Which visa do I need to arrange for a visit to the Netherlands?

If you are coming to the Netherlands for a short stay of less than 3 months and you are not from the following countries, then you need to apply for a visa:

Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany (Federal Republic), Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Hong Kong (holders of BNO, British National Overseas Passport), Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vatican City, Venezuela

This visa is the Schengen visa and you are thus allowed to travel in 25 other countries, besides the Netherlands. It is valid for 90 days in a period of 180 days. You need some documents at your request for the Schengen visa:

• a valid passport which is valid 3 months longer than the end of the requested visa term
• two passport photos
• a prove of return to your country of residence (e.g. work contract, house contract)
• prove of sufficient financial resources
• a hotel reservation or something else that supports your aim of coming to the Netherlands
• return ticket
• a medical travel insurance with a minimal coverage of € 30.000,-, valid during the length of your stay

MVV

If you wish to stay in Netherlands temporarily for more than 3 months, you will always need to apply for an MVV first. A MVV is a special visa on which you can travel to the Netherlands and subsequently apply for a residence permit. However not everyone needs an MVV. Below you can find an overview of the main nationalities and situations that are exempt from the MVV requirement.

You are a national of one of the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Vatican City and South Korea.

• You are a family member of someone out of an EU, EER- country or Switzerland.
• You have a Dutch residence permit.
• You have a residence permit in another EU country

This overview is incomplete. For more information, please contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Netherlands (IND).

You can either request the MVV yourself at the Dutch embassy in your home country or in the country you currently live (that is, legally longer than three months). Your employer, family member, or someone else who has an interest in your residence permit, can also request the MVV for you at the IND, the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Netherlands. In all cases you will need to meet a number of requirements and provide certain documents to be eligible for either an MVV or a residence permit. These requirements depend on the purpose for which you wish to stay in the Netherlands: work, study, establishing a family, visiting family members and the like.
There are a number of requirements that you must always meet.

In principle you can get an MVV and a residence permit if you meet the following requirements:

• Whether your driver’s license is valid in Holland depends on where it was issued.
• It is useful, but not compulsory to have an international driver’s license. Driver’s licenses issued in one of the member states of the European Union and in Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway are valid in Holland. If your not from one of these countries, you should consider getting an international drivers license. Contact the Dutch embassy in your country of residence to check the latest updates and whether you should apply for an international drivers license. We advise to apply for an international drivers license if your license is in a language other than English. You can apply for an international license at the Automobile Association in your own country. Important to know is that you must be at least 18 years old to drive a car in the Netherlands.
• A non-EU citizen may require a Work Permit (tewerkstellingsvergunning) which must be applied for via an employer at the CWI. This type of work permit is linked to the individual’s employer and function: therefore you must have a job lined up before the employer applies for the permit. Obtaining a work permit does require some work from the employer as the process can take 10 weeks or more. Once the work permit has been granted it is possible to start working.
• This is a special permit for citizens from Canada, Australia and New Zealand who want to work in the Netherlands for up to one year. Conditions are that you need to be between the ages of 18 and 30, you must have a return ticket and that you have a contact address in the Netherlands. You need to apply for this special permit before going to the Netherlands, but for the citizens of the former mentioned countries, it is the easiest and quickest procedure to get a temporary work permit.

BSN (formerly called SOFI nummer)

• A BSN (formerly called SOFI nummer) is the equivalent of a National Insurance/Social Security number and Tax number. To obtain this number you must visit the Tax Office (Belastingdienst). Without a BSN an employee cannot be paid his salary.
• You need to take the following three forms of ID:
  If you are a non-EU citizen, you need to take a copy of your work and residence permit with you.

Note: information last updated 2018; feel free to add comments below to update the information on visa and document for visiting the Netherlands