Dual Dutch Citizenship for a US Citizen

Hello!

I'm a US citizen born and raised in San Francisco, CA. My mother was born outside of Amsterdam and immigrated to San Francisco with her parents as a child in the 1950s.

I am wondering what the possibility is for achieving dual citizenship in the Netherlands. I am going there this summer to visit family, and was hoping to do some work on this before then. My mother cannot remember if she has retained her Dutch citizenship, as she has not returned to Europe in 30+ years. Is there any reason her citizenship would not be retained?

I understand it is difficult to get Dutch citizenship and that there are a lot of people applying. I have heard totally varying and contradictory information regarding Dutch dual citizenship. Can someone give me an idea of the probability of being granted Dutch citizenship as a 26 year old US citizen born to Netherlands-born mother? I am a college graduate and would love to continue my studies or work in the Netherlands some day.

Thank you in advance for your time and advice!

Hi,

A good place to start would be the IND (Immigration and Naturalization Department): https://ind.nl/EN/individuals/dutch-citizenship
You may wish to e-mail them your question. Optionally an immigration expert/lawyer might know.

I think your mother will have lost her Dutch citizenship if she has dual nationality and never went to renew her passport. How this might affect you, I do not know. I know that the Dutch administration is working on a law that prevents naturalization from abroad though, may come into act by 2015-2016?