Article 4
in forceAcquisition of Dutch nationality by operation of law
In derogation from Article 3, a child of a person whose parenthood is judicially established shall become a Dutch national if the child was a minor on the day of the judgment in first instance and the parent is a Dutch national on the day referred to in the following sentence, or, if the latter has deceased, was a Dutch national on the day of death. If it concerns a Dutch judgment, the child shall acquire Dutch nationality on the first day after a period of three months, calculated from the day of the judgment in first instance or, if an appeal has been lodged within this period, of three months, calculated from the day of the judgment on appeal, or, if an appeal in cassation has been lodged within this latter period, on the day of the judgment in cassation. If it concerns a foreign judicial judgment, the child shall acquire Dutch nationality on the day on which this judgment has acquired the force of res judicata.
A minor foreign national who is acknowledged by a Dutchman after his birth and before the age of seven years shall become a Dutchman.
A minor foreign national shall become a Dutch national who, without acknowledgement, becomes the child of a Dutch national by means of legitimation (wettiging).
By means of recognition, a minor foreign national who, after his birth, is recognised by a Dutchman who demonstrates his biological parenthood at the time of or within a period of one year after the recognition, also becomes a Dutch national.
Children of the minor foreign national who acquires Netherlands nationality on the basis of the first, third or fourth paragraph, shall share in that acquisition.
Further rules may be laid down by or pursuant to an order in council of the Kingdom (algemene maatregel van rijksbestuur) with regard to the evidence referred to in the fourth paragraph.
In afwijking van artikel 3 wordt Nederlander het kind van een persoon van wie het ouderschap gerechtelijk wordt vastgesteld, indien het kind op de dag van de uitspraak in eerste aanleg minderjarig was en de ouder op de in de volgende zin bedoelde dag Nederlander is, of, indien deze is overleden, op de dag van overlijden Nederlander was. Betreft het een Nederlandse uitspraak dan verkrijgt het kind het Nederlanderschap op de eerste dag na een periode van drie maanden, te rekenen van de dag van de uitspraak in eerste aanleg of, indien binnen deze periode hoger beroep is ingesteld, van drie maanden, te rekenen van de dag van de uitspraak in hoger beroep, dan wel, indien binnen deze laatste periode beroep in cassatie is ingesteld, op de dag van de uitspraak in cassatie. Betreft het een buitenlandse rechterlijke uitspraak dan verkrijgt het kind het Nederlanderschap op de dag waarop deze uitspraak kracht van gewijsde heeft gekregen.
Nederlander wordt de minderjarige vreemdeling die na zijn geboorte en voor de leeftijd van zeven jaar door een Nederlander wordt erkend.
Nederlander wordt de minderjarige vreemdeling die zonder erkenning door wettiging het kind wordt van een Nederlander.
Door erkenning wordt ook Nederlander de minderjarige vreemdeling die na zijn geboorte wordt erkend door een Nederlander, die zijn biologische ouderschap bij of binnen de termijn van één jaar na de erkenning aantoont.
Kinderen van de minderjarige vreemdeling die op grond van het eerste, derde of vierde lid het Nederlanderschap verkrijgt, delen in die verkrijging.
Bij of krachtens algemene maatregel van rijksbestuur kunnen nadere regels worden gesteld met betrekking tot het in het vierde lid bedoelde bewijs.
Decisions of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (ABRvS) — the highest court in immigration cases — applying this article. Annotations are unofficial translations.
By decision of 30 January 2024, the State Secretary for Justice and Security denied a petition (application) by [appellant] to grant him Dutch nationality. [appellant] holds Surinamese nationality. Since 4 January 2019, he has held a regular residence permit for stay with his Dutch partner. Since 4 March 2019, [appellant] and his partner have been registered at the same address in the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen). Due to family circumstances, [appellant] resided in Suriname from 2 July 2022 up to and including 9 March 2023. His partner travelled with him to Suriname and returned to the Netherlands after a few weeks. [appellant] submitted the naturalisation petition on 13 July 2023. The State Secretary denied the naturalisation petition because [appellant] did not have his principal residence in the Netherlands uninterruptedly during the five years immediately preceding the naturalisation petition.
Decision on rechtspraak.nlBy decision of 12 July 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not process the application of [appellant] for a Dutch passport. [appellant] holds Moroccan nationality and was born on [date of birth] 2003 in Morocco from a bigamous marriage. Her father holds Dutch nationality and her mother holds Moroccan nationality. On 16 June 2022, [appellant] applied for a Dutch passport at the Dutch embassy in Rabat, Morocco. The Minister did not process the application because [appellant] was of age when she was acknowledged by her father on 20 April 2022 and therefore did not acquire Dutch nationality through the acknowledgement. The Minister did not process the application of [appellant] for a Dutch passport because she does not possess Dutch nationality, which is required pursuant to Article 9, paragraph 1, of the Passport Act. [appellant] was born during a bigamous marriage. Due to conflict with public policy (openbare orde), this bigamous marriage has no legal effects under Dutch law and thus provides no basis for the existence of family law relationships between [appellant] and her father.
Decision on rechtspraak.nlBy decision of 19 June 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not process the application for the issuance of a Dutch passport submitted by [appellant A] on behalf of [appellant B]. [appellant A] submitted an application for the issuance of a Dutch passport on behalf of [appellant B]. [appellant B] was born on [date of birth] 2000 and holds Ghanaian nationality. At the time of the application, he was sixteen years old. He has always lived with his mother in Ghana. His mother and [appellant A] have never been joined in marriage. [appellant B] was therefore born outside of marriage. The mother reported the birth of [appellant B]; she is therefore listed as the informant in the birth certificate drawn up on 10 October 2000. She had it recorded in the birth certificate that [appellant A] is the father. [appellant A] also originates from Ghana. He was first registered in the Netherlands in 1976 and acquired Dutch nationality in 1987. This ruling concerns the question of whether a legal parentage relationship was established between [appellant A] and [appellant B] through recognition and whether [appellant B] consequently acquired Dutch nationality.
Decision on rechtspraak.nlBy decision of 26 April 2021, the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated that the application of [appellant sub 1] for a Dutch passport for his son [appellant sub 2] would not be processed. [appellant sub 2] was born on [date] 2003 in [place of birth]. His mother is Indonesian and no father is mentioned in his birth certificate. [appellant sub 2] acquired Indonesian nationality at birth, as this is the nationality of his mother. [appellant sub 1] was not married (gehuwd) to the mother of [appellant sub 2]. On 14 April 2021, a Dutch passport was applied for on behalf of [appellant sub 2] at the Dutch embassy in Jakarta (Indonesia). For this application, [appellant sub 1], acting as the father, completed a ‘Parental consent for minor applicant(s)’. Along with the passport application for [appellant sub 2], he submitted a DNA report, which demonstrates that [appellant sub 1] is the biological father of [appellant sub 2] with a probability of 99.999999%. The Minister did not process the passport application of [appellant sub 2] because [appellant sub 2] is not in possession of Dutch nationality.
Decision on rechtspraak.nlBy decision of 13 April 2021, the State Secretary revoked the Dutch nationality of [appellant]. This revocation also has the consequence that [naam kind], the child of [appellant] and his former partner [ex-vriendin], did not acquire Dutch nationality at birth. The State Secretary revoked the Dutch nationality of [appellant] pursuant to Article 14, paragraph 1, of the Kingdom Act on Dutch Nationality. The State Secretary provided as the reason for this that investigation revealed that [appellant] is actually named [andere achternaam] and was born on [geboortedatum] 1985. According to the State Secretary, he would have rejected the asylum application of [appellant] had he been aware of this. Furthermore, Dutch nationality would subsequently never have been granted to [appellant]. The State Secretary based his position on photographs of an Iranian identity card. This identity card was issued in the name of [andere achternaam], born on [geboortedatum] and provided with a passport photograph of [appellant]. The name of the father is stated as ‘[voornaam vader]’, the first name that [appellant] mentioned during the first asylum interview.
Decision on rechtspraak.nl