The consequences of divorce for your residence permit

A residence permit granted for residence with a partner is conditional on that relationship. If the marriage or relationship ends, the ground for the permit falls away, and the IND can withdraw it – in principle with retroactive effect to the date the cohabitation ended, not the date of the divorce decision.

That distinction is the first thing to understand. What matters to the IND is when you stopped living together, and the sponsor has a duty to report that. Waiting for the divorce to be finalised before considering your immigration position is the most common and most damaging mistake in this situation.

Continued residence

The end of the relationship does not necessarily mean leaving the Netherlands. A permit for continued residence on non-temporary humanitarian grounds can be applied for, and the main route is time: where you have held a residence permit for residence with a partner for a sufficiently long qualifying period, continued residence is available on that basis.

Where the qualifying period has not been reached, continued residence may still be granted on other grounds. Those include situations in which return to the country of origin would give rise to particular hardship, and situations involving domestic violence within the relationship, for which a specific route exists with its own evidential requirements – typically involving a police report and a statement from a doctor or a support organisation.

Where children are involved, their position and their relationship with both parents is a separate factor, and a permit connected to residence with a child may be available.

What to do, and in what order

Take immigration advice before, or at the same time as, family law advice. The two interact: the date the cohabitation ends, whether contact with children is arranged, and the timing of the divorce petition all affect the immigration position, and decisions taken purely on family law grounds can close immigration options.

Gather the evidence of the relationship period while you still have access to it. Joint registrations, tenancy agreements, bank records and correspondence establish how long you lived together, and that is exactly what the qualifying period turns on.

If you receive a decision withdrawing your permit, the ordinary immigration remedies apply: an objection within four weeks and, where necessary, an application for interim relief so that you can await the outcome in the Netherlands. See our article on objecting to an IND decision.

If you already hold permanent residence

A permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status is not tied to the relationship, and a divorce does not affect it. The same is true where you have acquired Dutch nationality. Establishing which status you actually hold is therefore the first question, and it is answered by the document itself.

Advice

We advise on the immigration consequences of a separation, apply for continued residence, and act in objection proceedings against a withdrawal. Because timing is decisive, early advice is worth considerably more than late advice here. Please contact Law & More.