Stateless persons in the Netherlands will be able to have their status settled via the court, by the authorities or by the local council starting in October.
This procedure, the first of its kind in the Netherlands, will enable the IND to help facilitate the recognition of stateless persons and identification and reduction of statelessness, which represents people that do not belong to any country.
This indicates that a stateless person who stays in the Netherlands without being evident at responsible authorities will be able to apply to the IND for an identification document, which enables them to demonstrate their stateless status.
Stateless children and young adults who were born in the Netherlands and do not have a right of residence can obtain Dutch nationality by making an option statement.
In addition, stateless persons who are legally living in the Netherlands can be registered as stateless in the Personal Records Database (BRP) and apply for travel documents as non-Dutch nationals. They will also be able to acquire Dutch citizenship by way of naturalisation for three years instead of five.
Statelessness can be established by the local council or the IND, but in some cases, this status is obvious, as the IND explains in a press release. When a different country has established stateless, that person is ‘obviously stateless’, and so are children of two stateless parents, born in the Netherlands or if someone has the nationality of a state that the Netherlands does not recognise.
Without BRP registration and in case of no legal residence, they can apply to the IND for an identification document. Then, the IND uses the biometric data from a previous residence process or takes them to the desk. If a stateless person is undergoing a residence process, that person’s status is established on a residence permit, if any, to be granted.
During the residence process, the applicant can state their statelessness and have their process paused until their statelessness has been established. It will be stated on the residence document if this applicant is stateless. Applicants will have to be eligible for a residence permit in order to obtain one from the Dutch authorities.
There are about 5,000 people registered as stateless in the Personal Records Database (BRP), while another 26,000 are registered with an unknown nationality. Some of these individuals can be stateless but also might have a nationality but cannot or are unwilling to prove and make their nationality known.
