Kenyan and Netherlands passports.
When the passport officer at the City hall where you reside asks for your resident permit and with one of the warmest ear-to-ear grins you’ve ever seen, hands over your brand new dutch passport as if to say, “There child, you are now one of us..,” you know in your heart of hearts that there’s a shift, the earth has moved a little in your favor and you feel something akin to light tremors rippling through a region.
Maybe that’s because a huge weight has rolled off your back. Suddenly everything seems brighter. Your vision is clearer..the grass seems greener, the air smells fresher, the skies are blue-er and your body weight seems lighter. You have a spring in your step and a new found confidence that things are getting better.
Things indeed should get better. You’ve won a document, you’ve been granted citizenship..after years of scraping by, begging and cajoling the immigration department to ‘pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top’ let you stay. When they said jump, you asked how high; you spent years studying, took the inburgering exams, watched kiddie shows in the language, hired immigration lawyers to strengthen your argument for residence when they wanted you to leave, you attended court sessions and actually debated with them..in crisp dutch!
You know you are fully integrated when on King’s Day you go all orange and paint the dutch flag on your head.
A dutch snack of bitterballen with ketchup and mustard dipping at the Euromast, Rotterdam.
When they asked for documents; for proof of this, that and the other..you went to your basement, dug out and dusted old files, you made many trips to the internet bureau to fax, to copy, to print and probably to google translate because though you’ve passed all your dutch exams with flying colors…writing in the language is still a bit of a challenge.
It’s just a small red booklet..but the Netherlands passport carries weight.
It may not mean that you have a big slice of the pie that is the Kingdom of the Netherlands, or that you can pick out any piece of land and claim ownership..nah ah..you still have to roll up your sleeves and work as hard as you did before or even harder now, because having dutch nationality means that you have the opportunity to do so. It grants you the ability to study in any European university at an incredibly low annual fee rate. It grants you the permission to live and work anywhere within the European Union without the strain of applying for a work permit.
Dutch youth all spruced up for carnival in Eindhoven.
Having nationality means you have the chance to partake in the decision making of the land, you can vote and choose leaders in this part of the world where things actually work. It means that if you are in trouble abroad, you can actually be spoken for by your adoptee government.
Having nationality means that you can hop onto a plane to the U.S or Canada, to U.K or Australia, to Japan or the United Arab Emirates, or to some 143 countries and breeze through immigration like a westerner because by virtue of the red booklet you are indeed a westerner albeit a chocolate-colored one, it means that if you have the wherewithal you can actually stay there comfortably for three months without being branded an ‘alien’ ..it means you can take trains within Europe at will without being stopped and interrogated at borders, in a fashion that implies you are trespassing.
Amsterdam city boat tour
Having nationality means that you will avoid lining up for visas, you will avoid the harsh glares of immigration officers behind glass walls who bark out orders for you to show proof of income, of residence, of ownership, of employment, of study, of sponsorship, of family, of friendship, of business, of connections, of assets..things that essentially say you are not headed to first world countries to set up camp, but rather you have enough wealth and ties to draw you back home.
So ridiculous are the questions that they fall short of asking for your grandfather’s identity card, your niece’s enrollment certificate, proof you went to nursery, an original of your child’s birth certificate and the names of your ‘yet-to-be-born-sometime-in-the-future’ grandchildren. For anyone who has traveled on an African passport, they would know what I am talking about.
Being a European citizen gives you the steam and ability to go further, faster. For the travel blogger, dual nationality is a sweet dream that awakens you to African countries sans visa applications on one hand, and access to western countries on the other.
Categories: Netherlands
Travelogues of an African Girl 
Congrats!
This is quite an accomplishment…
Migration is quite the task, many don’t really understand it though…
Upwards and onwards.
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Thanks Kerwin..a whole new world indeed, incredible openings through getting this document. It hasn’t been easy but finally it’s here.
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Gal just came across your page and i know it’s never too late to send my congrats with your new dutch passport. Your tale is the same as mine. I went through hell to get my first visa to come to the nederlands. Its not easy.
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Thank you Fay! Its never too late…:-)
I’m glad all the waiting is a thing of the past..and I hope for you as well! 🙂
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Het beste! I can see your point of how a whole new perspective opens in that case, and you sure did work hard for it- Dutch language!
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The dutch language was and still is a challenge..happily, my child is better than I am and corrects my speech alot. Yes, a whole new perspective opens up.
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Congratulations Carole…enjoy your new found freedom courtesy of the ‘red book” 🙂
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Thank you!
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I know exactly what you mean by the seemingly unlimited access to the world with dual citizenship! I remember my first travel to Europe using my US passport and how different it was from when I traveled on my Ugandan passport. Congratulations and keep the wind going beneath your wings; I enjoy reading and following you around 🙂
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Thank you for taking time to comment, and for the follow! Yes indeed, a different welcome and more positive reception when one has a ‘weighty’ western document.
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Congratulations Caroline
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Thank you!
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Eeh Carole l hear you… congratulations. We will continue to battle with ours in the hope that one day we will be seen in a better light. I can onky imagine the relief
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It will come Nkiiza..I can’t tell you the number of times I came close to giving up..it feels like a prize actually.
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Congratulations! Totally understand your choice, especially when you are allowed to have dual nationality 🙂
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Thank you Indah!
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Congratulations!!
http://www.lusekacafe.com
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Thank you Luseka!
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Many congratulations giiiiirlfriend! 🙂 🙂 Even though I’ve never had this issue having been born with the world’s number one nationality – British – I can understand how delighted you must be. Well done!
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Thanks British Berliner! So glad to have it.
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p.s. I love that funky look you’ve got going on there with the Dutch flag on your scalp. You so deserve that passport LOL! 🙂 🙂
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haha..one of my crazy moves huh? Paint the flag on my head to celebrate a dutch holiday..I got some stares on the streets though, many smiles as people were happy I would go to that extent..
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Inspired!
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Hi Carol – Congrats new Dutchy and don’t be stingy – Have fun!, By the way, I enjoyed reading your ‘Facing East’ articles 🙂
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Thank you Ki! If all goes well, will be headed east this December!!
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Great blog here and … you are an amazing good example of willingness to integrate. So happy to see. Thanks and … party on, girl!
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Thank you for your comment Paul! Feels great..
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Hey Carol!
Congratulations 🙂 Very happy for you…I love travelling as well.
My name is Christina (Chrys) from Kenya and will be coming to the Netherlands to undertake a Masters degree..its only one year, but Ive read a lot about the Netherlands (good and bad) and really feel like that it will be an experience I’ll want to prolong. 😀
Keep blogging…huge fan!!
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Hi Chrys,
Welcome to the Netherlands fellow Kenyan! I assume you’ll join this September? Which town will you be based at? You’ll have a wonderful experience for sure..you’ll meet many other curious Internàtional students who will want to travel around Europe during school breaks (inter-European travel is quite cheap!)..Asante for the shout out!
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After years of waiting and hoping i was suprised cos the feeling i got on that day was unexpected i felt like a traitor and deep saddness other than that is the same old ,,,,,and no passpport will ever change
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Some countries offer dual citizenship so you need not feel like you are betraying your country. You are simply enjoying the best of both worlds.
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