I have 3 Questions about Triple Citizenship, U.S., Ireland, and Netherlands?

I am not intimately familiar with the particulars of the application process, but from a general perspective, you can "claim" Dutch and Irish citizenship based on your anchestry. You would not lose nor be required to renounce any citizenship, regardless of in which order you do this, because (a) the Netherlands and Ireland are both EU member countries and (b) because you would claim based on jus sanguinis that you have been a Dutch and Irish citizen since birth. You are not trying to become one: you have been one all along and now only get this documented.

Your . . . um . . . "criminal" history in the U.S. should not become an issue at all here.

I can see you've done a lot of research into this matter!

First of all, having DUI's and felonies on your record is irrelevant in regard to your eligibility for Irish or Dutch citizenship. Those things do not disqualify you from becoming a citizen of either country.

As far as the option procedure you only need to prove your mother was a Dutch citizen at the time of your birth. Your mom may have lost her Dutch citizenship when she became a U.S. citizen, but she was a Dutch citizen at the time of your birth. Thus, you are eligible to become Dutch by option.

You are definitely eligible for Irish citizenship through one of your Irish-born grandparents. However, the way you'll obtain it is called citizenship by descent, which is a different procedure than naturalization. It's understandable you are wary of Dutch nationality law and the possibility you would lose Dutch citizenship if you become an Irish citizen afterwards. Because there is no end date on when you can acquire Dutch citizenship by option you are correct to pursue Irish citizenship BEFORE applying to become Dutch.

You should be able to keep all three nationalities and passports. Please be aware that you have to renew your Dutch passport once every ten years or you will lose Dutch citizenship since you do not live in the Netherlands. To be safe you should apply for a Dutch passport after you successfully become Dutch through the option procedure.

Note - Your father actually was born with U.S. citizenship (born in the USA) and Irish citizenship by descent from parents born in Ireland. According to Irish nationality law children born abroad to an Irish-born parent are automatically Irish citizens from birth. I've noticed a lot of Irish-Americans from earlier generations seem to be unaware of that fact.

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EDIT:

I just wanted to clarify something:

Your mother does NOT need a current Dutch passport in order for you to apply for Dutch citizenship by option. The requirement is only that she was a Dutch citizen at the tIme of your birth. As long as your mother lost her Dutch citizenship *after* you were born there will be no issue. If she had become a U.S. citizen before you were born you would have no entitlement to Dutch citizenship.

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Latente Nederlanders - Latent Dutch

If a person has a non-Dutch father and that person's mother had a valid Dutch passport at the person's birth, but she subsequently lost her Dutch nationality, is that person a member of the latent Dutch?

Probably. In most cases a valid Dutch passport does mean that the mother also held Dutch nationality at the time. However, in a handful of cases a valid Dutch passport is NOT in and of itself proof of Dutch nationality. If the loss of Dutch nationality happened before the passport expired and before the person in question was born then the mother could be in the rare situation of having a valid Dutch passport but no longer be a Dutch national when her child was born. Knowing when the mother lost her Dutch nationality will be important to determine whether the person in question is indeed a latente Nederlander.

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What is a latente Nederlander/latent Dutch?

A person who meets the following conditions:

- mother was a Dutch national when the person was born;

- father was not a Dutch national when the person was born;

- person was born before 1 January 1985;

- person is not a security risk (i.e. in the last 4 years not served a prison sentence or been subject to other serious legal sanction or currently be the subject of a a criminal prosecution); and,

- person did not obtain Dutch nationality between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 1987 through the option procedure and then subsequently lost that Dutch nationality.