On Tuesday, the Dutch statistics agency CBS announced that 15,000 Syrians present in the Netherlands have acquired Dutch citizenship over the past year.
The number of Syrians in the Netherlands has reached nearly 100,000. More than a third of them have now acquired Dutch citizenship, the agency said.
The agency added that 49,000 foreign nationals underwent naturalization to become Dutch citizens last year, in addition to 7,000 others who obtained citizenship through the selection or adoption system.
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The agency confirmed that many of them were former refugees who came to the Netherlands in 2014 and 2015 and are now eligible to apply for Dutch citizenship.
According to the agency, the total number of naturalized citizens last year was nearly double that of 2019.
According to Dutch law, a person must renounce his or her original nationality in order to become a naturalized citizen of the Netherlands.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
