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Suppose I studied for 5 years in the Netherlands (e.g. a 3-year Bachelor's and 2-year Masters). Suppose immediately after graduation I am eligible for the "highly skilled migrant" residence permit and obtain it. After 1-day of having that highly skilled migrant residence permit, and assuming I have a civil integration diploma and no criminal record, am I eligible for Dutch citizenship?

From my understanding of the law as stated on the ind.nl website, I would be. It says on there that all I need is 5 years of continuous living in the Netherlands on a valid residence permit (i.e. the 5 years spent on the study based residence permits) and be holding a residence permit for a non-temporary purpose (i.e. the highly skilled migrant residence permit) specifically at the time of the citizenship application. Am I reading this wrong?

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  • It looks to me like you're reading it correctly, but I haven't checked the actual legislation to confirm. – phoog Jan 3 at 18:05
  • To me, it' even more confusing becuase the requirements for a permanent residency vs citizenship seem to be exactly the same (except for some stuff about financial penalities and of course the fact that you must renounce your other citizenship, but still) - so I am wondering if maybe this is a sort of trap and you actually need 10 years to naturalise if you start with a temporary purpose of stay like "study". In addition, there is also some confusion around the European Blue Card, that counts as non-temp, and you can get it "relatively" easily after tertiary education, so maybe it can count? – eshansingh1 Jan 6 at 15:01
  • @eshansingh1 citizenship requires naturalization (and an integration exam if I recall correctly), while a right to permanent residence arises automatically. – phoog Jan 7 at 0:03
  • @phoog Being a permanent resident also required integrating. Not sure what the current status is. – Eric Jan 14 at 18:28
  • @Eric under the long-term residence directive, eligibility for permanent residence arises automatically after five years. Getting the initial residence permit may require integration tests, but no additional tests may be required for someone applying for long-term residence status. If there were no integration tests for the initial permit (as with some work permits) then there are none for the long-term status. – phoog Jan 14 at 18:42

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