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Verification against EU law - Dutch nationals

Last activity 19 April 2021 by Eli115

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Eli115

Hi all,

My partner(Dutch) and I (non-EU) are living together in Germany. He's a cross-boarder worker in the Netherlands. We're in a civil partnership.

We plan to move to the Netherlands together. After a short talk with the IND, we just found that we also have an option to apply for verification against EU law, rather than the long process of family visa, since my partner has already exercised his free movement right.

After reviewing more info on the IND website, an example given for Dutch nationals to fall under EU law is when a Dutch national lived together with a non-EU, who has a residence doc as an EU family member. But in my case, since our registered partnership isn't recognized here, I don't have that. Though I guess we can prove that we have a family life here together.

Is there anyone who has any experience or has heard anything about a Dutch national who has returned to Holland with a non-EU partner through this process?

Also, if this works, during the waiting period to get the resident permit, can I know for sure if I am allowed to work? It seems some people can and some can't.

I think that basically if I haven't received the Dutch resident permit, does that mean my German resident permit is still valid? So I can keep my address in Germany and only move there when my Dutch resident permit is ready. But it sounds more reasonable that in order to apply for the resident permit/tax no. in Holland, I need to register there first. I think I will also need a deregistration doc from Germany too.

I've tried to call the IND, but now the line is always BUSYY, and no email response.

Thank you!

Cynic

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

"Residence" is determined, I guess unsurprisingly, by where you are resident; there is nothing forcing you to move to the Netherlands unless you chose to do so; you can't have "residence" in both Germany and the Netherlands at the same time.

You enjoy the same rights in the EU as your Partner, so your application to the IND should be a matter of process; it will just take some time.  I assume that your "residence" in Germany predates your relationship and explains why you don't have the "verification against EU law" type of German residence permit, but that shouldn't matter, you can't be the 1st person in this situation.

As for work.  Ordinarily, you'll struggle to find work without having registered with the Gemeente and received your BSN/DigiD and so been able to open a bank account, pay your taxes etc, but we're hopefully talking weeks, not months.

The elephant in the room is of course Covid and whether the person you need to speak to is at work.  Many Dutch civil servants are working from home and the IND is affected by that (probably explains the lack of someone to pick up a phone on occasions); all you can do is keep trying.

In the meantime, find all the information you will need to prove yours is a meaningful relationship and practice your Dutch.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Eli115

Hi Cynic,

Thank you. This's definitely useful!
I finally managed to talk to an IND agent and felt more confident that there shouldn't be any problem if we decide to apply for this process, though I still have some 5% doubt. But as you say that I can't be the first person in this situation, now I think yes, that's true :)

Prior to this, we had no idea about verification against the EU law for Dutch nationals. Feel kinda stupid that we didn't search for more info, also about the EU family visa. We should've known that we have more options years ago.

Thank you so much again.
Eli

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