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.

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.

For more information, please contact Thomas van Houwelingen.