Application procedure

If you are a PhD-student you are seen as a staff member, even though you will not receive a salary but a scholarship. The ISD receives information about new PhD-students three months prior to your intended starting date via the Graduate Schools and will then send you information about your immigration procedure. The ISD will inform you about the documents that they (the ISD) need from you for the application. The type of permit we will apply for is with the purpose of research (researcher directive (EU) 2016/801), and the IND has set a specific amount of funds that you need to receive/ show per month. The ISD will inform you about this in the checklist for your application, and you can find them on the website of the IND.

After the ISD has assessed your application they will send it to the IND. The IND takes approximately 3-5 weeks to send the approval back to the ISD. The ISD will contact you via email when your approval is received. Depending on your situation, you can either make an appointment with the Dutch Embassy to get your mvv or travel to the Netherlands directly.

If you are a salaried PhD researcher or another type of salaried researcher, the ISD will receive information about your appointment via HR three months prior to your intended starting date. The ISD will send you information about your immigration procedure via email and you can start the process of your immigration. The type of permit we will apply for is with the purpose of research (researcher directive (EU) 2016/801), and the IND has set a specific amount of funds that you need to receive/ show per month. The ISD will inform you about this in the checklist for your application, and you can find them on the website of the IND.

If you are an unsalaried or self-funded researcher, it is important that you can show that you have sufficient funds for your stay in the Netherlands. You can show these funds with a scholarship letter, foreign salary (please ask the ISD for further details), by transferring the necessary funds to the ISD, or you can show a solvency statement if you already have a Dutch bank account. The ISD is not allowed to accept foreign bank statements.

After the ISD has assessed your application they will send it to the IND. The IND takes approximately 3-5 weeks to send the approval back to the ISD. The ISD will contact you via email when your approval is received. Depending on your situation, you can either make an appointment with the Dutch Embassy to get your MVV or travel to the Netherlands directly.

If you are a staff member of the UG/ UMCG who spends less than 0,5 FTE on research, the ISD will apply for a residence permit with the purpose ‘Highly skilled migrant’. The ISD will receive information about your appointment from HR three months prior to your intended starting date and they will then contact you via email with information about your immigration procedure. The IND has a specific requirement for the amount of salary that you need to receive per month as a knowledge migrant.The income requirement also depends on your age (under or above 30) and situation (did you have another type of residence permit before this one?). The ISD will assess whether your salary meets the income requirement.

After the ISD has assessed your application they will send it to the IND. The IND takes approximately 3-5 weeks to send the approval back to the ISD. The ISD will contact you via email when your approval is received. Depending on your situation, you can either make an appointment with the Dutch Embassy to get your MVV or travel to the Netherlands directly.

Once you have submitted your documents to the ISD it is important to start the process of legalising your birth certificate. If your certificate is in a language other than English, French, Dutch or German, you must also request a translation of the certificate. This translation must be written in English, French, Dutch or German.

Find more information about the requirements to legalise your documents visit the website of the Government of the Netherlands.

If you are a researcher, staff member or PhD student at the UG/UMCG, the ISD can apply for the MVV and residence permit for your family as well. Should you want to bring your family, simply let the ISD know and they will send you information about the immigration of your family.

For the immigration of your partner or children there are some documents like a marriage certificate or a birth certificate that might need to be legalised. Find more information about the requirements to legalise your documents visit the website of the Government of the Netherlands.