The lower house of parliament has voted down a motion calling on Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner to amend a nationality bill in order to allow Dutch expats to keep their nationality in special cases.

Minister Donner’s plan, which bans holding two nationalities, is being scrutinised by the Council of State at the moment and is not scheduled to come before the house until later.

The motion, proposed by Labour Party MP Martijn van Dam, called for an exception to be made for Dutch nationals who marry foreigners and other special cases.

Mr Donner’s bill has caused a bit of an uproar within the ex-pat community and almost 17,000 people signed an online petition calling on the minister to maintain the exceptions clause.
 

(jric)

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