Experience Verification Against EU law

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Good news for you and your partner. 

Thank you for taking the time to recount how your experience was, it will give others confidence when they come to follow in your steps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks for sharing your experience. It was very helpful.

I am hoping you may have some advice for me as my situation bears a few similarities to yours.

I am an Indian citizen living in Dubai along with my wife. I am 34 and my wife is 32. My wife is an EU passport holder (by Portuguese Nationality for Goans in India). So while she has never lived in the EU, she is an EU citizen.

We are planning on relocating from Dubai to the Netherlands. My plan is that we move together - she applies for Verification and hopefully finds a job soon. Post that, I could apply for Residency.

I was hoping to get some guidance on the following:
1) We have no ties to the Netherlands, neither do we speak Dutch. Do you think this could be an issue in me securing a residence permit?
2) Although we do not speak Dutch, I am positive she will secure a job quickly since we have strong multinational company experience. Apart from that, we have strong financials and savings. Do you we should wait until she lands a job or the strong financials could carry us through? Also, is the nature of work critical to the Residency permit?
3) We do not want to be live apart if my Residence permit does not go through. To avoid such a risk, I was considering applying for a student visa instead. What are your thoughts?

Thank you very much and look forward to your response.

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Your wife is an EU citizen and has the right to live and work anywhere in the EU; I don't see any problem in you or her being able to come and live in the Netherlands; at the top of this page is our Discover section, if you mouse over that, you'll get access to our Discover the Netherlands guide; my advice is to first read that and any links it gives you.  To try and answer your specific questions.

Speaking Dutch.  Because you are exempt MVV (family of EU citizen), you are also exempt the social integration part, of which the language exam is/was a part.  That said, life around you is in Dutch, so it can only enhance your lifestyle to be able to do simple things like read the bus timetable, understand the important posters in your doctor's surgery, so I can only say yes, although you don't have to, learn Dutch.

You may want to wait until this COVID thing has gone away before you make this move; it has had a significant effect on the Dutch job market and many people have lost their jobs because of it; many people are looking for work.  That said, in the meantime, reach out on LinkedIn and find your colleagues/peers who are already in the Netherlands; find out who is hiring, who will take on non-Dutch speakers.

Residency Permit.  They can't stop you coming in, you have rights; however, they can deport you should you become a burden on the State.

You might want to check out the Numbeo website; it has a lot of information about costs of living in many countries all around the world; this link will take you straight there.  I've set it up for the Netherlands, but you can fine-tune it to specific towns across the country, you'll see that the west is very expensive as is rental housing (which is in short supply).  Many people use something like an Airbnb place until they get settled.

If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks, Cynic. Appreciate it.

Yes, we have already begun learning Dutch. Yes, I believe moving Post Covid as you suggested is the only way to go about it.

From what I understand and have read on the forum, the process is as follows

1)    Go to the Dutch Embassy in UAE, with my wife to secure a Type D visa.
2)    Arrive in the Netherlands and my wife registers herself at the Gemeente to get the BSN number. Question: If we rent a room within a house to start of is that fine? Or do we need to rent a house and show the rental contract?
3)    She then proceeds to register herself at the KvK (Chamber of Commerce). Question: Does she need a job contract in order to do this? Or can she register herself as Self Sufficient. Is there a minimum amount she needs to show in her bank account for this purpose? Is there a specific type of work contract required? Would an odd job such as working at a Coffee shop qualify?
4)    She then registers herself with the IND (the Netherlands' immigration agency) as an EU citizen in order to obtain a proof of entitlement to residency status
5)    I then proceed to apply for 'Verification against EU law' to receive the Residence card, which can take up to 6 months. But I believe the Type D visa allows me to stay in the country for up to 6 months. Right?
6)    Upon receiving the Residence Card, I register and wait for the Residence Permit.

Please let me know if I have the procedure correctly and highly appreciate your response on the above questions.

Hi again.

To answer your specific question:

2.  Yes, but it depends on the landlord; previous members have told us they registered from a hotel room, so ask your landlord before you make any commitment.
3.  Bit confusing; KvK is for establishing your own business, which I suspect is not "your" intention.  If that is your intention, then this is a link to there website where you can make further enquiries.
4.  There is no requirement for her to register with the IND, she is an EU citizen and has the right to live and work anywhere in the EU.  You, on the other hand, will almost certainly need to register with them.  You will probably find that Gemeente registration office and the IND local office are in the same building (they are next door to each other in ours), so you can ask your questions there.
5.  You don't need MVV (link);  however, as an Indian citizen, you will need a Type D short-term visa to enter the Netherlands (link) - make sure you tell them that you are travelling with your partner (an EU citizen) and intend to apply for Dutch residence on arrival; you can apply for this at your local Dutch representative which for the UAE is VFS Global, you can find details of the process on their website; here is a direct (link) to it.  Please note the documents they may ask for, along the chain, things like birth and marriage certificates may need to be notarized; it will explain it there.
6.  Residence card/permit - I suspect you mean the same thing.  Once you have your permit, you will receive a card that you can show if asked.  After 5 years you will qualify for permanent residence, for which you have to apply at the time.

You to make an appointment to register with the Gemeente; you have 5 days from your date of arrival to make an appointment; this may be some weeks in the future (COVID is causing issues with staff working from home).

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you so much, Cynic. Noted on your points.

The objective of point 2 was to find out if her getting a job is critical to my application. Or will showing she/we have enough funds be enough for me to get the residence card.

Hi again.

Yeah, I understand that; you need to consider how you are going to prove you have enough funds; they tend to not like electronic evidence, paper being the preferred method with a covering letter on their headed paper, from the bank explaining your relationship with them and any other relevant points; you will not be the first person asking for such things.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello guys,
Thank you all for sharing your experience.
I want to share mine too and our plan to receive some feedback on it if it's possible
My name is Alyssa and I'm 20 years old, turning 21 in July. I'm Italian and this following September I'm planning on starting my studies at VU Amsterdam. I've been working as an Au-pair in the States for the past year and a half and here I met my boyfriend. He's 23 years old and has 5 plus years of vocational skills earning him a livable income. With the outburst of Covid-19 we decided to live together from June, but our situation is different. As I mentioned before I work as an au-pair, therefore I live and work with the host family from Monday through Friday while on the weekends I'm home with my boyfriend and another roommate. I've been paying for utilities and a percentage of rent and my name is of course on the tenancy agreement. So my first question is: is our situation valid if we wanted to proceed and choose the unmarried partner visa under EU law? Also if I wanted to sponsor him, what amount of money should I possess or could I sponsor him while studying and working part-time with a stable income? And do I need to get a residence permit prior him applying for the visa? Lastly if the unmarried partner visa does not work for our dynamic could he apply for the Dutch-American Treaty? We've been together for a year and a half now and we have a long term, committed and exclusive relationship.
Our plan is to go to Amsterdam at the beginning of July to find an apartment, register at the municipality, find me a job to prove that I can sponsor him and then schedule an appointment at the IND.  Do you guys think that this could work? Also one of our main worries id that they don't consider our relationship stable because of our young age even though we are dedicated to each other and sure about our relationship.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Alyssa
I'm sure Cynic will see your message and reply with some helpful information, I'm just wondering why Amsterdam?

You guys are young and young people like to party but anything you can do here, you can do twice as hard in the states without the hassle your likely to have here, job wise, unless you speak Dutch or willing to take the bare minimum wages will be difficult to come by in my experience, I'm a qualified carpenter with 19 years experience, had my own company in the uk for 11 years and to this day I'm still getting knocked back for jobs in Amsterdam due to not speaking Dutch, the good news is, with luck on your side it is possible as I have a job and don't speak Dutch, but I work in Utrecht and live in Amsterdam which is not ideal.

Money wise, things are expensive in the Netherlands  and I mean everything! It's easily 3/4 times more expensive here than Scotland where I come from and the wages don't make up for it, I was making more in Glasgow than I do here but my wife makes slightly more than she did back home.

If we were about to make the move again knowing what we know now I'm not sure if we would have done it, I think I'd have been happy just keeping  Amsterdam as my favourite guilty pleasure place to go for a city break, we don't do things by half but, we bought a house 6 months after arriving but I'm not naive or stupid enough to think for a second that luck didn't play a big part in how our own personal journey has been.

Lastly good luck if you do make the move, dive in head first and work extremely hard and anything is possible, it's just not easy I'm afraid.

alyssas wrote:

Hello guys,
Thank you all for sharing your experience.
I want to share mine too and our plan to receive some feedback on it if it's possible
My name is Alyssa and I'm 20 years old, turning 21 in July. I'm Italian and this following September I'm planning on starting my studies at VU Amsterdam. .....

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

As an EU citizen you have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU.  the IND have recently overhauled their website and the section dealing with residence permits for partners has also been improved.  This link will take you straight to it.  There is a short movie that I'd advise you to read first.  It will answer most of your questions (for example the income section); once you've read it and gone through the process, if you have any further specific questions, then please come back to us.

To try and answer your specifics:

First one of my own - Language - learn Dutch, it will massively improve your chances of getting a decent job by 100's of %.
Boyfriend - vocational skills mean nothing pretty much across the whole EU, they like qualifications and relevant experience.  Covid has pretty much decimated the unskilled work market and their are a lot of unemployed people looking for the kind of work your boyfriend.  If he doesn't speak Dutch, he will really struggle and life around him is in Dutch, not English.
Income - €1,684.80 per month - that's the current Dutch minimum wage.
Residence Permit - yes, simple way is for you to go to NL, get yourself registered and settled, then sponsor him.
Dutch American Treaty is aimed at independent entrepreneurs; you haven't said much about what your boyfriend does and having read it (link), then I suspect he won't qualify; read up on it anyway, perhaps there is something you haven't told us.
Amsterdam - very expensive; so expensive that I would almost guarantee you can't afford to live there on minimum wage.  There is an organisation called Numbeo that has a website that deals with living and comparing different countries; this link will take you there.  I've set it up to do a comparison between Amsterdam and LA, but you can change it to compare different parts of Holland.  Basically, the further away from the west coast of Holland you live, life becomes a lot more affordable.
Accommodation - rental accommodation is always in short supply in Holland, so very expensive; that said, as an Expat you really have no choice, but you'll find it very expensive for what you get.

Last point - watch out for scammers, they are everywhere, from job hunting to apartments - if you accept that this is going to be difficult, then somebody appears offering you something that is to good to be true, then it almost certainly is.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Rossmcs,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, it was really helpful!
As I said in the first post I'm italian and I really want to study in another european country, therefore I chose Amsterdam, since it has such a large international community and affordable tuition.
I met my boyfriend in Los Angeles, where I'm currently working as an au-pair and he decided to make the move with me . We know that not speaking the mother language will not help us finding a job, so thank you so much for underlining the importance of learning it! We will soon start!
I'm glad to hear that luck accompanied you during your journey to the city and I hope that it could be the same for us! A little bit of luck and a lot of hard work and research!
Thank you so much again!

Hi Cynic,
Thank you so much for your help and all the links you shared!!! We were thinking about applying to the DAFT in case the application for the verification against EU law gets rejected. He has vocational skills and he's a painter. He has plus 5 years of experience and different educational certifications to prove his skills. We were considering it because about a month ago I had a zoom call with a responsible from an international law firm in Amsterdam, saying that the self employed visa was the "easiest" visa to get, as far as visas go -.-". I'm sad to hear that Covid damaged the unskilled workers in Europe but I'm sure that, as you remarked, if we learn Dutch we could find a better option job-wise. Thank you so much again for sharing the link to compare the cost of lifestyle in LA and in Amsterdam, it was really interesting and quite shocking. Thank you also for clarifying my doubt about the income requirement.
I'll post again if I have more doubts.
Thank you so much again

alyssas wrote:

Hi Cynic,
Thank you so much for your help and all the links you shared!!! We were thinking about applying to the DAFT in case the application for the verification against EU law gets rejected. He has vocational skills and he's a painter. He has plus 5 years of experience and different educational certifications to prove his skills. We were considering it because about a month ago I had a zoom call with a responsible from an international law firm in Amsterdam, saying that the self employed visa was the "easiest" visa to get, as far as visas go -.-". I'm sad to hear that Covid damaged the unskilled workers in Europe but I'm sure that, as you remarked, if we learn Dutch we could find a better option job-wise. Thank you so much again for sharing the link to compare the cost of lifestyle in LA and in Amsterdam, it was really interesting and quite shocking. Thank you also for clarifying my doubt about the income requirement.
I'll post again if I have more doubts.
Thank you so much again

Only a few more things then; if you have qualifications (both of you) that you intend to use them anywhere outside of the issuing country, then while you are still in the US, you need to contact the issuing body and find out if they are recognized in the Netherlands; if they're not recognized, find out what you can do to make them so.  Any regulated tasks (i.e. electrical work), this is 100% the case, you must have qualifications.

The self-employed visa needs you to have at least one work contract upfront before you land and the new business your going to set up needs to have some crossover into the Dutch market place, for example, it's not much use making sombreros in the Netherlands, the RVO will turn you down.  I understand the lawyer telling you what he did, he does this from the stance that everything will be agreed with the IND, but it doesn't take much for a question to be asked that will set you back (and the lawyer still gets paid).

Hello everyone and thank you indeed for the valuable information.
My name is Ali. I have a question hoping someone could help me with. By nationality I'm from Iraq but I have been granted refugee status in Malta, me and my Fiancee are planning to get married soon and move to live in Netherland. She is Portuguese and she has been residing and working in the Netherlands for 7 years with indefinite contract. My question is, given the situation that I have refugee status in Malta, would IND refused our application of verification against EU law because I'm a refugee in another EU member states? Or in case if they accept it, what should I fo with my resident permit in Malta, do they ask me to renounce it before they grant me the Dutch resident permit or after it, or would my refugee resident permit in Malta not making any difference in this process?
I would really appreciate if someone could help me with any useful information because this is a big struggle where I can't find no information for.
Thank you very much in advance.

alkhazaali588 wrote:

Hello everyone and thank you indeed for the valuable information.
My name is Ali. I have a question hoping someone could help me with. By nationality I'm from Iraq but I have been granted refugee status in Malta, me and my Fiancee are planning to get married soon and move to live in Netherland. She is Portuguese and she has been residing and working in the Netherlands for 7 years with indefinite contract. My question is, given the situation that I have refugee status in Malta, would IND refused our application of verification against EU law because I'm a refugee in another EU member states? Or in case if they accept it, what should I fo with my resident permit in Malta, do they ask me to renounce it before they grant me the Dutch resident permit or after it, or would my refugee resident permit in Malta not making any difference in this process?
I would really appreciate if someone could help me with any useful information because this is a big struggle where I can't find no information for.
Thank you very much in advance.

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

If you have been granted Asylum in Malta, the blue card you received will permit you to travel between Schengen countries, so you can travel between Malta and the Netherlands.  Make sure that you notify the airline you are travelling on that you will be using Refugee documentation; it's normally that card and your Maltese residence permit that make up your travel papers.

With regards to your status, if you're married, no problem, if you're not, then you have to prove a meaningful relationship in order to qualify for the family aspect of this.  In other words that the marriage is not one of convenience and that you have lived together as a family; things that can prove that are generally household bills with both your names on; any official documentation where you both appear; correspondence between you both (e-mail, e-chats are acceptable).

My advice would be for your girlfriend (who would be your sponsor) to make an appointment with her local IND office in the Netherlands and go through your situation with them; their contact details can be found on their website and this link will take you straight there.  If you chose to travel to the Netherlands, you could also accompany her.

The only issue at the moment is Covid; it is causing major disruption all over Europe with the Netherlands having a pretty hard time.  You would need to check if travel is still possible and then be prepared to wait for your appointment at the IND.

As for your question regarding Maltese residence.  "Residence" is generally dependant on you being resident in a particular place or country.  So I suspect that once you are officially resident in the Netherlands, that your Maltese residence would lapse, you don't get to keep both.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello, thanks to everyone and especially Cynic for answering so many questions.

I'm married to a German citizen who is employed in the Netherlands; we were married in Germany and have a German and international (English) version. I'm a dual US+UK citizen, have a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, and would like to apply for the "Verification against EU law". I've been in the Netherlands for ~60 days thus far.
I'm concerned if I can remain in the Netherlands during the application decision process.

It seems I must bring my passports, marriage license, registration form and its appendices, provide fingerprints, signature, and have a photo taken of me for the application.

Questions:
1. I saw this page regarding a "Sticker verblijfsaantekening": https://ind.nl/Paginas/Online-afspraak-maken.aspx. Are there additional documents I can bring so I can improve my chances of getting this sticker, so I can remain in NL during the decision period?

2. Is a German marriage license accepted by the IND, or is an apostille required at the time of submission?

3. In your experiences, are there additional documents besides those listed above that I should prepare?

4. If I cannot get an appointment within the 90 day period (of 180 days total) that I'm allowed to remain in the Schengen area, do I have to fly out of the Schengen region and apply from outside of the country? It seems you have to attend the appointment in person.

Thanks very much for any info!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

To try and answer your questions:

1.  I can't see your link yet, however, you will be told what document(s) to bring, that's what's required.  I hope that as you've been getting things together that you've already got the apostilled versions of your documents.  Useful ink is here.

2.  Yes and yes.  Accepted languages are Dutch, English, German or French.

3.  No.

4.  Covid is causing chaos in the Netherlands and many people (including IND office staff) are working from home; that said they claim to be delivering a normal service.  I mention it so you can be prepared for disruption.  My experience from what people have told us on here, of where disruption has occurred to ex-pats, is that the IND are understanding and do not go out of their way to make a bad situation any worse.  My advice is to make your application as soon as possible and talk to the office staff.  If you do that and the date falls outside of your permitted dates, then ask them at that point, they can authorise extensions when required; I don't think you'll have a problem with them.

I wish you both the best of luck in your ex-pat journey.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks very much for the information, and congrats on hitting 5k posts...wow. I'm sure this community greatly appreciates your work!

Thanks a lot for the reply and the great information you provided much appreciated.
In our case we don't live together as she lives in Netherlands and I'm living on Mlata, but we are planning to get married soon. In case if we get married and present marriage certificate to IND, would they still ask for proof that we lived together for the minimum of six months?
Also in case if they put the sticker on my passport in during the decision waiting period which might be last up to 6 months, am I allowed to travel to other EU countries in between, or should Obliged to be in Netherlands for the whole period until the decision is made by IND?
Once again thank you very much in advance.

alkhazaali588 wrote:

Thanks a lot for the reply and the great information you provided much appreciated.
In our case we don't live together as she lives in Netherlands and I'm living on Mlata, but we are planning to get married soon. In case if we get married and present marriage certificate to IND, would they still ask for proof that we lived together for the minimum of six months?
Also in case if they put the sticker on my passport in during the decision waiting period which might be last up to 6 months, am I allowed to travel to other EU countries in between, or should Obliged to be in Netherlands for the whole period until the decision is made by IND?
Once again thank you very much in advance.

Hi again,

Then you will have a problem if you're not married; one of the main requirements (link) is:

"You are the unmarried partner of the Union citizen. You have lived together for at least 6 consecutive months or have a child together".

I'm not aware of any restrictions requiring you to remain in the Netherlands or preventing you from leaving.  My advice remains the same, your partner should make an appointment with the IND and finds out if there are any differences if the 3rd country national is a refugee.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello everyone, I'm very thrilled to read people's experiences and the help provided.

I'm at such huge lost with the documents and forms i need to fill in! I would appreciate if someone could help me with my case.

I'm 25 from Jordan (middle east) partly cohabitant with my Norwegian bf for a year and 5 months! He's leaving to Netherlands beginning if June for work and he plans on making it our new lasting home hopefully.
On the IND website says i should Apply for verification against EU law, gather all documents and land in the Netherlands on a a short stay visa to make an appointment with IND desk.
My questions are:

1- on almost every application they ask for V number, i get what it stands for but i dont get how could i obtain one if i don't have a residence card and this whole application is to get one!

2- since my nationality requires me to have a visa to fly to the Netherlands, on the website it says i should apply for a Facilitation Visa, are people in unregistered relationships still able to apply for this Visa since in the Example proof of relationship section , this kind of relationship is not mentioned! I'm very confused if they only mentioned few of the examples and not all.

3- I have read somewhere that the sponsor (my bf) should write an ( appendix questionaire for residence with partner) but on the IND website, documents section on proof of relationship for unmarried couples it wasn't listed! I feel like it should be handed with the documents because it explains our relationship and it's details! Wonder why on the official cite it wasn't mentioned?

4- Will we be needing single statue certificate for me to obtain a residence permit, we are not planning on getting married and i am hoping that we don't! It would be hard to impossible to get one in my country, i need to obtain it through court with a testimony and witnesses and reasons why i need it and for the reason why i need it is to move to Netherlands and get residency to live with my non Muslim bf outside of marriage is forbidden so my request will be rejected.

5- I have a full time job here in Jordan that I'm planning on quieting after I relocate with my partner. my company has granted me permission to work remotely for 3 months while I'm in the Netherlands processing my documents, I read it could take 6 months for the IND to make a decision, is it possible that i can leave Netherlands after 3 months to go back to my Job until the decision is made? I can't possibly quiet my job without making sure i can go live with my partner

Thank you for any info given

Hi there Cynic

I hope you are doing well, and I wanted to firstly thank you for the way you have answered other people's questions. It's really great of you to be doing such a thing.

I went through the IND website and am having some follow up questions after speaking to someone at the Dutch Embassy in Sydney in regards to applying for verification against EU law with my wife. I would very much appreciate you providing any clarity possible so that when I apply the process goes as smoothly as possible for both the IND and myself. I have used bullet points to hopefully make it simpler to respond to.

Some background info :

My wife has German citizenship and I have dual American/Australian Citizenship. We're expecting our first child and will be moving with a 4-5 month old in February 2022 from Australia to the Netherlands (I know, who moves from an Australian summer to a European winter?)

We were planning to find an apartment for 1 month while we decide which area of the city we would like to live in. Is it ok to apply with a temporary address?

We also may have the opportunity to stay with friends (who own their own properties) for 4-8 weeks - would this also be an option?

My wife will be on maternity leave from her position when we arrive so will not have any income, however we will have enough (more than 2 years of being able to live without working) until I gain employment and my wife goes back to work. Can you please confirm that this would be sufficient?

Given that my wife will be on maternity leave and cannot work, is there a way to get the temporary right to work while the application is being processed so that I can start to search for employment?
Are we able to travel while the application is being processed?

Our child will gain German nationality at birth, can she be registered in the Netherlands at the same time as my wife?

The process can take up to 6 months - are you able to say what the usual processing time is if all paperwork is provided at the application appointment?

Will the ability to make in person appointments become available in September so that we can book a time in February 2022? Or is this very fluid given the covid situation?

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate your time and any information you can provide clarity on.


Kind Regards,

Wylde

wylde  xav wrote:

Hi there Cynic

I hope you are doing well, and I wanted to firstly thank you for the way you have answered other people's questions. It's really great of you to be doing such a thing.

I went through the IND website and am having some follow up questions after speaking to someone at the Dutch Embassy in Sydney in regards to applying for verification against EU law with my wife. I would very much appreciate you providing any clarity possible so that when I apply the process goes as smoothly as possible for both the IND and myself. I have used bullet points to hopefully make it simpler to respond to.

Some background info :

My wife has German citizenship and I have dual American/Australian Citizenship. We're expecting our first child and will be moving with a 4-5 month old in February 2022 from Australia to the Netherlands (I know, who moves from an Australian summer to a European winter?)

We were planning to find an apartment for 1 month while we decide which area of the city we would like to live in. Is it ok to apply with a temporary address?

We also may have the opportunity to stay with friends (who own their own properties) for 4-8 weeks - would this also be an option?

My wife will be on maternity leave from her position when we arrive so will not have any income, however we will have enough (more than 2 years of being able to live without working) until I gain employment and my wife goes back to work. Can you please confirm that this would be sufficient?

Given that my wife will be on maternity leave and cannot work, is there a way to get the temporary right to work while the application is being processed so that I can start to search for employment?
Are we able to travel while the application is being processed?

Our child will gain German nationality at birth, can she be registered in the Netherlands at the same time as my wife?

The process can take up to 6 months - are you able to say what the usual processing time is if all paperwork is provided at the application appointment?

Will the ability to make in person appointments become available in September so that we can book a time in February 2022? Or is this very fluid given the covid situation?

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate your time and any information you can provide clarity on.


Kind Regards,

Wylde

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

To answer your questions as you asked them:

Sanity - what can I saw, you're nuts, but maybe you like the rain and snow. 

Address - assuming you mean can you register from a temporary address - yes and yes, you can, but you need the landlords permission - not normally a problem.

Working - you'll be entering on the basis of your wife being an EU citizen, yes, you can work on that visa.

Travel - none that I'm aware of, Holland is in Schengen zone which means you can travel unimpeded through the other; link to Schengen details are here.  My point is you can cross from the Netherlands into Germany at will, nobody checks anymore, we used to do it every weekend.

Child registration - yes.

Processing time - unless there is something unusual about your application, normally a maximum of 90 days.  Covid has caused some delays but hopefully, we're getting to the end of that tunnel.

Appointments for registration at the Gemeente have to be made within 5 days of arrival, the actual registration visit will be after that.  I don't know if you can book from abroad; phone the Gemeente and ask them.

If you have any more specific questions, please come back to us.

Think that's it - hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

Thanks for your super quick reply. Yeah, have done the sanity check, but with being so far away from family and a little one on the way, it's the right move from that standpoint .

Just three clarifying questions:

With the registration address, do hotels/short-stay accommodation (i.e. airbnb style) also provide the ability to use their address if staying 2-4 weeks? or something like an address registration permission form just so i can get post? https://assets.amsterdam.nl/publish/pag … ress_1.pdf

And, with regards to work for myself, my question was more around the 'sticker in the passport' that may allow me to work while the visa is processing. Am I right in understanding that it's on a case by case basis and I just need to ask for it? Then it is on them if they decide to grant it?

Is the Gemeente and the IND separate. I know we need to get a number somewhere that allows me to get a bank account etc. Thus, is the process to first call IND and get an appointment. Go to the appointment and apply and then i can go to the local Gemeente to get this BSN or are they one and the same appointments?


thanks again for your help! it is much appreciated! This is my 5th int'l move and it's thanks to people like yourself who have made it feel easier.

wylde

Hi again.

Registration address - always depends on the Landlord - so ask before you book.

If you enter the country on a EU family visa, you have the right to work; I'm now trying to think of a reason why you wouldn't be allowed to work.  That said, I'm not the IND, if it's important to you, phone them and ask - they speak English and have a phone number where you can ask questions specifically about you and a Twitter account where they will answer generic questions.  This link will take you to the main page; contact's are in the top right corner; the website is down at moment.

The IND is a Dutch Government Department, they are in charge of Immigration; they have an operational branch in the Koninklijke Marechaussee who are in fact Military Policemen; they are the uniformed guys and girls at the ports and airports who do the immigration check.  Your wife being German would know them as the Grenzschutzpolizei.  The IND have an administrative department who are not MP's and work in the office, civil servants - these are the public-facing guys to who we speak when we ask questions of the IND.

The Gemeente is the local council; more civil servants, Holland has lots of civil servants.  The Gemeente's run local administration, one of which is the national database, to which you have to register if you are resident in the Netherlands.  You have 5 days from arriving to make an appointment to do this; you almost certainly won't get an appointment in 5 days, but you have to make contact within that time.  When you register you get your BSN (Burgerservicenummer) and DigiD; BSN allows you to work, pay taxes, get health insurance, open a bank account register a car and more - it's important; all of you will get a BSN number, it's unique to you and is for life.  DigiD is basically a web-portal with which you communicate with the Dutch Government - none of these things are optional by the way, if you are one of these guys who thinks the state should be less intrusive, then Holland (probably the whole EU), is not the place to be going to live.

In our local Gemeente, the Registration Desk is across the floor, next to the IND desk; they share interview rooms.  I guess they are different, but the Dutch are if nothing else practical.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi to all,
I just need few clarifications as getting in contact with IND is like mission impossible.
I am Croatian and recently I got job offer in NL. My husband is Serbian and we have 3 small kids who are Croats as well.
I know that I need to register myself in IND in order to get residence permit to my husband by applying to verification against EU law. Here I have few questions so any help is more than welcome.
1. Is my husband allowed to stay with us in NL while he is waiting for the decision from IND? How is that functioning?

2. Kids just need to be registered in IND as they are EU citizens, right?

3. Do we need apostille/legalisation of international birth and marriage certificates? What else docs do we need for both registration of EU citizens in IND and to apply for verif. against EU law? (To be sure to prepare everything before going to NL)

4. We have lived in NL for 3.5y, from 2012. At that time I was there on high skill migrant visa and my husband was with me. Oldest kid was born in A'dam. Can we reuse old BSN numbers and what is the procedure how to reactivate it?

That would be all for now .
Thanks in advance p

zirk zirk wrote:

Hi to all,
I just need few clarifications as getting in contact with IND is like mission impossible.
I am Croatian and recently I got job offer in NL. My husband is Serbian and we have 3 small kids who are Croats as well.
I know that I need to register myself in IND in order to get residence permit to my husband by applying to verification against EU law. Here I have few questions so any help is more than welcome.
1. Is my husband allowed to stay with us in NL while he is waiting for the decision from IND? How is that functioning?

2. Kids just need to be registered in IND as they are EU citizens, right?

3. Do we need apostille/legalisation of international birth and marriage certificates? What else docs do we need for both registration of EU citizens in IND and to apply for verif. against EU law? (To be sure to prepare everything before going to NL)

4. We have lived in NL for 3.5y, from 2012. At that time I was there on high skill migrant visa and my husband was with me. Oldest kid was born in A'dam. Can we reuse old BSN numbers and what is the procedure how to reactivate it?

That would be all for now .
Thanks in advance p

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

To answer your questions:

1.  Yes - he can remain for 90 days on a Schengen visa.
2.  Correct, except it's the Gemeente, not the IND.
3.  EU citizens have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU.  In the Netherlands, they just need to be registered with the Gemeente.
4.  You will use your old BSN numbers.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,
Thanks for very quick reply.
I am still confused regarding process of verification against EU law. I read that in that case EU citizen who is sponsor also needs to register in IND ("...It is a two-step application. First, the EU citizen must register at the IND. Second, the partner applies for verification against EU law. Both have to do so in person at one of the IND desks") .
But you pointed it is not with IND but Gemeente. So is it now changed or still we both need to go through IND? What about kids? I have also found that partner is getting stamp in passport that allows him to stay in NL and even work while decision is in process. Is that true and in what cases does it apply? Just to highlight that he as Serbian citizen does not need entry visa for NL.
What about documentation that needs to be provided for registration of myself and kids and application for res permit for my partner? Do we need apostille if docs are international issued by Croatian authorities? I guess we will need birth and marriage certificates.
Is it possible to do something online due to corona or is it still only in person? Do you have a clue how long we will need to wait for appointment if we need to apply on the desk? IND should decide about application for verif. against EU law in 90 days or in 6m?
All regarding BSN is with geemente, right?

Thanks a million

I just found your quote, you got this from the IamExpat website?

You and your kids are EU citizens, you have the right to live and work in the Netherlands, the IND is nothing to do with you.  Your husband is a non-EU citizen and requires a visa but is entitled to one under EU verification rules.  So, he travels with you, enters the country on a short-term 90-day visa; you then (within 5 working days) make an appointment for you and your husband to visit the IND so you can sponsor and apply for his visa - these meetings have to be in person.

When I went to the Gemeente in Enschede, the IND office and Gemeente registration were colocated; perhaps it's the same where you are going to live.

Someone on here said that they waited months for an appointment, whether there were extenuating reasons for that, they couldn't tell us.  You can speak to IND directly if you have any concerns, they have a contact page on their website; this link will take you straight to it.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks for inputs Cynic
Yes, quote is from there but I've found similar also on IND site: "Your family member with the nationality of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland is lawfully residing in the Netherlands. That means your family member has a registration certificate from the IND or a valid Dutch residence permit. Read about registering with the IND as an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen."
I was trying to reach IND all week and with no luck, phone, twitter, mail, no response at all. That's the reason why I tried to get some clarifications here.
In next few days I need to give my answer to the job offer and it depends much of possibility to have my husband with us all the time. Also, I am planning to go to NL for a few days to finilize as much of the paperwork as possible and then to return home and to do relocation step by step. That's why I need info regarding needed documentation for IND and if there is a need to legalize it with apostille. So not to go there and find out that I am missing something.
I will ofc continue trying to get in contact with IND but, as I already said, any info is more than welcome.
Thanks 😉

That section you are quoting is in the section titled "Registering with the IND as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen" and is for citizens of those countries only, so would not apply to your husband.

Apostilled documents are generally for documentation issued by a specific government or administration, for example, birth certificates, marriage certificates, adoption certificates, divorce decrees both nisi and absolute; there are more but unless you have a complicated life almost certainly won't apply to you; I use this list when checking this.

You haven't said what you do, but if your qualifications are regulatory recognised (medical professions, teachers, some engineers) you may need your charters to be certified.

Cynic
Expat Team

It is actually from here: https://ind.nl/en/eu-eea/Pages/Family-m … ality.aspx
So conclusion is that I need to register in IND as an EU citizen in order my husband to be able to apply for verification against EU law. Registration only in geemente is not enough.

I haven't understood if it is needed to have apostille on birth and marriage certificates in international form issued by Croatian authorities?

I think that our situation is pretty much easy as we are officialt married for years, with kids, without any "exotical thing" neither in our relation nor in life. I work in IT so also there should not be any additional things for paperworks. And on top of that we have already lived in NL for 3.5y.

Only thing is that now we have corona that is affecting all communications and processes and I am trying to avoid any possible additional issue or missing doc.

Hey - then you knew it all along.

Have a safe trip.

Hi everyone:) I'm a German citizen and I'm moving to Netherlands soon I'm living with my boyfriend who is Pakistani and has applied aslyum here in Germany but got rejected we are together for past 3 years so we both want to move together to Netherlands and I want him to get registered as my cohabitation partner in Netherlands my Question is that can he move with me while he has no legal documents to stay in Netherlands like visa etc but he is having all other required documents like passport birth certificate etc is that possible for him to move with me and register himself with IND? What are the consequences if he go with me to the Netherlands and we both go to IND to get a residence permit for him as an unmarried partner?

alinasir81 wrote:

Hi everyone:) I'm a German citizen and I'm moving to Netherlands soon I'm living with my boyfriend who is Pakistani and has applied aslyum here in Germany but got rejected we are together for past 3 years so we both want to move together to Netherlands and I want him to get registered as my cohabitation partner in Netherlands my Question is that can he move with me while he has no legal documents to stay in Netherlands like visa etc but he is having all other required documents like passport birth certificate etc is that possible for him to move with me and register himself with IND? What are the consequences if he go with me to the Netherlands and we both go to IND to get a residence permit for him as an unmarried partner?

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Unless there is something untoward that you haven't mentioned (and you don't have to on here) that was the reason for your boyfriend being denied asylum in Germany, then I can't think why you would be denied a family-style visa in the Netherlands.  The Dutch Government department (IND) that deals with this can be found at this link.

My advice is to read that link and any further information it contains, then contact the IND (they have a contact section on the website) and ask any questions you may have.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi again.

I need to first check the conditions for applying for a partner permit on the IND website; the first question it asks is "First answer 2 questions about the nationality of your partner and yourself.", so I need to know both your and your partner's nationality, before I can attempt to answer the question; until then, my advice remains to go and ask the IND.

If you want to go online and find out the answer for yourself, this is the link to the IND website where you can find out the conditions for yourself without disclosing your partner's nationality on the open forum.  You will also get the opportunity to ask questions online, live and direct to the IND.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello, 
My partner and I are located in Uruguay and we want to move to The Netherlands, I have an Italian passport but she doesn't.
To enter migration are gonna ask a document proving out relationship and at least 6 months living together (we are unmarried) and a bank account with sufficient money for both of us? Anything else we should look for?
Is better if we travel with a job offer for both of us or is not necessarily important?

Thanks for the help in advance

Rdeluca wrote:

Hello, 
My partner and I are located in Uruguay and we want to move to The Netherlands, I have an Italian passport but she doesn't.
To enter migration are gonna ask a document proving out relationship and at least 6 months living together (we are unmarried) and a bank account with sufficient money for both of us? Anything else we should look for?
Is better if we travel with a job offer for both of us or is not necessarily important?

Thanks for the help in advance

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

An EU citizen has the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, a TCN (what the EU calls a non-EU citizen) does not.  Your partner will need some kind of visa and may have to pass a Dutch language exam (called Integration or Inburgering in Dutch).  You've told me very little about yourselves, so all I can offer you is a link to the Dutch Government (IND) website, specifically the Family visa section; please read it and follow any links it provides.  All the answers are in there, including a link to the contact section so you can contact the IND directly.

To try and answer your question, you don't have to have a job, but you should be aware that if you can't find work and ask for social support (money from the Government), you will be returned to the country you came from.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team