Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Immigration

This will depend on your nationality and if the duration of your stay is more than 90 days.

- You do not need an entry visa (MVV) or Dutch residence permit if you have the nationality of one of the European Union countries or of Switzerland.

- You do not need an MVV, but you do need a Dutch residence permit if you have one of the following nationalities: American (USA), Australian, British, Canadian, Japanese, Monegasque, New Zealand, South Korean, Vatican (City).

- You need an MVV and Dutch residence permit if you do not have one of the above mentioned nationalities.

If you have a residence permit card for one of the Schengen countries, then you do not need an MVV. However, you will need a Dutch residence permit if your stay is more than 90 days. Please make sure that your residence permit card is valid until at least the starting date of your contract.

The MVV is a long-term multiple entry visa, which is issued in the form of a sticker in your passport. The MVV allows someone to enter the Netherlands or any other Schengen country.

The University of Groningen helps researchers, staff members and PhD-students who have a contract or have been admitted to a PhD programme to apply for a residence permit. Under Dutch law, the type of permit that is necessary for your stay cannot be applied for individually.

The residence permit allows a foreigner to live in the Netherlands for a period longer than 90 days. It is issued in the form of a card for the purpose of ‘researcher directive (EU) 2016/801’ or ‘highly skilled migrant’.

Change of purpose:

If you have a Dutch residence permit with a purpose other than ‘researcher directive (EU) 2016/801’ or ‘highly skilled migrant’, the ISD might have to apply for a change of purpose. The ISD will provide you with information about whether this is necessary in your situation.

Change of guarantor:

If you have a Dutch residence permit with a purpose ‘researcher directive (EU) 2016/801’ or ‘highly skilled migrant’, the ISD only needs to change your guarantor from your current employer to the University of Groningen. You will receive information about what documents are necessary for this procedure.

The IND is the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service and is part of the Ministry of Security and Justice.

The IND assesses all visa and residence permit applications from foreign nationals who want to live in the Netherlands or want to become Dutch citizens. The Dutch law does not allow employees to apply for a ‘researcher directive (EU) 2016/801’ or ‘highly skilled migrant’ residence permit themselves. That is why the University of Groningen will contact the IND on your behalf to arrange your visa and/or residence permit application.

The University of Groningen helps researchers, staff members and PhD-students who have a contract or have been admitted to a PhD programme to apply for a residence permit. Under Dutch law, the type of permit that is necessary for your stay cannot be applied for individually.

The residence permit allows a foreigner to live in the Netherlands for a period longer than 90 days. It is issued in the form of a card for the purpose of ‘researcher directive (EU) 2016/801’ or ‘highly skilled migrant’.

HR or the Graduate School will inform the ISD about three months prior to your starting date. The ISD will inform you via email about the next steps of your visa and/ or residence permit application.

The procedure starts three months prior to the starting date, so that all departments have enough time to prepare all necessary documents. This way, you will be sure that you will arrive on time and have ample time to take care of things on your end as well.

In the immigration package that you will receive, you will find all the necessary information regarding your immigration steps. The ISD will guide you through the process step by step.

Once you have completed all the required steps we will submit your application to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). If the IND has made a decision on your application, we (ISD) will let you know via email.

If your application has been approved, you will be asked to make an appointment with the Dutch embassy or consulate general in your home country to pick up your visa (MVV). If a visa is not necessary in your case, you will be able to travel to the Netherlands.

There will be a link to an online form in the information email that you receive from the IND. You can upload all of your documents via that online form.

Documents to submit:

• Your passport: make sure that you include all pages with personal details, signature of bearer/ holder and all pages with stamps and visas. Your passport should be valid for more than 6 months after the start of your contract.
• The antecedents certificate: make sure the signature matches the signature on your passport
• A scan of your most recent diploma
• The immigration statement

The scans of all documents must meet the following requirements:

• in colour and of good quality
• PDF format
• altogether should not extend 20 MB
• no fingers/hands visible on the scans

You will receive a confirmation email as soon as you have uploaded your documents and submitted your application form. Please check your email, as it could have gone to your junk mail.

It will take approximately 5 working days for the Immigration Service Desk (ISD) to submit your application to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). We will let you know via email if your application is complete or if we still need more information.

The municipality will need a legalised birth certificate to finalise your registration when you arrive in Groningen. The process of legalisation needs to be completed when you are still in your home country.

The process of legalisation can be time consuming, so we advise you to start the process as soon as you can.

For more specific information about how you can legalise your birth certificate, please consult this country overview on the website of the Netherlands worldwide.

The ISD can also apply for the mvv and/ or residence permit for your family. Please indicate that you would like to bring your family via email and the ISD will send you all the information for that procedure as well.

Anyone staying in the Netherlands for four months or longer must register with the municipality in order to be registered at the Personal Records Database (in Dutch: Basisregistratie Personen, BRP).

For employees of the University, the registration with the municipality can be done at the IWCN. The IWCN will contact you about this via email.

There are some documents that you need to bring to the IWCN when you go there to register:

• Proof of ID: passport or country ID
• MVV visa: this is only if it is applicable for you, if not you can skip this document.
• Proof of address: signed rental contract, property bill of sale, or signed statement of current resident that the registrant is allowed to live with them plus a copy of the current resident’s passport.
• Proof of birth: legalised birth certificate
• Proof of marital status, if applicable.
• Completed marriage/ registered partner form, if applicable.
• Completed Municipal registration form: one for each person in the family.

The citizen service number (burgerservicenummer (BSN) is a unique personal number allocated to everyone registered at the municipality in the Personal Records Database (BRP). Everyone who registers with the BRP is automatically given a BSN. You might also need the BSN to open a Dutch bank account.

After you have arrived in Groningen and have registered and received your BSN, you can open up a Dutch bank account as well. Generally, opening a bank account will need to be done in person and an appointment is recommended for convenience.

On the website of the IWCN and on the website of the University of Groningen you can find more information on how to open a Dutch bank account.

The IWCN will inform you when you can pick up your residence permit card with them. This will happen after you have received your approval for the residence permit from the ISD.

Your residence permit is linked to your contract with the University of Groningen. Did you get an extension of your contract? Please make sure that your HR department or the Graduate School contacts us about the extension. We will then start the procedure of extending your residence permit as well.

We can apply for an extension with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) 3 months before the expiry date of your current residence permit card. Around 3 months prior to your end date, you will receive an automatic email notification from us that your permit expires in 3 months.

The IWCN will inform you when your new card is ready to be picked up. You will also need to give your biometric details to the IND, you can make an appointment for this with the IWCN once we have sent your application for the extension to the IND.

The IWCN will contact you approximately two weeks after we have sent you the approval for the extension application.

Is your residence permit still valid on the day you return to the Netherlands? It is then OK to travel. You do need to have a valid travel document. For example, a passport. You also have to take your residence permit with you when you travel.

Has your residence permit already expired? Then sometimes a return visa is needed to return to the Netherlands. You have to make an appointment at any IND desk for this.