Student residence permit for university or higher professional education
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | verblijfsvergunning studie (hbo of universiteit) as of 2026-06-08[9] From the IND's Dutch page title as linked from the English page ('Verblijfsvergunning studie hbo of universiteit'). |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Student residence permit for university or higher professional education as of 2026-06-08[9] |
| Legal basis | Vreemdelingenbesluit 2000 art. 3.41, first paragraph as of 2026-08-11[9][10] Closed by a shell-side slice of the consolidated Vb 2000 text (Concern 8, ops brief 3): art. 3.41, first paragraph grants the regular temporary residence permit under a restriction linked to study to a foreign national enrolled or to be enrolled at an educational institution recognised as a referent under art. 2c of the Wet. Directive (EU) 2016/801 and the WHW, both already noted below, remain corroborating, not the primary basis. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-06-08[9] Type I temporary regular residence permit. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | Not established from a qualifying source[9] 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 | up to 5 years as of 2026-06-08[9] |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the course |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-06-08[9] |
| Renewal duration | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated separately. |
| Work rights | hours capped as of 2026-06-08[9] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source[9] |
|---|
Requirements
| Enrolment status required | enrolled as of 2026-06-08[9] Proof of registration, or temporary proof of registration, as a student. The programme must be full-time and accredited by the NVAO in the Netherlands or registered with EQAR in Europe, and the institution must be an IND-recognised sponsor listed in the public register for study. |
|---|---|
| Means requirement | 1 × IND required amount for study at a university or institute of higher professional education per month as of 2026-07-13[8] |
| Savings alternative | Not established from a qualifying source[9] |
| Work-hours cap | 16 as of 2026-06-08[9] Hours per week during term, as an alternative to full-time work limited to June, July and August. The choice is exclusive. Applies to employment only; self-employment is uncapped. |
| Post-study route exists | Yes as of 2026-06-12[6][9] The orientation year for highly educated persons, recorded in this record as nl-orientation-year. The IND also routes graduates directly to the highly skilled migrant permit on the reduced salary criterion, or to the start-up permit. |
| Post-study permit duration | 1 year as of 2026-06-12[6] The orientation-year permit is a fixed one year and cannot be extended. |
| Post-study income requirement | Not established from a qualifying source[6] The orientation-year permit's own conditions state no means test. Recorded unknown rather than not_applicable because absence from a conditions list is not a sourced negative. |
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] |
| periodic reporting | 1 year · to keep the permit as of 2026-06-08[9] Study-progress condition, recorded as a recurring compliance obligation rather than a day count. The student must obtain at least 50% of the credits for each study year. The educational institution assesses progress annually and, where it is insufficient, must test the student's reasons against the WHW; without good reasons the institution reports to the IND, which then reassesses the permit. |
| maximum consecutive absence | 12 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-06-08[9] Study abroad outside the intra-EU mobility scheme is allowed for a maximum of 12 consecutive months, internship included, and study progress must continue. Under Directive (EU) 2016/801 intra-EU mobility the allowance is 360 days of study in other EU countries on the Dutch permit, but only as part of a programme with mobility measures or an inter-institutional agreement, and never for an internship alone; the Dutch institution must notify the IND in advance (form 7592). The two limbs are different rules with different conditions; only the general one is expressed here as a value. |
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-07-24[5][7] A student is not on the IND's list of purposes that cannot sponsor a partner, and the partner and minor-child pages both address the case of a sponsor holding a study permit expressly. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child as of 2026-07-24[5][7] |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated. |
| Family members' work rights | none as of 2026-07-24[5][7] The harshest dependent position in the Dutch system and a first-class comparison fact: the IND states flatly that the partner of a study-permit holder is not allowed to work, and that the child's document reads 'Arbeid niet toegestaan'. |
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
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Verification
| Sources cited | 10 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 10 |
| 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 minor child to stay with parent – conditions and permit terms
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-24 · Accessed 2026-08-09 - [6] 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 - [7] Residence permit for partner – conditions, sponsor rules and permit terms
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-24 · Accessed 2026-08-09 - [8] Required amounts income requirements (normbedragen)
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), Ministry of Justice and Security · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-13 · Accessed 2026-08-09 · Archived copy - [9] Student residence permit for university or higher professional education – conditions and permit terms
Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-08 · Accessed 2026-08-09 - [10] Vreemdelingenbesluit 2000, artikel 3.41 (studie; consolidated text)
Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties / overheid.nl (wetten.overheid.nl) · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-11