Sint Maarten

Dual Citizenship Sint Maarten

Restricted

Sint Maarten is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The (natural) citizens of Sint Maarten are Dutch, like the rest of the Kingdom.

There are three main routes by which Dutch nationality may be acquired. The first is through descent, a person born on or after 1^st January 1985 to a Dutch father or mother is automatically a Dutch national at birth. A child born to an unmarried Dutch father and a non-Dutch mother must be acknowledged by the Dutch father before birth for the child to receive Dutch nationality at birth.

Individuals may opt also for the option procedure which is a simplified version of naturalisation to Dutch citizenship. This is open to persons with a valid Dutch residency permit (for the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or the BES islands) and who fall within one of the categories listed in (Art. 6 of) the Kingdom Act on Dutch Citizenship.

Otherwise, a person can apply for Dutch citizenship by naturalisation if he/she is at least 18 years old, has valid permanent residency in the Kingdom, has been validly residing in the Kingdom for at least 5 years (although this may be reduced to 3 years for exceptions), has sufficiently integrated into Dutch society and speaks Dutch, has no criminal record, and has taken oath swearing adherence to the values of the Kingdom.

The general rule is that dual (or multiple) citizenship is not allowed. Only in a very limited number of situations is a person allowed to have another nationality as well as Dutch nationality. These circumstances include receiving dual citizenship at birth as per the citizenship laws of the non-Dutch parent’s nationality; acquiring Dutch citizenship through the option procedure; being exempted from having to renounce prior citizenship when obtaining Dutch citizenship through naturalisation; and being exempted from the loss of nationality rule as a Dutch citizen naturalising in another country.