Start-up visa Netherlands: the residence permit for foreign founders

The Dutch start-up residence permit (verblijfsvergunning voor buitenlandse start-ups, informally the startupvisum) gives a founder from outside the EU one year in the Netherlands to build an innovative business under the guidance of a recognised facilitator. It is not a points-scored permit and not an investor visa. This article sets out what it is, what the facilitator requirement means, what the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) checks, what follows the first year, and which alternative may suit you.

What the start-up residence permit is

The start-up permit is a temporary regular residence permit (type I) granted under the Aliens Act 2000 (article 14), with the restriction “work as a self-employed person” elaborated in the Aliens Decree 2000 (article 3.30). That provision allows a permit to be granted to a foreign national who sets up an innovative business, has lasting and sufficient means of support, and makes it plausible that within a year the ordinary conditions for work as a self-employed person will be met. It is issued for a maximum of one year and cannot be extended. That single fact drives almost every decision a founder makes in the first twelve months.

The scheme exists because the ordinary self-employed route asks a founder to prove in advance that the business already adds value to the Dutch economy, which a pre-revenue start-up cannot usually do. It replaces that proof with the judgement of an experienced Dutch mentor.

Because the permit is granted for self-employed work, the holder may work for their own business, but it does not give free access to the Dutch labour market: a salaried job on the side generally requires a work permit.

The facilitator requirement

What a facilitator is

A facilitator is an established Dutch organisation that mentors the founder for the permit year: an accelerator, an incubator, a venture builder, a university-linked programme or a comparable body. Accelerators, incubators and venture builders of that kind appear on the official list, which RVO keeps up to date. The facilitator supplies a tailored support package, which may cover operational management, product development, marketing and access to investors and a network. It is not a passive signatory but the gatekeeper of the scheme, and its own standing is what is examined.

How the RVO recognises facilitators

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) maintains the public list of facilitators that meet the scheme’s conditions. A facilitator must:

• have demonstrable experience in guiding innovative start-ups;
• be financially sound: no receivership, no bankruptcy, no negative equity;
• not hold a majority interest in the founder’s business;
• not be a relative of the founder up to the third degree; and
• have a deputy within the organisation, so that mentoring does not depend on one individual.

Using a facilitator already on the RVO list is by far the simplest path, because its suitability has been assessed in advance. An unlisted organisation is not automatically excluded and needs no separate prior recognition: the application must then contain evidence that it meets each condition above, and RVO verifies the facilitator within the same procedure, as part of its advice.

The agreement between founder and facilitator

Co-operation must be laid down in a signed agreement. It is a substantive document, not a letter of intent, and should describe:

• the nature of the facilitation: what mentoring, facilities, workspace and network access are provided, tailored to this venture;
• the duration and intensity of the guidance, covering the permit year;
• the commercial terms, including any fee and any equity or option arrangement, which must leave the facilitator short of a majority interest;
• terms that do not obstruct the development of the business, and how the co-operation may be ended.

Read the equity clause with care: a substantial stake is normal, but one that crosses into control defeats the permit.

Suitability, not a scored business plan

This is the point most founders misunderstand. The IND does not mark the business plan. It asks RVO for advice, and RVO looks at the facilitator, the innovative character of the product or service, the step-by-step plan and the trade register entry. A positive advice is required, but there is no points table, no scored assessment of turnover projections and no requirement to show capital or job creation. What counts is whether a credible, independent and experienced Dutch organisation has committed itself to this founder. The IND separately assesses the general conditions.

Conditions for the founder

Alongside the facilitator requirement, the founder must satisfy the following.

• An innovative product or service. At least one of three tests must be met: the product or service is new to the Netherlands; new technology is used in production, distribution or marketing; or there is an innovative organisational or working method. Social innovation, new product-market combinations and sustainability applications can qualify; a well-run copy of an existing Dutch business does not.
• A step-by-step plan. A description of the venture and a concrete plan for the first year: the organisation and legal form, who does what, the intended product or service, staffing, objectives and planned activities. Its purpose is to show that the year will be used to build something, not to describe a finished company.
• An active role. The founder must actually run or co-run the business; being a shareholder or financier is not enough. This is checked against the trade register entry and the step-by-step plan.
• Registration in the trade register. The business must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK), and the entry must show that the founder has decision-making power. In practice only the KVK number is submitted; RVO verifies it.
• Sufficient means of support. Enough money for the whole permit year without recourse to public funds. The standard is the ordinary IND norm amount for a single person, not a separate start-up figure: 70% of the statutory minimum wage for a single person, including holiday allowance. The IND publishes that norm amount and revises it every 1 January and 1 July in line with the statutory minimum wage, so work from the figure in force on the day the application is filed rather than from any figure quoted in a guide. The founder must show that the means are available for the full twelve months. Proof is normally a Dutch bank statement; financing by the facilitator or a third party paying into the founder’s Dutch account is also accepted, provided it covers the entire stay of at most one year.
• A valid passport, with a completed antecedents certificate and, where relevant, the sanctions declaration concerning Russia and Belarus.

Application, MVV, decision period and fees

Where the founder is abroad and needs an authorisation for temporary stay (MVV), the MVV and the residence permit are applied for together in the entry and residence procedure (TEV). Nationals of, among others, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States are MVV-exempt and apply directly to the IND.

The application can be submitted by the founder, by an authorised representative, or online by the facilitator through the Business Portal; from abroad it runs via the Dutch embassy or consulate. Once the MVV is issued the founder collects the visa sticker, travels to the Netherlands, registers with the municipality and collects the residence document.

The legal decision period is 90 days, and the IND may extend it if RVO’s advice or further documents are outstanding. A fee is payable and must be reached within three weeks of submission, failing which the application is not processed. The tariff is fixed by ministerial regulation, is revised every 1 January and is published by the IND; it is lower for Turkish nationals, because of the standstill obligation under the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, and nil for a small number of nationalities covered by older treaties.

After the first year: the transition to the self-employed permit

The start-up permit cannot be extended. Before it expires the founder must switch to another basis of stay, and the intended route is the residence permit for self-employed persons (zelfstandige), granted for at most two years.

Normally that permit turns on a points assessment by RVO across three areas: personal experience, the business plan, and added value for the Netherlands. An applicant must score at least 30 points in each area, or at least 45 for personal experience together with 45 for the business plan. For a young company that is a demanding test.

Here lies the concession. A start-up permit holder under article 3.30 of the Aliens Decree 2000 who submits a facilitator declaration confirming that at least three months of guidance have been completed with a positive result is treated as having achieved at least the minimum score for personal experience, for the business plan and for added value for the Dutch economy. RVO publishes a template declaration. The scoring hurdle is, in effect, cleared by the facilitator’s verdict.

The ordinary conditions still apply: KVK registration, any professional permits, and sufficient and sustainable income from the business, measured against the norm of 70% of the statutory minimum wage for a single person including holiday allowance, as published by the IND for the half-year in which the application is filed. A facilitator can decline to issue the declaration; discuss that possibility well before month nine.

Alternative routes for founders

The start-up permit is not always the best instrument. Four alternatives are worth weighing.

• Essential start-up personnel. A pilot scheme running from 1 June 2021 to 1 June 2028 for key employees of an innovative, scalable Dutch start-up with no more than 15 staff, capped at five such permits per company. The employee must earn at least the salary threshold the scheme sets, which is indexed every 1 January and published by the IND, and must receive at least a 1% shareholding, or shares of at least the prescribed value, within three years of the contract starting. The permit runs for up to three years. Useful for a co-founder willing to be an employee with equity.
• Highly skilled migrant through your own company. Governed by the Aliens Decree 2000 (article 3.30a). The company must first be admitted as a recognised sponsor, and the founder must be genuinely employed by it at or above the salary criterion for highly skilled migrants, which has a higher figure from the age of 30 and a lower one below it and is indexed every 1 January. The permit runs with the contract, up to five years, and self-employed work alongside is allowed. It needs a funded company from day one, and the IND scrutinises whether the employment relationship is real where the founder controls the employer. Where the highly skilled migrant is at the same time a major shareholder in the recognised sponsor, the IND tests with particular strictness whether there is a genuine contract of employment and whether the remuneration is at market level.
• Orientation year. One year of free labour market access, including self-employment, for those who graduated from an accredited Dutch programme or a designated foreign university, or completed a doctorate or qualifying research, within the previous three years. It cannot be extended, but can be granted again after a later qualifying programme. The cheapest and least conditional way to test an idea, if you are eligible.
• EU Blue Card. For a founder keeping a salaried position while building. It requires a higher education diploma of at least three years, or five years of relevant experience at that level (three in IT), a contract of at least six months, and a salary at or above the Blue Card criterion, with a reduced criterion for recent graduates; both are indexed every 1 January and published by the IND. The salary must be paid by bank transfer into an account in the migrant’s own name and must be at market level. Valid for up to five years, it permits self-employed work alongside the employment.

The test is simple. If you qualify for the orientation year, start there. If your company is funded and can carry a salary, the highly skilled migrant route gives far more runway. If you are joining someone else’s Dutch start-up, the essential personnel scheme fits. The start-up permit is right when the idea is genuinely innovative, the company is young, and a serious Dutch mentor will vouch for you.

The founder’s family

Family members can accompany the founder, but the arithmetic is unforgiving. A partner or minor child applies for a residence permit as a family member, and that derived permit is valid only for as long as the founder’s own permit, which in the first year means twelve months at most. The founder, as sponsor, must have independent and lasting means of support. For a first start-up permit the general requirement that the means have been earned over a period of one and a half years does not apply under the Aliens Regulation 2000 (Voorschrift Vreemdelingen 2000, article 3.20). The means may, subject to conditions, be funded by the founder, by the facilitator or by a third party, provided the required agreement, the accompanying statements, the bank details and sufficient certainty about the flow of funds are produced (Voorschrift Vreemdelingen 2000, article 3.20b). Separate fees are payable for a partner and for a minor child staying with a parent, taken from the same annual IND tariff. The amount to be shown is the ordinary family reunification norm; there is no separate, lower figure for a sponsor on a start-up permit. Where the sponsor brings a partner, the norm is the full statutory minimum wage including holiday allowance; where the sponsor is a single parent it is 70% of that amount. Both are revised every 1 January and 1 July with the minimum wage, so check the amount in force on the date the application is filed.

A partner admitted on this basis usually receives the same labour market position as the founder, which for a start-up sponsor is restricted. Founders relying on a partner’s earnings should check that notation first.

Practical pitfalls

• Changes must be notified. A permit holder must inform the IND of changes in their situation; failure to do so can lead to an administrative fine or withdrawal of the permit. A change of facilitator and a substantive change to the business plan both fall within this duty, because both go to the basis on which the permit was granted. Notify first, pivot second.
• The year is shorter than it looks. Deduct up to 90 days of decision time at the front and several months of preparation for the follow-on application at the back. Because at least three months of guidance must be completed before the facilitator can declare, a founder who starts mentoring late has no exit.
• Do not sign a facilitator agreement that hands over control. A majority interest disqualifies the application, and heavy terms can count as obstructing the business.
• Family ties are checked. A relative up to the third degree cannot act as facilitator.
• Innovation must be documented, not asserted. Explain concretely why the product, technology or method is new to the Netherlands.
• Means of support must be provable in the Netherlands. A Dutch bank statement, or a documented financing commitment paid into a Dutch account, carries more weight than assets held abroad.

The start-up permit is a single, unrepeatable year, and the follow-on application has to be prepared from month one. We advise founders on the choice of route, on the facilitator agreement and its equity terms, and on the switch to the self-employed permit, and we act in objection and appeal where the IND refuses. Our immigration law guides cover the neighbouring permits in more detail.

Founders arriving on a startup visa will also need an entity; see choosing a lawyer to set up a company in the Netherlands.