutch citizenship thirteen years after the expiry of her last Dutch passport (or national ID card).
One caveat here is that one must have the new passport before the old passport (and national ID card?) has expired.
See question 7. on “Most frequently asked questions about loss of Dutch nationality”:
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/nederlandse-nationaliteit/documenten/publicaties/2017/10/05/meest-gestelde-vragen-over-verlies-nederlandse-nationaliteit