Conditions and deadlines

• Once you have been admitted to your study programme at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), you will need to start your application for your entry visa (MVV) and residence permit. The UvA will process the application for an entry visa and residence permit for the purpose of study on your behalf.
• It is therefore not necessary to contact the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) yourself unless you intend to request a residence permit for purposes other than study (e.g. family reunification).
• Please note that although the UvA assists you with residency formalities by processing your application, your legal residency remains your own responsibility.

Costs

The cost for a student residence permit and entry visa (called MVV) is €195. This fee is non-refundable.

Deadlines

• The procedure can take several months. Your visa needs to be approved before the start of your programme (1 February or 1 September).

• Please note that the UvA cannot guarantee that an entry visa (MVV) will be granted by a certain date, or at all. If you arrange travel to the Netherlands without knowing if your entry visa will be granted on time, you do so at your own risk.

Duration of your Residence Permit

• Student residence permits will be issued for the duration of the nominal study programme plus three months.
• The nominal duration of study programme is three years for a Bachelor’s programme and one or two years for a Master’s programme. 

50% Minimum Threshold

• By law you need to attain at least 50% of the credits of your study programme each year. If you do not attain the 50% threshold, the UvA will verify whether there is an excusable reason for you to be exempted from the threshold.
• If you are not exempted, the UvA has to inform the IND and your student residence permit will be withdrawn.

Requirements regarding the pick-up location of your entry visa (MVV)

It is not possible to apply for an entry visa while in the Netherlands, nor is it possible to study at the university if you travel to the Netherlands on a tourist visa. You are only allowed to pick up your entry visa in a country other than the one corresponding with your nationality if you have been legally staying in that country for more than three months. In other words, you cannot pick up your entry visa at a holiday destination. It is also not possible to have the entry visa issued in the Netherlands.

Exception for students with a Schengen Long-stay visa

If you have a residence permit or a long stay visa issued by a Schengen state, you do not need an entry visa for the Netherlands. You can find information about the Schengen countries here.

Immigration procedure

1. Once you have been admitted to your study programme, you will be invited by email to start the online residence permit application process. These procedures will start approximately four months before the start of the semester.
2. Once you have submitted the required documents (see below) online, the UvA will review them and inform you about the next step. Please note that in case we would need the original documents, the UvA always has the right to ask you to send them by express mail to us. In general, we need about two to three weeks to approve and process your documents.
3. Once the UvA has approved your documents, your application will be sent to the IND. In general, the IND needs about two to three weeks to process the application for your entry visa (MVV).
4. The day your MVV is approved, you will receive a confirmation from the UvA. This email will contain your IND-registration number (V-number) and information about the Dutch embassy where your entry visa (MVV) will be issued at. This is the embassy you requested in the online module to have your MVV visa issued at. It is not possible to switch embassies anymore once you submitted your online application.
5. You will then need to contact that specified Dutch embassy to make an appointment for collecting your entry visa (MVV).
6. During your appointment, you will first be interviewed. Then your entry visa (MVV) will be put in your passport within one day or up to three weeks after your appointment, depending on the embassy's policy. If you wish to know the time-frame at a particular embassy, we advise you to contact them yourself. You can find a list of Dutch embassies and consulates here.
7. Once you have obtained your entry visa (MVV), you are allowed to enter the Netherlands. During your Start Appointment on campus, we will assist you with the last steps of your residence permit application.

Please note

• The accuracy of the timeline sketched above is dependent on how quickly you correctly submit your file, and the time it takes for the IND and the Dutch embassy to process your request.
• As a result, the UvA can never guarantee a certain date by which your entry visa (MVV) will be ready. The process cannot be accelerated as all MVV visas requested by the UvA are already requested using the priority procedure.

• If you arrange travel to the Netherlands without knowing if your entry visa (MVV) will be granted on time, you do so at your own risk.

Required documents

1. All documents must be in Dutch, English, French or German.
2. If your documents are in another language, you must arrange for the documents to be translated by an official translator.
3. All documents should be uploaded in PDF-format (max. 20MB per file).

The documents are:

1. A valid passport (which needs to be signed and valid for at least 6 months after the start of the semester)
2. Proof of financial means
   • Funds to finance your stay in the Netherlands - this amount does not include your tuition fee
   • Funds to finance your tuition fee - not applicable for exchange students
3. Antecedents Certificate - the form needs to be signed by hand, not digitally. Please make sure that you sign the form with the same signature as on your passport.
4. Nuffic certificate (applicable to Chinese students only)