karlaowl

My Dutch husband just became an American citizen in September and has now completed the paperwork to become a dual citizen. It was a bit complicated, and the nice lady at the embassy said people rarely have all their paperwork in order, so I wanted to post this to help others since visa journey has be so EXTREMELY helpful for us throughout the immigration process. After my husband got his naturalization certificate we got information from this website: http://www.rsonac.org/dutch-nationality/dual-nationality/dual-nationality.html Since his dual citizenship was based on our marriage, we needed: 1. legalized copy of my U.S. birth certificate and a copy of it (they keep the copy) 2. legalized copy of our marriage license and a copy of it (they keep the copy) 3. legalized copy of his naturalization certificate and a copy of it (they keep the copy) 4. Proof of residency (electric bill) and a copy for them to keep 5. My passport and all of his passports, and photocopies of the page with your info on it (they keep the copies) 6. Affidavit of marital status http://www.rsonac.org/appendices/affidavit-marital-status.html (signed by me and notarized) 7. Dutch passport application http://www.rsonac.org/appendices/passport-forms.html(don't sign it until you get to your appt and they tell you to) 8. The processing fee ($166.50 US when we did it in Dec. 2014) 9. Postage paid return envelope (we used a Priority Mail envelope), with your address in the "from" and "to" sections The legalized copies were the big pain in the butt. I had to get new copies of my birth certificate and our marriage license from my county office (we live in MN.) Then those copies need to go to the Secretary of State's office for an apostille. You can mail them or bring them in person. MN has a quick turn around on them...about 48 hours, or right while you wait if you go in person. It was only $5 per item to do. Here's the info for getting apostilles from any state: http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=authorities.details&aid=353. The state cannot legalize a federal document, so you're not done with the USCIS yet! We had to make an appointment and go in person to our closest USCIS office to get a "certified true copy" of the certificate. You have to make an appointment online with infopass, bring a copy and the original certificate, and in a few minutes they have done their magic and you go home with it. Then to get the apostille you need to mail the certified true copy (not the original) to the Office of Authentications in Washington D.C. The directions are online here: http://www.rsonac.org/other-services/legalization/legalizing-documents/legalizing-naturalization-certificates. Once you have all of your forms and documents lined up, then you make an appointment to go to your closest Dutch consulate general online. https://www.visaservices.firm.in/Netherlands-US-Appointment/AppScheduling/AppWelcome.aspx?P=cCiy6xeqlBWf0MSvlUERSCDhdFkas/mFaceUVLcp3A4= You will need to bring a new passport photo, taken to the Dutch passport specifications (different than U.S. passport photos.) There are just a few places listed: http://www.rsonac.org/passports/related-topics/photographers.html The one we went to in Chicago was about a 20 minute walk from the Consulate General. The appointments are 20 minutes, and it took that long to do it all. The lady at the Consulate in Chicago was very nice, and was very impressed that we had all of our documents in order. She mentioned something about getting some declaration in The Netherlands next time we're over there so they can never take the dual citizenship away. I'll find out more about that later. Hopefully after I've written this up even more people will come with their documents all in order! I hope this helps people to navigate through the dual citizenship for the Netherlands/USA! Karla and Hein Bloem Houston, MN