UK's relinquishing British citizenship in Holland

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I noticed this in BBC news today.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49695563/passports-and-nationality-the-brits-going-dutch-over-brexit

Passports and nationality: The Brits going Dutch over Brexit
Would you sacrifice your nationality to secure the rights guaranteed to EU citizens?
There's been a rapid rise in the number of British nationals living in the Netherlands applying to become Dutch since the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.
Before Brexit, barely anyone made the switch.
In most cases, Dutch law requires people taking Dutch citizenship to renounce their previous nationality.

What would happen if they wanted to return? It seems the Netherlands would not be rejecting British citizens anyway, (I checked online) when if there was a no deal Brexit. Seems a bit drastic to me.

Any thoughts? We know a family in Holland don;t think they are considering this though, as they plan to return at some point.

It's the only way to permanently and definitively secure your rights, which is why people are considering it.

I am not sure how renunciation is enforced in the Netherlands, would be interested to hear. (Do they refuse to issue citizenship papers until the applicant has formally completely the renunciation procedure? Sounds unlikely to me because the person would be temporarily stateless).

Anyone with elderly parents in the U.K. is unlikely to go this route.

I know of someone who is planning to renounce his U.K. citizenship once he gets his French passport. The French allow dual nationality, but he doesn't want to be British any more.

I have a lot of sympathy with that view - I don't feel that I get anything from my U.K. citizenship but a passport. The British government plainly doesn't give a flying flamingo about its citizens in the EU and the embassy is staffed by a bunch of useless Tim-nice-but-dims who just parrot government propaganda. As soon as I have a French passport I will lose literally nothing from renouncing my British citizenship, except the right to return to care for my mum if needed.

I would renounce my UK citizenship if it meant losing my Irish one.

The populism unleashed by Brexit is not going to go away, i fear we are going to turn increasingly less tolerant toward foreigners and each other.

The next uk govt could easily be a far right Con/BXP one, where is that going to end?

A lot of countries don't allow dual citizenship. It makes sense to me that if you chose to live in another country, you don't retain all the rights of the former country.
If they want to return, afaik they will have to apply for citizenship here.

I'm applying for French nationality. I will be able to have dual nationality. If that was to change and I had to choose, I would not really object to giving up my British nationality...my life is in France, and if my very European children and husband are not welcome in the UK post brexit I will not be rushing back either.
It's just tragic and infuriating that we ever got into this situation...

@Mistigri how it works is that within a few weeks of acquiring Dutch nationality, you are requested to show proof that you have renounced your other nationality/ies or that you are unable to do so (eg certain countries such as Morocco do not allow this).

If you are married to or in a registered partnership with a Dutch national you're exempt from this requirement.

I recently took Dutch nationality and noted that there were a few Brits there at the ceremony that day. Nobody from any other EU country.

Most people from relatively peaceful and prosperous countries are happy with indefinite leave to remain I would have thought (eg the OP's friends), but as someone who has lived here for most of her adult life and has Dutch children, it seemed sensible to secure my right to stay here permanently, as well as to vote etc. I should imagine that many of the Brits taking Dutch nationality at the moment feel the same.

The thing is, even if you renounce your citizenship, you never really lose it. UK law would always recognise you as a a British citizen, it doesn’t have to recognise or enforce the citizenship laws of the Netherlands.

Of course you can renounce British citizenship! If you actively renounce it, you can apply to get it back. But it's not a foregone conclusion.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/788225/Guide_RS1.pdf

You can renounce British citizenship - some countries don’t let you unless you’ve fulfilled certain requirement (e.g Turkey won’t let men renounce their citizenship unless they’ve completed military service, hence the Netherlands makes exceptions for them, Americans have to pay backdated income tax) but the UK isn’t one of them.

Because being a 'citizen of nowhere' isn't very nice.

I don't much like having a different nationality to my husband and children anymore. It didn't used to matter in the slightest.

I recently got Dutch citizenship, but didn't have to renounce my British citizenship as i am married to a Dutch citizen. My friend who was married to a Dutch citizen but is now divorced does have to relinquish her British citizenship, which doesn't seem very fair! She said she is letting her passport lapse and won't renew it. She can apparently take up British citizenship in the future whenever she wants, but would have to them relinquish her Dutch citizenship.

You can renounce British nationality and can get it back once, but no more.

@Mistigri, of course the staff at the Embassy will tell you what the UK government line is! They’re not going to freelance and tell you their personal views or what they think should happen. It’s also not up to the UK government what happens to their citizens living in the EU, it’s up to the government of the country they are living in. So we can ask as much as we want for reciprocal rights, but it is entirely up to the country whether they give them.

The Dutch are vicious on dual nationality. A friend of mine had hers revoked as they assumed she’d acquired US nationality as she had been living there for so long.

It’s also not up to the UK government what happens to their citizens living in the EU

Of course not (your tone is unnecessarily condescending btw) but the U.K. government influences this by their own actions. And the function of the embassy/consulate is to protect British interests, and the interests of Britons. The U.K. embassy in France has been notably less active in this regard than some other embassies. The outreach has been almost non existent and many of the British in France are quite unhappy about it.

I applied for citizenship of my adopted EU country as soon as the referendum was announced (nagged by my far more organised DH who is a citizen by birth and very stressed by uncertainty). I've lived here 12 years, it's the only home my children can remember, all their friends and support networks are here, and they were even 3 years ago well established in the school system - now my eldest has only 2 years of compulsory education to go here it'd be so disruptive to move them.

My adopted country is my children's home and is more welcoming to me than the UK is being to my EU citizen husband, so yes I'd have renounced my British citizenship if necessary - I'm frankly ashamed of Brexit and was even in 2016. More do now it's turned so nasty and farcical.

My adopted country allows duel nationality and I'm pleased to keep all options open for my children, but really my new country's citizenship is more important to me than my heritage citizenship. My native language is important to me but that can't be taken away!

Kids born in France but always had British passports and French ID cards. When I went for French nationality I had to do nationality documents for them too. We now all have both passports just in case. Renewed this summer. There was a point in the uncertainty that is Brexit where I could have potentially been separated from my kids.

Hopefully by the time the kids British passports run out again we will know where we stand. I don't particularly want to give up my British nationality but of the two it's the less useful from here on in.

You are not considered to "still" be a BC under British law if you have renounced. And the consulates and relevant government departments will only ever give you the factual law information about nationality- which is that the UK recognises dual nationality, contact other country's relevant departments to see what their laws are.
Torches- letting a passport lapse doesn't mean you have renounced your citizenship- you can be a citizen and not have one. Passports are simply a commodity you can buy as a citizen. Renunciation is a specific legal action.
Regarding "statelessness," it's very difficult to prove and there are very few people in the world who actually are certified as such .

I'm wondering about the utility of renewing the kids' British passports (they are dual nationals).

Does it get significantly harder to renew a U.K. passport if it's been a few years since you had one?

Oh yes and even though my citizenship went through at the end of 2016 there were 3 other British people at the language skills test - we live in a rural country and I rarely meet another British person living in our council area! All of them had lived here a very long time, have professional jobs and families here and were being pragmatic.

The impression I was given by every official along the citizenship application process journey was that my adopted country is rubbing its hands together in glee, because the new citizens they're gaining from the UK are almost all graduates working and paying tax here and their future tax paying children... Several officials said to me "Britain's loss, our gain".

Rather a different attitude to the grudging, arrogant one the UK administration is displaying towards EU citizens living in the UK - who they desperately need to keep in most cases.

Mistigri no you can renew an expired passport easily, it's only if you've lost the expired passport it's more faff

I found the main attitude of officials in my EU country (Netherlands) towards me to be that of pity. Rather like the attitude I imagine they would have towards refugees from war torn countries. I was rather shocked at first, being 'British' and all, but I suppose they are right.

My reasons for obtaining my county's citizenship is same as posters above - my kids life is here and I don't want the risk, however tiny, of being separated from them.

Also echo other posters that I get the overwhelming feeling that I am no more than collateral damage to the UK government, and they don't care about me at all. The Dutch, however, could not have been more caring and proactive in reaching out with reassurances.

It's the same in Spain OP. But in practice they don't seem to ask for proof that you've renounced your nationality. They have dual nationality with some Latin American countries but not with other EU states.
I know a few people applying for Spanish citizenship, and I'm strongly considering doing it myself (I obviously live in Spain). I've lived here for many years, and hope to for considerably more. I want to continue to enjoy the rights I currently have as an EU citizen.

I'm sure the rule is you can't be dual nationality if both country is a monarchy. Which means Spain, Netherlands etc you have to pick. I know Spanish people here in the uk that hadn't wanted to give up their nationality therefore have been unable to vote for the entire 30 years they've lived here. I assume people in Netherlands will be choosing to become nationals of that country for similar reasons. Thankfully DC are nationals of a republic so can have both.

It's nothing to do with monarchies, it's simply each country deciding its own legislation.
It's often to do with inheritance and property- people not being allowed to inherit unless they renounce a second c/ship in order to keep the property (= the money) in the hands effectively, of the country in which it's located.

I'm Spanish and I recently acquired British citizenship. I didn't have to give up my Spanish one at all. I simply filled in a form at the consulate stating that I intended to keep both. This was then approved and added as an addendum to my official birth certificate.

So for the ones saying Spain doesn't allow this, please ask again. The law must have been changed.

Yes the Netherlands is one of the few which do not allow duel nationality, there are others Austria I believe.