Imagine that you have been a highly skilled migrant in the Netherlands for more than five years and finally the day is there you can apply for Dutch citizenship. After a few months, you receive a letter from the immigration office which it states that your application is denied because of a so-called residence gap. What happened?
A gap in your history? The decision shows that your employer unfortunately has made a mistake. Only after applying for citizenship, you were made aware that this was a fatal mistake. What to do now? Our client had already filed an objection herself and now the case had to be brought to the appeal court. At court, Julien Luscuere Advocaten made it clear that our client was never aware of the mistake and not responsible. Officially the immigration office holds her liable because it was also her responsibility to check all the forms that were sent by her employer. During the court hearing the judge was also very considerate of our client's personal circumstances.
We made clear that when our client filed an official complaint after receiving the notice of the rejection of the Dutch citizenship this also should be considered as an appeal against the residence gap. The court suspended the hearing and allowed the immigration office and our client to find a reasonable settlement. One month later the settlement was reached, and the immigration office acknowledged that our client had no longer a residence cap. For our client, this was a huge relief. It made her acquire Dutch citizenship and move on in her career, for her an important step.
.webp)
.webp)
