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Pathway

Netherlands Startup Visa

Netherlands Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

The Dutch start-up permit gives eligible founders up to one year to develop an innovative business with an experienced advisor, called a facilitator. It is for people who are not EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens. The immigration service decides the application with advice from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency on the business and facilitator.

Startup fit
Founders building an approved startup in the Netherlands
Requirements
Innovation, approved facilitator, step-by-step plan, active founder role, registration, and living funds
What to know
The permit lasts at most 1 year and cannot be extended as another start-up year

Summary

The Netherlands’ startup residence route lets a founder develop an innovative business with an approved facilitator, supported by an action plan, registration, and living funds. The startup permit lasts at most one year. Remaining afterward requires meeting another residence category, commonly the self-employed route, rather than extending the startup year.

The founder uses a structured year with a qualified facilitator
  1. Demonstrate the innovative business Prepare the active founder role and practical step-by-step development plan.
  2. Secure the qualifying facilitator arrangement Document experience, responsibilities, and the agreed support.
  3. Apply and prepare the post-startup status early Record progress and arrange the required later application before expiry.

This is not passive investment or an indefinitely renewable startup permission.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

EEA means the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

The official requirements include all of the following:

The label “innovative” is not established by describing the company as a technology start-up. RVO reviews the actual product or service, method, or organizational approach and the evidence supporting what is new.

More about this route

This is a structured founder-development year. The founder must take an active role in the business; providing money or holding shares as a passive investor is not enough. The permit cannot be extended beyond its one-year maximum. A founder who wants to remain afterwards must qualify for another status, often the self-employed permit.

What This Route Allows

An approved permit allows the founder to live in the Netherlands and work on the start-up under the agreed plan for up to one year. The residence document permits self-employed work. If the founder also takes employment outside the start-up, the employer normally needs a work permit (TWV); the card's endorsement controls.

Eligible family members may apply under the normal Dutch family rules. Their applications and documents are separate, even if filed around the same time.

Near the end of the year, a founder with a functioning business may apply for the ordinary self-employed permit. The IND says a favorable facilitator declaration about the founder's performance can support that application when issued no more than three months before the start-up permit expires. The next permit is not automatic.

What This Route Is Not

Next Steps

  1. Compare your concept with RVO's three innovation grounds and gather concrete evidence of what is new.
  2. Identify a facilitator that meets the official requirements and has relevant experience. Discuss services, responsibilities, price or equity terms, and independence before signing.
  3. Develop the step-by-step plan jointly. Make the founder's own activities, milestones, company structure, and route to an operating business specific and verifiable.
  4. Plan KvK registration and collect proof of funds for the full year. Do not rely on an old amount because the IND updates financial thresholds.
  5. Use the current IND application form and confirm whether an MVV is required. Include the facilitator agreement and the evidence RVO needs for its advice.
  6. During the year, keep records showing progress against the plan and discuss the post-start-up route well before expiry.
  7. If moving to the self-employed permit, request the facilitator declaration at the correct time and file the new application before legal stay ends.

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Similar startup pathways in other destinations.

Sources