Foreign residents: get organised, starting with dual nationality

Eelco Keij founded the Foundation for Dutch Nationals Abroad (SNBN), which lobbies for Dutch people living overseas. A bill due before parliament in December would allow dual nationality both for them and for foreign residents who naturalise here – but the coalition agreement only backs the first part. Keij says the international community needs to organise and lobby for itself, or risk being left behind.

Foreign residents in the Netherlands need lasting political influence, and could learn from another group that once had no voice in Dutch politics: Dutch citizens abroad.

In 2011, when I became a US citizen alongside my native Dutch citizenship, I realised that most Dutch people abroad could not have dual citizenship. As my case fell under one of the exceptions, I actually could be both. I felt lucky for myself, and pity for others. This is where my second realisation came in, possibly spurred by having worked for years in lobbying, advocacy and the Dutch parliament: no one in the Dutch political system would ever stand up for people like me, living abroad.

First, I set up a debate on dual nationality, from New York, and soon after, a petition among the Dutch abroad, reaching both astonishing numbers of citizens and articles in the Dutch national press. Aiming for a longer-term strategy, I studied how other European countries treated their citizens abroad. It turned out that in some countries the diaspora had organized itself in interest organisations, like the French, Danish and Swiss abroad.

Through this research, it became clear to me that the Dutch living abroad also needed a formal vehicle to be heard in Dutch politics. Together with other concerned Dutch citizens living abroad I founded the Foundation for the Dutch Abroad (SNBN), in 2019. The SNBN is a volunteer advocacy and lobby organization – strategic by design, focused on results.

Gaining recognition 
Aware that the Dutch political scene is fragmented, coalition-based, and unpredictable, our board is mostly formed of Dutch citizens abroad who are members of different political parties. That way, while remaining non-partisan as an organisation, board members have many formal and informal contacts with different political parties. As a consequence, Dutch politicians started hearing us, and seeing us.

Our efforts contributed to the 2022 constitutional change enabling Dutch citizens abroad to participate in elections for the Dutch Senate through an electoral college. Moreover, we saw how our outreach on various occasions led to mitigation of legislation and a willingness among Dutch politicians to engage with us, having discovered a new electorate.

Currently, we are fully focused on the advancement of a bill that was introduced almost ten years ago, which lies at the very heart of our foundation: allowing Dutch citizens abroad to have dual citizenship.

But the dual citizenship bill also covers foreigners in the Netherlands. If passed in full, it would also scrap the requirement forcing them to give up their original nationality.

Spoiler: that is not going to happen. The SNBN found there is currently no political majority to support foreigners in the Netherlands in their quest for dual citizenship. Their interests are beyond our mandate. But the political end result may be favoring the Dutch abroad, without equivalent progress for foreigners residing in the Netherlands – an aspect that could be dropped from the bill.

Time to start lobbying 
To our surprise, we have not seen a visible, coordinated lobby on behalf of foreign residents in the Netherlands in the debate on dual citizenship. The bill also covers them, yet they have been largely absent from the debate. So what to do now?

Unlike in countries such as Germany, Luxembourg and Ireland, where migrant-representing organizations already exist, we have not encountered a comparable, visible lobby in this debate on behalf of foreign residents in the Netherlands.

Perhaps with a suggested blueprint of the SNBN at hand, it may well be up to someone, a foreigner residing in the Netherlands, or a group of them, to step up and say: “Let’s start working on that.” Surely there are many issues this interest organisation could work on, including citizenship and naturalisation, family reunification, political participation and voting rights. Above all, it would give foreign residents visibility with Dutch politicians.

As SNBN we can attest to one thing: an important part of lasting political influence is to embed different political streams within the organization’s structure, whether it’s volunteer staff, board members or advisory board members. With that, and the right commitment, there is a real opportunity to build lasting political influence.

Readers: your turn.