Visa and Residence Permit

All the information concerning visa and immigration applicable to students can be found on our website: http://www.rug.nl/education/international-students/visa-immigration/

If you need a visa to enter The Netherlands, or if you just need a residence permit to stay in the Netherlands depends on your nationality. Please read the information on our website carefully.

The Faculty agrees to apply this MVV and residence permit for a, provided you have not applied for a visa already yourself.

In most countries it takes a few months before your visa will be ready for you to be collected.  If we apply for you through the shortened procedure your visa will be available after a few weeks.  

Please check with your contact person at the University of Groningen (International Service Desk, or the Faculty Student Support Desk) on details pertaining to your particular situation.

Please note that if you are a Chinese student, you will need to apply for a Nuffic certificate: http://www.rug.nl/education/international-students/visa-immigration/nufficcertificate

Depending on your nationality, you might need a visa to travel into the country. You can find out here: http://www.rug.nl/education/international-students/visa-immigration/
For a stay up to 90 days, this visa is called a ‘short stay visa’ or ‘Tourist visa'. For stays longer than 90 days, this is called an entry visa (MVV) and is always followed by a residence permit (VVR).

If you do need visa please contact your contact person at the university about the visa application procedure.

Once you have entered the Netherlands on a tourist visa it is NOT possible to change your status as a tourist. Therefore, it is also not possible to obtain a Residence Permit with a tourist visa. You will need to leave the country after three months.

If you need a visa to enter the Netherlands, the University of Groningen will apply for your vis afor you. The Exchange Office will inform you about the procedure by email. In fact, a student cannot apply for a long-term (over three months) visa himself/herself. Also, the University of Groningen will apply for your visa via a shortened procedure (called "MVV"). This will take usually about 6 weeks. Please find more information about the visa procedure. Please make sure to send us the required documents before the deadline!

No, it is not possible for you to apply for a student visa (for stays longer than 3 months) yourself. The University of Groningen can apply for your visa via a shortened procedure (called "MVV").

The University will inform you about the procedure and the documents that are needed for the application as soon as you are admitted to one of our programmes.

In order to obtain a visa/residence permit you will have to proof to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) whether you have sufficient financial resources to support yourself during your stay in the Netherlands. That is why you have to transfer money into the bank account of the faculty, that will be your 'visa deposit'. As soon as you opened a Ducth bank account, this money will be transferred back to you, into your Dutch bank account.

Your deposit will be returned to you after you have opened a Dutch bank account upon yor arrival in Groningen. You can read here how you can do that:
http://www.rug.nl/education/international-students/financial-matters/bank-affairs

For prospective international degree students: please contact your asmissions officer about this question.
For exchange students: please visit the website of the exchange office: http://www.rug.nl/feb/education/exchange/practicalinformation/visaprocedure or contact the exchange office at exchange.in.feb rug.nl

Click on ASK YOUR QUESTION below.