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Residence permit for study

Are you a non-EU national planning to come to the Netherlands to study? You will need a residence permit. 

The educational institution where you plan to study must be recognized as a sponsor by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) in order to apply for your residence permit.

A public register of recognised educational institutions can be found here.

Conditions

You must meet the following conditions to qualify for a residence permit for study:

• you have (provisional) proof of enrollment at a Dutch higher educational institute or university, for a fulltime, accredited studies
• you have sufficient financial means to support yourself in the Netherlands and pay for your study, for at least 1 year, and you can demonstrate this. The standard amount, reviewed each year, can be found here
• you make sufficient progress in your studies, that is, you collect at least half of the credits available per academic year. If you do not meet this benchmark, IND could revoke your residence permit

The residence permit

The residence permit is valid for the full duration of the study plus 3 months, with a maximum of 5 years.

During this time, you are allowed to work for a maximum of 10 hours a week or, alternatively, do seasonal work in June, July and August. In both cases, you need a work permit.

A work permit is not required for an internship, if it is relevant to your studies and if you have a signed internship agreement.

You can find a template of a standard internship agreement here (source: Nuffic).

Students are also allowed to work as an entrepreneur next to their studies. They do not need a seperate permit, as long as studying remains the main activity and their school results are not negatively influenced by their business.

Preparing for your studies in the Netherlands

If you still need to pass one or more subjects to qualify for enrollment, for instance a Dutch language course, you may spend a maximum of 1 year in the Netherlands to prepare for your studies.

In between your bachelor’s and your master’s degree programs, you can make use of a 12-month preparation period again.