Residence permit for orientation year
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | verblijfsvergunning zoekjaar hoogopgeleiden as of 2026-06-12[5] From the IND's Dutch page title as linked from the English page. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Residence permit for orientation year as of 2026-06-12[5] |
| Legal basis | Vreemdelingenbesluit 2000 art. 3.42, first paragraph as of 2026-08-11[5][6] Closed by a shell-side slice of the consolidated Vb 2000 text (Concern 8, ops brief 3): art. 3.42, first paragraph grants the regular temporary residence permit under a restriction linked to seeking and performing work, employed or otherwise, to a foreign national who within the three years directly preceding the application completed an accredited bachelor's or master's programme at a Dutch higher-education institution, carried out scientific research under a research or kennismigrant permit, completed a postdoctoral programme of at least twelve months in the Netherlands, or (a further limb not read this pass). |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-06-12[5] Type I temporary regular residence permit. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | Not established from a qualifying source[5] Not stated on the IND page. |
|---|---|
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-03-20[3] Public-order and national-security condition applying to every regular residence permit. Everyone over 12 must submit a completed Appendix Antecedents Certificate (form 7601) declaring any offence or crime. The same page carries the two other universal conditions: a valid travel document, and a tuberculosis test after arrival unless exempt (nationals of listed countries, holders of an existing Dutch permit changing purpose, people born and always resident in the Netherlands, children of 11 or under, a TB test taken in the Netherlands in the last 6 months, and long-term EU residents and their family members). |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | 1 year as of 2026-06-12[5] A fixed one-year term, not a ceiling. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | No as of 2026-06-12[5] The IND states expressly that the orientation-year permit cannot be extended. A further orientation year is possible only after a NEW qualifying study, doctorate or research project, completed or conducted after the previous orientation year. |
| Maximum total duration | 1 year as of 2026-06-12[5] Per qualifying study or research project. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-06-12[5] 'Arbeid vrij toegestaan, TWV niet vereist' – free to work for any employer without a work permit, free to do an internship, and free to work as an independent entrepreneur, self-employed person or freelancer. Work may begin during the application, once a residence endorsement sticker carrying that wording is in the passport, where the application included a Dutch diploma or completion statement, a Nuffic-assessed foreign diploma, or evidence of scientific research in the past 3 years. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source[5] |
|---|
Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-06-12[5] The point of the route: it exists to allow a job search after study, doctorate or research. No employer, contract or sponsor is involved. |
|---|---|
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-06-12[5] None can apply: there is no employer and no TWV, and the holder is free on the labour market from day one. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-06-12[5] One of a closed list of qualifying histories, all completed within the 3 years before application: scientific research in the Netherlands on a Directive (EU) 2016/801 research permit or as a highly skilled migrant doing research under UFO job code 01; an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master; an accredited Dutch bachelor's or master's; a Dutch post-master's programme of at least one academic year (10 months); a Dutch programme under the Cultural Policy (Special-Purpose Funding) Act or under Ministry of Foreign Affairs development-cooperation policy; or a master's, doctoral or post-master's programme at a designated foreign institution. 'Designated' means top 200 in the general or subject rankings of at least 2 of Times Higher Education, QS and ShanghaiRanking on the graduation date, with a subject ranking counting only for the applicant's own subject. Foreign-institution graduates must additionally show English at IELTS 6.0 or an accepted equivalent, a civic-integration document under art. 4(1)(b) Wet inburgering 2021 or art. 2.3(1) Besluit inburgering, or that the programme was taught in English or Dutch. Foreign diplomas are evaluated by Nuffic, except accredited Flemish programmes on the Higher Education Register Flanders. A negative condition with no field: the applicant must not already have held an orientation year for the same research, study or doctoral programme. |
| Employer sponsorship | No as of 2026-06-12[5] The applicant is their own sponsor and carries the information obligation directly. |
| Job-search route | Yes as of 2026-06-12[5] This route IS a job-search instrument, recorded per schema v1.0 G9 as its own work route rather than as a flag on another route. It is the entry point to the reduced highly-skilled-migrant salary criterion: an application made during the orientation year, or within 3 years of graduation, doctoral defence or expiry of a research permit, qualifies for EUR 3,122.00 per month instead of EUR 4,357.00 or EUR 5,942.00. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-06-12[5] Online application is open only to people already in the Netherlands who graduated, took a doctorate or did research here, hold a valid permit for that purpose, are registered in the BRP and have a BSN. Everyone else – including graduates of designated foreign institutions – applies on paper, from abroad or in country. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | 90 days as of 2026-07-06[1] Statutory decision period; extendable. |
| Fees |
|
Physical presence
| maximum consecutive absence | 6 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-07-20[4] Country-wide main-residence rule for regular residence permits: more than 6 continuous months outside the Netherlands (counted per calendar year, separate periods not added together) may be treated as moving main residence, which can cost the permit. |
|---|---|
| maximum consecutive absence | 4 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-07-20[4] |
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source[5] |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | Not established from a qualifying source Not established for this route. |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source Not established for this route. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 6 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-03-20 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-11 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Decision periods – statutory decision periods per application type
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), Ministry of Justice and Security · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-06 · Accessed 2026-08-09 · Archived copy - [2] Fees: costs of an application (leges)
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), Ministry of Justice and Security · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-12 · Accessed 2026-08-09 · Archived copy - [3] Requirements that apply to everyone – general conditions for every regular residence permit
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-20 · Accessed 2026-08-09 - [4] Main residency – when the IND considers main residence moved abroad
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), Ministry of Justice and Security · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-20 · Accessed 2026-08-09 · Archived copy - [5] Residence permit for orientation year – conditions and permit terms
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-12 · Accessed 2026-08-09 - [6] Vreemdelingenbesluit 2000, artikel 3.42 (oriëntatiejaar / zoekjaar afgestudeerden; consolidated text)
Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties / overheid.nl (wetten.overheid.nl) · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-11