THE HAGUE – Changes to the guidelines governing applications under the Kingdom Act on Dutch Nationality in Curaçao and Sint Maarten will take effect on November 1, including new rules concerning applicants who claim they cannot obtain legalized documents from their country of origin.
The decision was issued by the Dutch Minister of Asylum and Migration on August 5 and applies specifically to the manual used in Curaçao and Sint Maarten for implementation of the Kingdom Act on Dutch Nationality.
One of the principal changes concerns “bewijsnood,” or evidentiary hardship: situations in which a person applying for Dutch nationality cannot obtain required legalized foreign documents.
Applicants can be exempted from providing such documents when it is genuinely impossible to obtain them. This can occur, for example, when civil registries in the country of origin do not exist, are incomplete or documents cannot be obtained because of the political situation.
However, authorities will generally not assume that obtaining documents is impossible when an applicant has subsequently received an identity document in person from authorities in the country of origin, has voluntarily traveled back to that country, or has participated in a legal act involving authorities of that country.
Exceptions can still be made depending on individual circumstances.
The updated rules also explain that alternative documents can help support a claim of evidentiary hardship. A school diploma or baptism certificate containing corresponding personal information, for example, could make it easier for authorities to accept that the applicant genuinely cannot obtain a birth certificate.
A significant change specifically affects Syrian nationals.
The previous general exemption for Syrians from submitting certain documents because of evidentiary hardship is being removed. According to the explanation accompanying the decision, a March 2026 report by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded that it is generally possible again for Syrian nationals to obtain documents from Syrian authorities.
The amendment also updates several administrative forms, changes references to the responsible Minister of Asylum and Migration and corrects an outdated postal address for the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service.
The changes take effect on November 1, 2026, and will also be published in the official gazettes of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.