The IND must decide on your residence permit application or your objection to an IND decision within a certain time frame. This is called the decision period. Find out the decision period for your residence permit application or objection.
Decision period per application
The decision period of an application is often determined by law. Does the statutory decision period end on a Saturday, Sunday or generally recognised holiday? Then the decision period will be extended until the next working day. If there is no legal decision period for an application, a reasonable decision period will apply. What is reasonable depends on the type of application.
A legal decision period of 3 months applies to this application.
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
Shorter decision period in some cases
Are you applying for the residence purpose of scientific research? And do you currently have a residence permit for one of the following purposes?
Paid employment
European Blue Card (EBK)
Work experience
Research under Directive (EU) 2016/801
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, a legal decision period of 45 days applies to applications submitted from 22 May 2026. In special cases, the IND may extend this period by 15 days. What if IND does not decide within this decision period? Then you are allowed to work for the new employer for the rest of the validity period of your current permit.
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
Shorter decision period in some cases
Are you applying for the residence purpose of scientific research? And do you currently have a residence permit for one of the following purposes?
Work as a highly skilled migrant
European Blue Card (EBK)
Work experience
Research under Directive (EU) 2016/801
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, a legal decision period of 45 days applies to applications submitted from 22 May 2026. In special cases, the IND may extend this period by 15 days. What if IND does not decide within this decision period? Then you are allowed to work for the new employer for the rest of the validity period of your current permit.
Are you changing employers and is your current residence permit still valid? And do you currently have one of the following residence permits?
Paid employment
Work as a highly skilled migrant
European Blue Card (EBK)
Research under Directive (EU) 2016/801
Work experience
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, a legal decision period of 45 days applies to applications submitted from 22 May 2026. In special cases, the IND may extend this period by 15 days. What if IND does not decide within this decision period? Then you are allowed to work for the new employer for the rest of the validity period of your current permit.
Change of employer and extension
Did you also immediately request an extension of your permit when changing employers? In that case, 2 decision periods apply:
As long as your residence permit is still valid, a decision period of 45 days applies.
If you applied for an extension, a decision period of 90 days applies.
Do you and your employer meet the requirements? If so, the IND grants the permit for the duration of the employment contract with the new employer.
A legal decision period of 60 days applies to this application.
Was your application submitted by a recognised sponsor? Then the IND usually needs less time to decide. If the application is complete, the target decision period is 2 weeks.
Shorter decision period in some cases
Are you applying for the residence purpose of scientific research? And do you currently have a residence permit for one of the following purposes?
Paid employment
Work as a highly skilled migrant
European Blue Card (EBK)
Work experience
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, a legal decision period of 45 days applies to applications submitted from 22 May 2026. In special cases, the IND may extend this period by 15 days. What if IND does not decide within this decision period? Then you are allowed to work for the new employer for the rest of the validity period of your current permit.
A decision period of 30 days applies to:
An application applied for by a recognised sponsor
An application for long-term mobility
An application for family members. The application must be submitted at the same time as an European Blue Card application, which is subject to a decision period of 30 days.
A legal decision period of 45 days applies if the applicant has one of the following residence permits:
Paid employment
Work as a highly skilled migrant
Research under Directive (EU) 2016/801
Work experience
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
A decision period of 90 days applies to all other applications.
A legal decision period of 60 days applies to this application.
Was your application submitted by a recognised sponsor? Then the IND usually needs less time to decide. If the application is complete, the target decision period is 2 weeks.
A legal decision period of 60 days applies to this application.
Was your application submitted by a recognised sponsor? Then the IND usually needs less time to decide. If the application is complete, the target decision period is 2 weeks.
Shorter decision period in some cases
Are you applying for the residence purpose of scientific research? And do you currently have a residence permit for one of the following purposes?
Paid employment
Work as a highly skilled migrant
European Blue Card (EBK)
Research under Directive (EU) 2016/801
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, a legal decision period of 45 days applies to applications submitted from 22 May 2026. In special cases, the IND may extend this period by 15 days. What if IND does not decide within this decision period? Then you are allowed to work for the new employer for the rest of the validity period of your current permit.
A legal decision period of 60 days applies to this application.
Was your application submitted by a recognised sponsor? Then the IND usually needs less time to decide. If the application is complete, the target decision period is 2 weeks.
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
Did you previously have a residence permit for seasonal work in the Netherlands? And was this no longer than 5 years ago? Then the IND will take a decision on your application within 60 days.
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to the following applications:
Regular temporary residence permit without a provisional residence permit (in Dutch: machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf or MVV)
Regular temporary residence permit with MVV; this is the procedure for entry and residence (in Dutch Toegang en Verblijf or TEV)
Extension of regular temporary residence permit
Change of residence purpose of regular temporary residence permit
A legal decision period of 6 months applies to this application.
Did you apply for an asylum residence permit before June 12? Then a statutory decision period of 6 months applies to these applications. Did you apply for an asylum residence permit after June 12? Then the decision period of the standard (non-accelerated) procedure of 6 months applies. If you fall under the accelerated procedure, this is 3 months.
Decision sometimes later
Sometimes it can also take longer before you receive a decision. Many asylum applications are still awaiting a decision and new asylum applications are still being submitted.
A legal decision period of 9 months applies to this application.
A reasonable decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
A legal decision period of 6 months applies to this application.
A legal decision period of 6 months applies to this application.
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
Withdrawal Agreement permanent residence document
A legal decision period of 90 days applies to this application.
Withdrawal Agreement residence document
A legal decision period of 6 months applies to this application.
A reasonable decision period of 8 weeks applies to the following applications:
Replacement of residence document in case of theft, loss, damage or change of personal details.
Extension of permanent residence document, long-term EU resident, permanent residence EU or asylum.
A reasonable decision period of 8 weeks applies to this application.
A legal decision period of 1 year applies to this application.
Start date of application decision period
The decision period starts on the day the IND receives the application.
The decision period of a first asylum application starts on the day you inform a government organization in the Netherlands that you want asylum.
The decision period of an application for naturalisation starts when the application is complete. And when you have paid the costs of the application.
Extension of decision period
The IND can extend the decision period if more time is needed. Then the IND will notify you. Depending on the application, the IND determines by how long the decision period will be extended.
The IND can extend the decision period by a maximum of 45 days if extra information or investigation is needed.
The IND can extend the decision period by 6 months if extra information or investigation is needed.
The decision period varies per application. The IND can extend the decision period by several weeks to a maximum of 6 months. If your application is not complete, you or your authorised representative will receive a letter. You can send the documents within 2 weeks. Then the decision period will be extended by 2 weeks.
Extension of decision period for initial application residence permit for work
You have submitted an initial application for one of the following residence purposes:
Paid employment
Work as a highly skilled migrant
Orientation year
Employment as non-privileged military personnel or non-privileged civilian staff
In that case, the IND may extend the legal decision-making period by 30 days. We do have to explain the reasons for the extension, for example because further investigation is needed.
In the following situations, the IND can also extend the decision period:
In exceptional situations, the IND can extend the decision period by another 6 months.
In the event of a postponement of decision, the IND can extend the decision period by a maximum of 1 year. The Minister for Asylum and Migration has decided that for the time being no decision will be taken on the application. This happens if the Minister for Asylum and Migration expects that a country will be unsafe for a short time.
The IND can extend the legal decision period to a maximum of 21 months. Unfortunately, it may take longer than expected before you receive a decision. There are still many asylum applications awaiting a decision, and new applications are still being submitted.
The IND can extend the decision period by 6 months. After this, the decision period can be extended once more by another 6 months. The IND can extend the decision period by 1 year in total.
Decision period for objection or appeal
The decision period starts on the first day after the final date on which you can send the letter of objection by post. This is the case even if you object to the decision earlier.
The IND will decide on the objection to the decision within 6 weeks. The decision period can be extended for another 6 weeks. Therefore, the IND must have decided on your objection within a total of 12 weeks.
The IND decides on the objection to the decision within 6 to 19 weeks. The decision period depends on the type of application. The IND can extend the decision period by 6 weeks.
Is the objection letter not complete?
Then you or your authorised representative will receive a letter from the IND saying that you must complete the objection. The IND letter also says that it will extend the decision period by 2 weeks. If investigation is necessary, the IND can extend the decision period by a maximum of 13 weeks.
The IND decides on the objection within 6 weeks. The IND can extend the decision period by 6 weeks.
You can appeal to a court against the rejection of your asylum application or objection. What happens if the court declares your appeal well-founded and the IND has to take a new decision? Then the decision period will be the same as for the first decision. Except if the judge sets a different period in its decision. A well-founded appeal means that the court proves you are completely or partly right.
