How to Become a Dutch Citizen
Walking through the winter wonderland that is Amsterdam tonight, I was overcome with gratitude to call this place home. It's been quite the process, ups and downs almost daily, but today, I've passed my exams. I'm an independent citizen. The initial decision to move abroad is different for everyone- scary, exciting, thrilling, mandatory, passionate, maybe even devastating. Once you’re in that new country, provided loads of information in a new language, the process to make it legal can also be both overwhelming and intimidating. In our experience, we struggled to find consistency in the said requirements expected from us online and from help desks. They told us something different each time, sending us back and forth for different documents and meetings, over and over again. It seemed like we were sent in circles, some days. If you’re on this same exciting journey, I want to help you avoid what we went through by sharing our experience and what was needed in the order it was needed in.
AUTHORIZATION FOR TEMPORARY STAY (MVV)
Upon arrival to The Netherlands, you are an alien immigrant or expat to the country. Many immigrants moving to The Netherlands from other countries will need to get authorization for a short-term stay until they can gain further permits. The United States, however, is an exception to this, which means that a U.S. citizen can stay in The Netherlands without any permit for three months or 90 days. You do not need an MVV.
SPONSORSHIP
A sponsor is a person or business who accepts full responsibility for you until you are a Dutch citizen. Under the circumstances that you are able to find a job while in the states, your employer could be your registered sponsor. They would be responsible for filing your residential permit and ensuring you are qualified to work in the country. Entering the country with a career would also allow you full consideration as a “highly skilled migrant.” A highly skilled migrant is viewed as valuable to the country and therefore, is given a more accelerated experience when receiving their residence permit.
Your partner can also be your registered sponsor, with or without a legalized marriage. That is what Cas and I chose to do. We registered as a partnership, providing evidence that we reside at the same address and are committed to one another, long term. Under these circumstances, he was easily able to be my sponsor if he has a sufficient, long-term means of employment for at least 12 months (making at least, the Dutch minimum wage).
APPOINTMENT AND APPLICATION
If your partner is your sponsor, they must be employed with a year long contract and be able to provide pay stubs for 3 months. Request that immigration send you a packet (in English and Dutch) for the residence permit via their website or by phone. It will have all the information needed. Then, make an appointment with immigration to turn in your application. The earliest appointment I could make was over a month from the date I received the packet, so plan to make it early. Also, allow yourself enough time to get the needed documents. The list can be extensive.
BSN NUMBER
Go to the local town hall (Gemeente) and register for a BSN number within 9 days of your arrival. This acts as your social security number. Once you have it you can open a bank account, register for insurance, and begin the process of getting a cell phone plan. You must have this number to work in The Netherlands, as well. It could take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to be approved, if not more, so make sure to do this as soon as possible.
If you really want to be ahead of the game, ask for a VOG form while you are the Gemeente. This is a form that validates good conduct and a must-have to work in The Netherlands. Once you begin work, your employer has to legally ask you for this document.
U.S. CONSOLATE IN AMSTERDAM/DEN HAAG
When you apply for a residence permit on a partnership visa, they will ask you to include an Avidavit, or statement stating you are not married in the United States. You will need to make an appointment with the U.S. Consolate (the earliest appointment was a month away from the time I called) to receive an official document. Do not bring your cell phone or any device to the U.S. Consolate or they will make you wait twice as long to get inside and start the process. You can make an appointment on their website and make sure you read about what documents you need to bring as well.
Following that visit, you will have to make another appointment with the U.S. Consolate General in Den Haag (about 25 minute train ride from Amsterdam). There they will validate your Avidavit with a stamp, approving it and solidifying that it can be turned in with your residence permit application.
RESIDENCE PERMIT
On the day of your appointment with immigration, you will submit an application filled out by you and your partner, many personal documents, your Avidavit, your partner's employment contract, and more. Once all the documents have been accepted they will stick a temporary sticker in your passport, confirming you can remain in The Netherlands for 6 months while your permit is processed. However, it also states you cannot work. The process takes 3 months so prepare for a very long wait! Once it is accepted in that time, you are officially able to live and work in The Netherlands for 5 years! Woo hoo!
While you're waiting for your residence permit to be processed and because you now have your BSN number, you can do a few important things, while you wait:
OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT/S
There are three major banks in the Netherlands: ABN-AMRO, RABOBANK, and ING. I did some research and chose ABN-AMRO as it had many expat packages and offered letters, specialists, and internet banking in English. I have also found that it is incredibly easy to make transfers, payments, or check on my accounts via their iphone app. To open an account you will need a passport, proof of residence, and a BSN Number.
CELL PHONE
Cell phones can be expensive if you buy a new plan, as always, so as an expat you have a few options. Through the provider Vodafone, you can purchase bundles for very cheap per month on your old phone. For example, I kept my American phone and simply just cancelled my ATT provider. Then, I set up the phone with a new sim card for only 14 euro a month. You cannot make payments with a US debit or credit card and therefore, need a bank account and BSN number before you can do this. Vodafone is a great provider because it allows you to make any changes or payments via their app. Eventually, as I got more settled, I opted to buy a new plan and get a new phone through Vodafone. It is up to you.
TRANSPORTATION: OV- CHIPKAART
Whenever locals aren’t biking through Amsterdam, they use the incredibly convenient public transport system. Once you're in Amsterdam, it will be easier to obtain a OV-Chipkaart travel card than to attempt to buy paper tickets, every trip. You will run into endless failed attempts trying to use your US debit or credit card to load money on your OV-chip card. So, again, a bank account is important for this too. However, once loaded, this card will give you access to all of the trains, buses, and trams. You can purchase a blue OV-chip card for 7 euros at most stations. This card allows you to load money on to the card and will inform you when it is too low too use. You can also opt to purchase a more personalized OV-chip card which has your photo on it and is connected to your bank account, automatically uploading when you run too low.
FINDING A JOB
To legally work in The Netherlands, you need a resident permit, insurance, and a VOG (good conduct form), along with many personal documents. This means going to the town hall (Gemeente), immigration, and applying for expat insurance. For many professions, you will have two years to convert your degrees/licenses to European credentials. You will do this through DUO. I would advise, doing this before working or right away when you start, just to get the process start. Though you may not be able to work while you wait for your resident permit to arrive, keep your eyes open, prepare your documents to apply, and start applying.
DUTCH HEALTH INSURANCE
It’s required.
If you plan on staying, living and working in The Netherlands, you have to get Dutch Health Insurance and to have that you must have a BSN number. If you start working and you don’t have insurance, you could be up for a hefty fine.
DIGID
At some point you will get to know this very well. Everything in The Netherlands is done via DigiD. Your health insurance, immigration, education, and tax information are all listed, changed, and saved on DigiD. You will have some ridiculous password so at some point you will want to sign on to change your username and password to something easy for you to remember.
DUTCH CITIZENSHIP
Whether a married or unmarried partner of a Dutch citizen, you can obtain Dutch citizenship if you live together for three consecutive years. However, if you're not married, you may be asked to renounce your current nationality. If you are married or in a registered partnership, you will not have to renounce your nationality.
LEARNING DUTCH
This is important, at least until you speak and understand at an A2 level. All over the city you can find various language schools and courses to help you get started. If you are lucky, your company or business may offer free lessons a few times a month or every week. The Gemeente also offers free classes. Some other options for you are to find ways to incorporate the language into volunteer work at places such as an elderly home or finding a "buddy" to go to museums and lunch with who will only speak Dutch with you. Once you reach your fourth year in The Netherlands, you will be expected to take the inburgersexamen. The date in which you must have this completed will have been set for this exam when you first applied for your residence persmit, so you will have plenty of time to prepare for it.
THE INBURGERINGSEXAMEN
Being Prepared for the Exams
The inburgeringsexamen will test you on the Dutch language and culture in five areas: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and culture (politics, social expectations, education, etc). They expect your language fluency to be at an A2 level but I would recommend taking it a step further to B1. I waited until the last possible month to take mine which caused me to run into some trouble when it came time to register. The classes do fill up quick. Be warned, they threaten large fees if you don’t pass your exams by the date given. My suggestion: start taking them as soon as you're ready. Or at least register for them, early on. Even if it’s only been a year or two. Then you have plenty of time to retake it, if needed and you will have no stress, as it gets closer.
Registering for the Exams
By the time you register, I am sure you will be very familiar with the Dutch DigiD. You will register for your tests from this account, choosing the date and location, yourself. Each test will cost somewhere around 35-50 euros. You can choose to take one a day or choose to take multiple in one day. They will range from 35 minutes long to 65 minutes. All of the registering will be in Dutch, so if you have any questions, ask a native speaker as it is not something you want to get confused by or miss. You will receive numerous letters in the mail to remind you, also in Dutch. Don't forget to read them.
Also, you MUST have a Dutch ID to take these exams. They will not just accept your passport. If you lost yours, you will need to have it replaced before you take the tests.
Studying for the Exams
The best and only thing I did was take the practice exams until I scored 100% on all of them. That sounds a bit weird, I know. But truthfully, it's the vocabulary you'll need, not the answers. The first time through each exam, I wrote down the words I struggled with and studied them until I knew them, well. Why? They were words I knew I would see throughout every test; vocab focused around buying a house, voting, political parties, education systems, applying for a job, shopping, making an appointment, etc. You can find 3-5 practice exams for each test here:
https://www.inburgeren.nl/examen-doen.jsp
Every part of the test- from the directions, the questions, to the answers will be in Dutch. You will find yourself way more stressed if you're missing the vocabulary needed to understand the question.
Reading- You will be presented an advertisement, paragraph, or email. You will need to read it and answer multiple choice questions about it. This test is taken on the computer.
Writing- You will have several "fill in the blank" questions. You must finish a sentence using the correct word order. You may also need to write an email, a postcard, fill out an application or form, etc. This was the most challenging for me, only because it was the shortest test and I wanted to show off my writing skills. I was rushing to finish at the end but that is because I wrote a bit too much. My biggest piece of advice would be to keep everything you write as simple as possible. They will tell you exactly what you need to include in your writing. Follow that precisely and without being too wordy and you will be just fine. This is done on paper, not on the computer.
Listening- During the listening exam, you will be given headphones and be presented small videos on the computer of different interactions and stories. You will need to answer multiple choice questions about what was said in the conversations you watched.
I would suggest asking all of the Dutch people you know to speak Dutch to you, even if you respond in English. That is how I built up a solid foundation for understanding. Listening will be a piece of cake, as long as your comfortable with hearing the language. Otherwise, it will be totally intimidating.
Speaking- This is the weirdest part of the exam simply because you can hear everyone around you. You and everyone else in the room have a headset which you will speak into in response to questions a video on the computer asks you. It will ask you very simple questions, such as:
"I take the bus to work. Do you take the bus to work? Explain why."
"What food do you like to prepare? What do you need to prepare it?"
"How do you find the weather in The Netherlands? Why?"
"How do you find living in The Netherlands? What is better about your home country?"
"I am good at soccer. What are you good at? Tell why."
"In The Netherlands children get vaccinated. How do you feel about that?"
Like the writing exam, keep it simple. Don’t over complicate your responses. You will record your answer, check it by listening to the answer you provided, and have the option to redo it, if needed.
Culture- This one you will be prepared for by simply having lived in The Netherlands and if you took the practice exams. Some of the questions will be utterly ridiculous, giving you scenarios in which you must choose if it's more appropriate in The Netherlands to allow people to be gay or to bully them; to steal someone's religious statue because you don't agree with it or to let them practice it freely; to allow women the same rights as men or not. Others will be more difficult, including the process to get through education, start a business, buy a house, etc. As I said before, the practice exams will give you an idea about what topics you can do research on your self.
Best of luck! And welcome to The Netherlands!