THE HAGUE--The conservative VVD party wants to double the current naturalization period for immigrants. That means that an immigrant would have to live in the Netherlands for ten years, instead of the current five, before being granted a Dutch passport, VVD parliamentarian Malik Azmani said in an interview with Dutch newspaper Trouw on Thursday.
According to Azmani, Dutch nationality should be seen as a “prize” newcomers to the country should work towards. “The passport should not be a self-evident right. You have to want to be one of us,” he said in the newspaper. “You have to grow into society. Fight your way in. Only then will you start building up rights. You must show whether you have something to offer, rather than immediately hold up your hand.”
The VVD parliamentarian wants to prevent people, who cannot speak the Dutch language, do not know Dutch norms and values, or reject them, from obtaining a Dutch passport.
The Dutch Parliament’s First Chamber will soon be considering a legislative proposal to increase the naturalization period from five to seven years. Azmani calls this a step in the right direction, but added this is not going far enough.
Recently the Board for the Protection of Human Rights ruled that the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers COA discriminated against a 23-year-old Muslim woman from Arnhem by rejecting her job applications because she did not want to shake hands during her job interview.
COA turned her job application down because her refusal to shake hands does not fit in with the manner and neutral appearance expected of a COA employee. The Board, however, ruled that this was discrimination as she was rejected because of her faith.
This ruling is “ridiculous,” Azmani said in Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. “On what planet do these people live?” he said. “I do not think this is consistent with what we find normal in the Netherlands.”
He added that this is a “totally wrong signal” to give to people coming to the Netherlands. “Especially at the COA we have to make clear how we treat people in this country.”
