Are you interested in a working holiday in the beautiful Netherlands? While on the surface this visa seems pretty straight forward and easy to obtain, reading this post is going to save you a lot of headaches when you are navigating the crazy world of Dutch bureaucracy!
At 42 euros, the Dutch work holiday visa is one of the cheapest you can get, and the Netherlands is a beautiful country well-worth spending some time in. The low cost of this visa, and the process of application also make it a convenient little trick for getting around the Schengen area 90 day limit if you are intending on just touring Europe for a longer time, you can read about that here.
The biggest problem with this particular visa is that the Dutch make you jump through several hoops to obtain it, and also you will find that they will constantly give you misleading information on what you need to do. So from someone who has blindly stumbled through the process and found out the hard way how to go about it, I’m here to hopefully make it a lot easier for you to successfully apply for this visa yourself.
First visit the Dutch Embassy website for all of the process details and forms.
- Follow the steps found here to apply for an MVV (a long term visa) by completing the form found here.
- Make sure you have your photos taken to DUTCH passport photo standards. If the place you are getting your photos from does not know what the Dutch requirements are, don’t waste money getting them there, find someone who knows! This is very important for your application!
- You need to supply a name and address of your host in the Netherlands, just look up a hostel and put that address down if you don’t have one.
- Aside from the passport photos and the host address, getting the MVV should be an easy and relatively quick process as long as you carefully follow the steps on the website.
*Note that they tell you on the website that you’ll need your original birth certificate and that it needs to be stamped with an Apostille stamp. Now, I have actually not had to supply my birth certificate at all through this whole process, so the 60 bucks I spent getting the Apostille stamp was a complete waste of money. I can’t say for sure that you won’t be asked for it, so if you want to play it safe it is probably worth getting it organised just in case, however you could also probably get away with not having it, so the risk is yours to take…
Once you arrive in the Netherlands (this is where it gets complicated!) they will tell you that you need to register an address with the local town hall, but in fact you can get around this!
- First phone the IND on +31 (0) 900-1234561 to make an appointment (you can’t just rock up at the office) for your visa. DO THIS AS SOON AS YOU ARRIVE! The process is long, so don’t procrastinate (like I did!). The IND will give you another (long) form to complete and if all goes well they will put a temporary visa sticker in your passport, allowing you to apply for your tax number and open a bank account and also to begin working. This sticker is valid for 6 months from the date of your interview with the IND. The catch is, you need to provide them with an address where they will send you a ‘decision’ letter regarding the final outcome of your visa (because technically you don’t have it yet!). So, you need an address where you can receive this letter. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a friend in the Netherlands, try asking at a hostel to see if you can have it sent there. It might take up to 6 months to receive it though! Once you have received the letter, you have 3 months in which to present yourself to the IND again in order to obtain your plastic card which is your official visa. (I’m still waiting on this step myself!).
- They will tell you that you need to register your address with the city hall in order to obtain your Burger Service Nummer (BSN) which is like a tax number. Now, in order to register an address, you have to be living there for a minimum of 4 months, and you have to obtain a letter from the landlord or owners of the house stating that they give you permission to register there, and provide this along with a copy of their ID. At this point, most of the government officials don’t actually know their own rules! As a traveller, it is quite unrealistic that you will have a confirmed place to stay for the next 4 months, and they don’t allow you to register with a hostel. So, you can actually ignore what they say and contact the tax office directly and apply instead for a Sofinummer. You can do this at one of the Belastingdienstoffices of the Tax Service, take a look here for the list of locations. Call them on +31 (0) 555 385 385 to make an appointment. When you phone them, explain that you are travelling in Holland and do not have a permanent address here but that you will be working here. You can tell them you live elsewhere (ie Australia!) but have a permit to work in Holland. Just tell them whatever you need to in order to get the appointment!
- Once you have an appointment for the Sofinummer the whole process becomes surprisingly quick and pain-free! The people at the Belastingdienstoffices are much more competent and know more about the system than the others it seems. You will just need to complete a very short form, give them your home address under the ‘address abroad’ section, hand them your passport with the work permit sticker in it, then wait about 5 minutes while they print out a letter with your Sofinummer on it. Bam, done in about 15 mins tops, including waiting time! In and out! You should be happy little Vegemites that I’m here to tell you this, because it has just taken me exactly 7 months and trillions of phone calls and hours spent perusing the internet to figure this out for myself! Once you have that glorious sofinummer you can open a bank account, get a job, do all of those wonderful money-making things that you need to do in order to buy your chocolate brownies…
For more helpful information, take a look at this blog here.
If this helps you, please leave me a comment or let me know, it will honestly make my day!