[cr1895]

You can get permanent residence after 5 years in the Netherlands too, and the language level required is pretty basic. It's not very hard to pass the required language tests within 5+ years.

The limit to one nationality is maddening, however.

[dhruvarora013]

I just moved to the Netherlands after four years of university in the US and a few years of unsuccessful H1B applications. It's fantastic and a lot less stressful than the US!

Why do you dislike the one nationality limit?

[cr1895]

>Why do you dislike the one nationality limit?

Because it is deeply arbitrary. Plenty of people can have dual nationalities in the Netherlands, just not me. Even the Dutch Queen has two nationalities. If I married a Dutch person I could become Dutch and have two nationalities, no problem. Hopefully the law will be changed...there has been talk of it.

I'm already eligible to apply for Dutch citizenship...I'm a well-integrated contributing member of society who would love to spend the rest of my life in the Netherlands. I tick all the boxes. I want to be able to vote and have representation (I'm a taxpayer as anyone else, after all). I want to spend the rest of my life here. But it's not limited to the Netherlands...I dearly want to become European. Dutch citizenship would give me the right to live and work anywhere in the EU (and plenty of other EU countries have no issues with people having two nationalities).

I can't give up my US citizenship because of family and other ties. If I needed to return to the US for an extended time (e.g. more than a couple months) to, for example, take care of my aging parents, I would lose everything I've worked towards in the Netherlands. The residence clock would reset and I'd have to find a new highly-skilled job and start all over. Same if I ever wanted to take a (temporary) job in another country. And if you renounce US citizenship, it's hard to ever visit the US again.