International

The residency requirement for foreigners who want to be considered for Dutch citizenship will remain at five years. A law proposed by outgoing Secretary of State for Security Klaas Dijkhoff which would have extended the required term to seven years was today voted down in the Senate. SP Senator Anneke Wezel explains why she is pleased by the decision. “This law would not have solved any problems. On the contrary, adding two years to the required term of residence would simply have created more problems,” she says. “It’s great that the Senate has put a stop to what was merely symbolic politics.”

The government’s reasons for wanting to lengthen the naturalisation term were purely political. “The law would contribute nothing to improving integration,” she says. “Naturalisation on the other hand does just that. Naturalisation increases people’s chances of finding a job. Luckily this proposed law has been consigned to the waste paper basket.”