To all the incoming students, we have a question for you? Have you applied for your student residence permit yet? No? Then let us help you! In this blog, we will layout the step by step procedure to procure a residence permit as an international student. If you want to know more about this then keep on reading.
A residence permit is a primary requirement to stay and study in the Netherlands. In your initial period of college applications, you must have heard of three distinct terms: student visa, MVV and residence permit. How are they different and what do they mean? You will your answer with us in this post.
We have divided the whole process of application into two phases. Those phases are Pre-travel and Post-travel. Now let's go through each of these phases one by one. But before looking at the details of each phase and their steps, have a look at this printable infographic that we made just for you!
Pre-Travel Phase
This phase, as the name suggests, is initiated when you are in your own country. In this phase, you apply for your student visa and MVV. We will soon clear the difference between these two terms. You apply for a university programme, you happily receive the admit and decide to travel to the Netherlands. Now here comes the steps:
Step 1: This step is initiated by your university. And the conditions to initiate this process varies according to each university. For example, Harshil's university required her to pay tuition fees as well as provide proof of financial means. And Saurabh's university only required him to provide proof of financial means. He did not have to pay his tuition to apply for a student visa. So after you fulfil these conditions, the university initiates the process at their end.
Step 2: The university collects visa fees. For us, the fee was 171 euros. However, if you check the cost of the official Dutch website, the visa fee is now 174 euros. So, pay the visa fee and notify the university.
Step 3: You have to fill out the visa form and submit it to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service also knows an IND. The link will be provided by your university. While filling out the visa form, you are required to provide various documents. This list of documents varies for each country. But usually, you have to submit:
A scanned copy of your valid passport. You will also have to scan all the stamped pages of your passport.
A self-signed antecedents certificate.
A self-signed TB statement
Proof of financial means. This proof can be your bank statement which indicates that you have a sufficient amount in your bank account to cover the expenses of at least a year. Usually, this amount is 10,800 euros. But don't worry, the university will mention this amount in their portal. If you are applying for student loans to cover your expenses then you can use the letter of loan approval also known as a sanction letter to showcase the proof of financial means. Now keep in mind, this letter of approval should contain some essential information. You can find a printable checklist of these essential points below:
Step 4: Once you submit your visa application with the IND, your university will be notified. When submitting the visa form, the IND will verify all your documents. The university will either accept these or reject these. In any case, the IND will decide within 60 days. The IND will then notify the Dutch embassy in your country. You will receive an email which indicates that the Dutch embassy has been notified and you can now make an appointment. This brings us to the next step.
Step 5: You have to apply for a visa appointment with the Dutch embassy in your country. You can do this by going to the government portal. Please remember that once the embassy has been notified, you have to make an appointment within three months.
Step 6: Make an appointment and travel to the embassy. Do not forget to take your passport, your passport size photos and university acceptance letter. When you reach the embassy, you will be given a timeslot for your visa interview. In the interview, the Dutch representative will ask you basic questions about your background, he/she would want to take a look at your acceptance letter and will also take your biometrics. The representative will then ask you to submit your passport.
Step 7: Now there are two options after you have submitted your passport. The embassy will issue you the MVV within 24 hours. Thus, you can either wait for one day and collect your passport with the stamp or you can have your passport delivered at your place which will take approximately 10 days. Now please remember that this option will differ for every country. For example, in India, we have two cities with Dutch embassies, Mumbai and Delhi. Delhi is the primary city. So even if you appear for your interview at the Mumbai office, your visa will be sent to the Delhi office to get stamped. Thus, if you go to Mumbai for your visa, you will not get the stamped passport the very next day. We travelled to Delhi for our process and we had a stamped passport by the next evening.
Step 8: This is the last step of the pre-travel phase. Now that you have your MVV, you can plan your journey to the Netherlands. Oh, wait! We forgot to tell you the difference between student visa and MVV! Okay, here it comes. A student visa is a generic term which is used to describe the special endorsement by a national government which allows you to study in a country. MVV is a very specific term related to the Netherlands. In the English language, MVV translates to a provisional residence permit. Meaning, when you receive the MVV, you are allowed to stay in the Netherlands for 90 days.
Post-Travel Phase
In this phase, you will receive your residence permit which unlike MVV will be valid for your complete study duration and not just for 90 days.
Step 1: The first step is to of course travel to the Netherlands and then register yourself with the local municipality. We have written at length about the importance of this step in our previous blog named: 10 Housing terms explained.
Step 2: Next step is to wait! Wait, wait, and wait to receive an email from your university which says that you can now collect your residence permit from IND. You should receive this email in the first month of landing here.
Step 3: In the email from the university, they will specify the date on which you have to collect your permit or will ask you to make an appointment for this. Please show up at the IND and collect your residence permit.
Step 4: Hang on! It's not over yet! You still have to appear for a TB test if that is the requirement. You will receive an email or a letter from the municipality or your university. This email or letter will specify a date at which you have to appear for the TB test. Do not take this step lightly as the Dutch government is very strict with these rules. They ardently follow all these health regulations. As mentioned in our video named: 8 initial expenses in the Netherlands, you have to pay a small fee for this test.
And that was the post guys. We tried to cover-up the whole process in as much detail as possible. Let us know if we missed something, any questions that you might have or future blog requests. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!
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