Ruby van Kersbergen

If you want an employee from outside the European Union to work in the Netherlands for more than three months, they usually need a single permit (gecombineerde vergunning voor verblijf en arbeid, GVVA): one permit for residence and work together. The employer applies to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), which asks the Employee Insurance

If you become Dutch through naturalisation, you must in principle give up your current nationality. Many people can still keep two passports, because the renunciation requirement (afstandseis) has important exceptions, for example for spouses of Dutch nationals and recognised refugees. Below we explain when you have to renounce your nationality, when you do not, and

Under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) of 1956, American citizens can obtain a residence permit to run their own business in the Netherlands. Unlike other self-employed applicants, they do not have to pass the points-based test on the economic value of their business. The key requirement is an investment of at least €4,500 in the

An ordered index of every guide we have written on Immigration law in the Netherlands.

The Dutch start-up residence permit (verblijfsvergunning voor buitenlandse start-ups) lets a founder from outside the EU spend one year in the Netherlands building an innovative business under the guidance of a recognised facilitator. It is valid for one year only and cannot be extended, so you must plan the follow-on application, normally the residence permit

You can apply for Dutch nationality through naturalisation after five years of uninterrupted lawful residence in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Article 8 of the Kingdom Act on Dutch Nationality, Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, RWN). The proposal to extend that period to ten years has not become law; shorter periods apply to partners of Dutch

The Dutch civic integration exam (inburgeringsexamen) is at level B1 if your integration requirement started on or after 1 January 2022, and at A2 if it started before that date. Two exceptions: on the self-reliance route the target is A1 with no central exam, and on the B1 route the municipality may let you sit

The highly skilled migrant scheme (kennismigrantenregeling) lets a Dutch employer hire a non-EU professional on the strength of salary alone, without a diploma requirement, a labour market test or a separate work permit. The main exceptions: the employer must already be a recognised sponsor of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), and the salary must

If you are a non-EU national and want to live in the Netherlands for more than 90 days, you usually need a provisional residence permit, known by its Dutch abbreviation mvv (machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf). You apply for it together with the residence permit in the entry and residence procedure (TEV, Toegang en Verblijf), which

The 30% ruling (30%-regeling, now also called the expat scheme or expatregeling) allows a Dutch employer to pay up to 30% of an incoming employee’s salary as a tax-free allowance for five years. Throughout 2026 the maximum is still 30%; from 1 January 2027 it drops to 27% for employees who first used the ruling