A majority of the Dutch Parliament voted on Tuesday 9 February in favour of the motion to exempt RANOV permit holders from the requirement to provide a passport and a birth certificate when filing a naturalization application.

The Parliament hereby calls on the government to change the current policy. Under the current policy, this group of permit holders must demonstrate that it is impossible for them to obtain a passport and/or a birth certificate. The IND rarely concludes that this is the case.

This motion unfortunately does not mean that RANOV permit holders can now naturalize immediately. The government will first need to change the policy. State Secretary Broekers-Knol answered Parliamentary questions on February 3 about ‘the bureaucracy with which RANOV permit holders are obstructed in obtaining Dutch citizenship’. In her answers, the State Secretary stands by the current policy. She did, however, decide to request that the Scientific Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) investigate once again to what extent the current policy or its implementation is too strict in terms of what is asked of RANOV permit holders.

Although the support for the motion in the Dutch Parliament is good news, it unfortunately does not mean that the problems of RANOv permit holders will soon be solved. Everaert Immigration Lawyers will continue the project ‘naturalization without papers’ in order to urge the Dutch authorities to adjust the current policy as soon as possible. You can find more information about our project here.