Hello.
Can you please help me with a question related to nationality of new born child.
Recently I got my Dutch citizenship. Earlier I was an Indian. My wife is an Indian citizen. Right now we both are living together in Netherlands. My wife has a long term Residence Card. In 2013 we are expecting a baby. Birth of child will take place in India.
I would like to know -
Question A. What will be nationality of new born child ?
I can think of two possibilities : Case1. Indian Nationality, Case 2. Dutch Nationality
Case 1: New born child opt for Indian Nationality.
Question 1.1 In this case what do I have to do to bring our child to Netherlands?
Question 1.2 If child opt for Indian nationality at time of birth, can he/she opt for Dutch nationality in future?
Case 2: New born child opt for Dutch Nationality
Question 2.1 In this case what do I have to do to bring our child to Netherlands?
Question 2.2 If child opt for Dutch nationality at time of birth, can he /she opt for Indian nationality in future?
Thanks.
cool_john said:
Hello.
Can you please help me with a question related to nationality of new born child.
Recently I got my Dutch citizenship. Earlier I was an Indian. My wife is an Indian citizen. Right now we both are living together in Netherlands. My wife has a long term Residence Card. In 2013 we are expecting a baby. Birth of child will take place in India.
I would like to know -
Question A. What will be nationality of new born child ?
I can think of two possibilities : Case1. Indian Nationality, Case 2. Dutch Nationality
I can only answer your question as to Dutch nationality. Answer: your child, as a child born anywhere in the world to a Dutch father who is married to the mother, is a Dutch national from birth, automatically, regardless of any other nationality that he might have also acquired at birth. He does not have to 'opt' for Dutch nationality. You merely have to deal with the practicality of getting him his first Dutch passport. For this you take him to a Dutch embassy or consulate in India with his legalized or apostilled Indian birth certificate, along with proof that you are married to your wife (if you have already registered your marriage in the Netherlands, then an uittreksel from your local city hall in the Netherlands showing that will be sufficient proof of that, no further legalization necessary).
(For anyone who is wondering why the fact of being married to the mother is relevant: it has to do with the vagaries of Dutch family law defining the concept of legal paternity. A man married to the mother of a child is automatically the legal father, thus he passes his nationality on to the child. If the father is not married to the mother, on the other hand, then he has to make sure that already carried out the legal act of acknowledging paternity of the child [which can be done at your local Dutch city hall] before the child was born, if the child's acquisition of Dutch nationality is to be automatic.)
Jeremy Bierbach, LLM
www.immigrate.nl
Thanks Avocado.
Mean while I had contacted Dutch Embassy in India and procedure is quite time consuming. Hence we have decided to stay in Netherlands.
Thanks again for your reply.
