Hello, my husband is Dutch and we live in Texas. We have a very good life here. He’s planning on becoming a US citizen once he’s eligible but I’m not sure if we can keep both passports. If not, he said he was going to give up his Dutch citizenship. I was just wondering if there’s any benefits in keeping it (as we have no intention in ever living in Europe and he no longer has family there).
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You’re allowed to keep it.
There’s a specific Dutch exception. However having both can be considered dual responsibilities also.
I don’t believe the responsibilities are that different which is why there is an agreement concerning passports for Dutch people.
I don’t quite know which agreement it is, but he won’t need to surrender his Dutch paspoort.
The Netherlands does not recognize dual nationalities.
He might be required to show it if you pay separately at a restaurant.
I’d keep it. Like others have said, it just affords you additional options. Whether you use them or not. Don’t limit yourself.
What’s the downside of keeping it? An EU-passport is quite useful, I don’t see why you would voluntarily get rid of it?
Personally, I would keep it, if he is eligible (not sure with the Netherlands). Never is a long time and it may also help any kids you have in the future should they want to work/study/live in the EU.
I think Netherlands recently changed the rules and you can keep dual-citizenship now. Probably easy to look up.
If you’re married he can keep the passport and your kids can have Dutch citizenship too in addition to US citizenship if you have any/plan on having any in the future.
Definitely keep it. You can have minimum 2. U.s. and eu passport would be golden. I would give more thought to the u.s. one. Having to file and pay u.s. taxes no matter where you are is a pain, but the passport is nice to have.
If you no longer have a connection with the Netherlands, seems pointless. I know a lot of mixed Dutch from Indonesia repatriated to the Netherlands in the 60s and later moved to US and they dropped their Dutch citizenship and had no intentions to move to the Netherlands at all
The Dutch passport gives you rights in the entire European Union.
Dutch law doesn’t allow dual citizenship (except in some specific circumstances), so taking another citizenship nearly always means automatically losing the Dutch one.
If you have a green card, I don’t see the benefit in applying for US citizenship, unless you want to vote in US elections, or you want to commit serious felonies and not get deported. I don’t see the appeal in either.
He is allowed to keep it if you are a US citizen, so he is taking the citizenship of his partner (rule 3). However, due to living outside the EU he has to request a new Dutch passport at least once every 13 years (so within 3 years after the old one expired, as passports are valid for 10 years.)
Unless you are 70+ years old never say never. At that point one is fairly settled with retirement (no job strings limiting choices).
I am in my 50s and living in an area I said I would never live. After living in another area as an expat I said I would never live. And those two places are polar opposites quite literally opposite sides of the world.
That is because I no longer have a desire for “home” due to extreme COL and value.
It could be as simple as retiring and realizing you want to move somewhere and it is easier with one passport over the other. The US Passport is not always the one with the most/best access.
I was just in the UK watching a house hunting show. Retirees were moving to the Spanish countryside for very nice villas in the $100K to $200K price range. It is making me rethink exploring other locations for retirement.
house hunting show
I would love to know what house-hunting show you’re referring to. I am familiar with ‘Escape to the Country’ and they had just one season I think where they did European escapes, and it has always been my favorite season.
Was it Escape to the Country?
Better have it and not need it than vice versa ? Plans are nice to have but (not sure how old you are) if “retiring to Asia or LATAM” is 20+ years away there is a chance you might change your mind, or circumstances might change (politically, environmentally or economically) and push you to reconsider.
NL makes you give up foreign passports upon becoming a citizen, but if you already have one you can get away with adding a US passport and simply not using it in NL. There are plenty of benefits to an EU passport and tbh as someone with both I find the EU much more valuable. Primary one being the ability to move freely, study, and work anywhere in the Union. If you ever plan on adopting it opens the door to easily studying abroad should they inherit EU citizenship (and EU universities are free vs the tens of thousands a single year costs in the US).