Within Dutch immigration law, you can get a residence permit on many grounds. Each ground / purpose of stay has its own conditions. Here you will find the most applicable residence permits for workers. Note that this information is only of importance if you are a non-EU resident or if you are from outside the European Economic Area. For citizens from EU countries and the European Economic Area other rules apply. They are mainly free to move and work in the European Economic Area (citizens from Bulgaria and Romania still require a work permit). Important to know is that most residence permits for workers are based on the fact that you have already found a job and your employer is part of the procedure to get you the work permit and/or residence permit.
Also, residence permits are only applicable if your stay is longer than 3 months. When you do not plan to reside in the Netherlands for more than 3 months or plan to work as a cross border worker (living outside the Netherlands and working in the Netherlands) other rules apply. Please check the Residence Wizard on the IND website for more information about a stay shorter than 3 months.
Where to apply for your residence permit?
A residence permit is applied for at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) within 3 working days after your arrival in the Netherlands. The IND will place a sticker in your passport confirming your residence status, and a note that you are/are not allowed to work and that you do/do not require a work permit to work. After 2 to 3 weeks, you will receive the formal decision from the IND regarding your residence status. In this respect, applying for a voluntary authorisation for temporary stay (MVV) can be advantageous, even for those who do not need them. Through this procedure, your request for a residence permit is already reviewed before you arrive in the Netherlands, and the sticker from the IND will state that you are allowed to work in the Netherlands right after you have submitted your request. You do not need to wait for the formal decision of the IND, which is expected only after 3 weeks after submitting.
IND desks
The IND has nine desks in the Netherlands. In the Southeast Netherlands there are desks in Eindhoven (Expat Center Brabant) and Den Bosch. At these desks, you can:
If you are planning to do this, you should arrange an appointment by calling 0900 1234561 (on working days from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, € 0.10 per minute)*
On the IND website, you can download the forms needed for the different procedures (scroll down).
* Dial +31 20 889 30 45 from abroad (this number cannot be reached from the Netherlands)
The most important residence purposes for expats are:
Other residence purposes
Beside the above-mentioned residence purposes, there are many others. For each purpose, different conditions can apply. If you want to know more about the above mentioned residence purposes or any others please check the website of the IND.
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