GlobeQuest

Netherlands visas and residency

Who can visit Netherlands without a visa, and the 4 long-stay routes that let you actually live there.

Short stay

Visiting Netherlands, by passport

How the 198 passports we track get in. A visitor entry is never permission to work, study or settle — that is what the routes further down are for.

United StatesVisa-free · 90 daysUnited KingdomVisa-free · 90 daysIndiaVisa requiredCanadaVisa-free · 90 daysAustraliaVisa-free · 90 daysGermanyFree movementFranceFree movementIrelandFree movementSpainFree movementItalyFree movementPortugalFree movementPolandFree movementSwedenFree movementSwitzerlandFree movementSouth AfricaVisa required
No visa at all

Who can simply move to Netherlands

EU/EEA and Swiss free movement

Citizens covered by EU/EEA and Swiss free movement need none of the routes below

Citizens of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland can live, work and study in each other's countries without a visa or a work permit.

For the first three months a valid passport or national ID card is all you need. Beyond that you may have to register as a resident, and if you are not working or studying you need enough money to live on and health cover. Switzerland issues an EU/EFTA residence permit on the same terms.

Verified November 2026:Your Europe — residence rights when living abroad in the EUState Secretariat for Migration — free movement of persons Switzerland–EU/EFTA
Long stay

How you actually move to Netherlands

Work / sponsoredHigh confidenceVerified July 2026

Highly Skilled Migrant (kennismigrant)

The main route into the Netherlands: a job with an employer that IND has approved as a recognised sponsor. No labour-market test and no quota.

What you need
  • Employment contract with an IND recognised sponsor
  • Gross monthly salary excluding holiday allowance of at least €5,942 if you are 30 or over, or €4,357 if under 30 — 2026 figures
  • €3,122 for recent graduates of a Dutch institution or a designated top-ranked university abroad
  • Tuberculosis test for some nationalities
  • No diploma requirement — the salary threshold does that job instead
How long it lasts
Up to 5 years or the contract length, renewable.
Path to permanent residence
Permanent residence after 5 years of continuous legal residence, conditional on passing the civic integration exam (A2 Dutch and knowledge of Dutch society). Citizenship also becomes possible at 5 years.
Cost
€423 in IND fees in 2026, indexed annually; the recognised sponsor bears its own registration costs.
Processing time
IND's legal maximum is 90 days, but recognised sponsors routinely see decisions in 2 weeks.
Worth knowing
  • There is no diploma test, which makes this unusually accessible for self-taught engineers — but the salary bar is high and re-indexed annually, and you must keep meeting it.
  • Only recognised sponsors can hire on this route; a Dutch startup that hasn't registered cannot employ you no matter what it pays.
  • The 30% ruling tax facility is still 30% throughout 2026 and drops to a flat 27% only from 1 January 2027, for existing holders as well as new ones. The base has been capped at the WNT norm since 2024, and the old 30/20/10 taper was scrapped rather than implemented. The ruling's own salary norms (€48,013, or €36,497 for under-30s with a master's, in 2026) are separate from the IND thresholds and both have to be met.
  • The Netherlands has no digital nomad visa; remote work for a foreign employer is not a basis for residence.
Sources:IND — Highly skilled migrantIND — Immigration and Naturalisation Service
Freelance / self-employedMedium confidenceVerified July 2026

DAFT — Dutch-American Friendship Treaty

US citizens starting a business or working freelance in the Netherlands. A treaty privilege with no equivalent for most other nationalities.

What you need
  • US citizenship (a parallel treaty, the DJTT, covers Japanese nationals)
  • €4,500 of your own capital invested in and held in the business's Dutch bank account
  • Registration of the business with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK)
  • A business plan, though it is not assessed on innovation the way startup routes are
  • Dutch health insurance
How long it lasts
2 years initially, then renewable in 5-year blocks.
Path to permanent residence
Counts toward the 5-year clock for permanent residence and naturalisation, on the same integration terms.
Cost
€423 IND fee in 2026, plus the €4,500 that must remain as business equity.
Processing time
Often a few weeks — considerably faster than comparable self-employment routes.
Worth knowing
  • This is the cheapest genuine self-employment route into Western Europe, and it exists purely because of the treaty. The usual Dutch self-employed route applies a points test that DAFT applicants skip entirely.
  • The €4,500 must stay in the business as equity — it is not a fee you pay and recover.
  • Your spouse can work freely as a dependant, which materially improves the household maths.
Sources:IND — Self-employed person
StudentMedium confidenceVerified July 2026

Orientation year (zoekjaar) for graduates

Recent graduates of Dutch institutions, and graduates of designated top-ranked universities abroad, who want a year of unrestricted access to the Dutch labour market.

What you need
  • A Dutch degree completed within the last 3 years, or a master's/PhD from a designated top-200 university abroad within the last 3 years
  • No job offer needed
How long it lasts
12 months, non-renewable.
Path to permanent residence
Not directly, but it is the standard bridge: during the year you can be hired at the reduced graduate salary threshold rather than the full highly-skilled-migrant one.
Cost
€254 in IND fees in 2026 — the cheapest permit on this page, and the one that unlocks the reduced salary threshold.
Processing time
Usually a few weeks.
Worth knowing
  • During the orientation year you can work for any employer without a work permit, including non-sponsors — a freedom you lose the moment you switch to the highly skilled migrant permit.
  • The reduced €3,122 threshold applies for as long as you are hired out of the zoekjaar, which is why using the year is worth far more than the year itself.
Sources:IND — Immigration and Naturalisation Service
InvestmentMedium confidenceVerified July 2026

Startup visa

Founders with an innovative product working alongside an approved Dutch facilitator.

What you need
  • A signed agreement with a facilitator recognised by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)
  • An innovative product or service, and a step-by-step plan
  • Sufficient means of support for the year
  • Registration with the KvK
How long it lasts
1 year, after which you must switch to the self-employed permit.
Path to permanent residence
Only via conversion to self-employed or highly skilled migrant status, which then carries the 5-year clock.
Cost
IND fee plus whatever the facilitator charges — often equity or a program fee.
Processing time
Around 90 days.
Worth knowing
  • The facilitator relationship is the gate, not the idea. Securing one is the hard part of this route.
  • One year is short. Plan the conversion to self-employed status from the start rather than treating it as a later problem.
Sources:IND — Immigration and Naturalisation Service
On the ground

Where you'd land in Netherlands

Amsterdam

Canal-laced, bike-first European tech hub where almost everyone speaks English.

Full Amsterdam guide
Rotterdam

Europe's biggest port, rebuilt from nothing after 1940, and blunt about all of it.

Full Rotterdam guide
The Hague

Seat of government, home of the world's courts, and the only big Dutch city with a beach.

Full The Hague guide
Utrecht

The rail pivot of the Netherlands — youngest big city, hardest room market.

Full Utrecht guide
Eindhoven

Brainport: a Philips company town that became the chip industry's centre of gravity.

Full Eindhoven guide
Nijmegen

The oldest city in the Netherlands, on hills, on the Waal, twenty minutes from Germany.

Full Nijmegen guide
Groningen

The north's one big city: a quarter students, the world's highest cycling share, and out of gas.

Full Groningen guide
's-Hertogenbosch

Brabant's capital: a walled Gothic city with a river running under it and an IND desk in it.

Full 's-Hertogenbosch guide

Netherlands at a glance

Capital
Amsterdam
Population
18.1M
Languages
Dutch
Currency
EUR