Bringing a partner or a child here is a separate application from your own, with its own conditions, its own fee and its own ways of failing.
You become the sponsor, which means the IND tests you as much as it tests them: your income, how long you have lived here, and what kind of permit you hold.
A permit of your own does not automatically carry anyone else.
If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen
You are outside all of this.
Free movement covers your family members, the IND does not issue you a residence permit, and the income thresholds below are not aimed at you.
Your family still registers with the gemeente and still needs a BSN each.
Everything that follows applies where the sponsor holds a Dutch residence permit or Dutch nationality and the family member is a third-country national.
The conditions for a partner
Both of you must be 21 or older.
The one exception is a couple already married abroad, where 18 is enough.
The relationship has to be real and exclusive, whether you are married, registered partners or an unmarried couple in a durable relationship.
Unmarried couples are accepted, but they are asked to evidence the relationship in a way married couples are not.
Your income has to be independent, sustainable and sufficient.
The IND publishes the amount and adjusts it twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July, because it tracks the statutory minimum wage.
For the period from 1 July to 31 December 2026 the figure for a married or registered partner or an unmarried couple is €2,337 gross a month excluding holiday allowance, or €2,523.96 including it.
Sustainable is the word that catches people.
The income has to be available for long enough ahead, so a three-month contract at a good salary is worth less to the IND than a permanent contract at a lower one.
A probation period, a chain of temporary contracts or a recent switch to freelancing are all places where an otherwise straightforward application stops.
There is also a waiting period if your own permit is recent.
A sponsor who is not a Dutch or EU national generally has to have lived in the Netherlands for at least a year before sponsoring a partner, and holders of au pair, working holiday, cultural exchange and seasonal work permits cannot sponsor at all.
The civic integration exam abroad
Before applying for the MVV, a partner from most countries has to pass the Civic Integration Exam Abroad, the basisexamen inburgering buitenland.
It is a test of Dutch language and Dutch society, taken at a Dutch embassy or consulate or an approved external provider, and the result has to be enclosed with the MVV application within a year of passing.
A long list of nationalities is exempt: citizens of the EU and EEA, plus Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Vatican City, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea and Switzerland.
Other exemptions exist and are worth checking before anyone books lessons.
Applicants under 18 or at state pension age are exempt.
So are people who lived in the Netherlands for eight years or more during compulsory school age, Surinamese nationals with Dutch primary education, and holders of relevant Dutch language qualifications including NT2 diplomas, Dutch university degrees and an International Baccalaureate taken in Dutch.
Registration goes through DUO first, then the Dutch representation in the country where the exam will be taken.
Passing this exam abroad is not the same as the full inburgering obligation that starts once someone lives here, which is a longer and more demanding process.
Children
A minor child joining a parent is the cheapest application in the IND’s book at €85, against €254 for a partner.
The child under 18 must genuinely belong to your family, and where one parent stays behind, the IND asks for that parent’s consent.
A child born in the Netherlands has its own route, as do adopted and foster children.
None of them is automatic, and a birth here does not confer Dutch nationality by itself.
Once the child is here, the practical questions arrive quickly: an international school or a Dutch state school, and how the newcomer classes work.
The international schools in The Hague fill early and the waiting lists are real, so this is worth starting while the permit is still in progress rather than after.
For younger children, daycare, BSO and the childcare benefit work on a similar timescale, and childcare and preschools in The Hague have waiting lists measured in months.
The procedure, and how long it takes
The MVV and the residence permit are applied for at the same time, in the combined procedure.
Usually you file from inside the Netherlands as the sponsor while your family member waits abroad.
The IND must decide within 90 days.
That is a legal maximum rather than a forecast, and the clock only starts on a complete application.
Where the sponsor’s status is asylum-based, the period is nine months.
Assemble the documents before you file, not after.
Foreign birth, marriage and divorce certificates usually need to be legalised or apostilled and translated, and that process runs on the other country’s timetable, not yours.
It is the step most likely to add months, and it is the one entirely within your control.
When they arrive
Everyone registers with the gemeente.
The registration appointment produces a BSN for each family member, and without one nobody can be insured, enrolled in a school, or paid.
Health insurance is compulsory and the deadline is tight, so sorting cover belongs in the first fortnight rather than the first quarter.
If you qualify for The Hague International Centre, family members can be registered there alongside you, which is faster than the ordinary municipal queue.
A spouse or partner on a family permit is generally free to work without a separate work permit, which is worth confirming against the conditions printed on their own residence document rather than assumed.
Where an application is refused, or the income test is marginal, or the relationship is hard to evidence, that is when to pay for help.
Immigration lawyers in The Hague deal with objections and appeals, and relocation and immigration services handle document legalisation and the filing itself.
A straightforward application by a well-paid sponsor on a permanent contract does not need either.
Sources
- IND, residence permit for partner: the requirement that both partners are 21 or older unless already married abroad, when 18 applies; the income requirement of independent, sustainable and sufficient income; “Before you apply for the MVV, your partner has passed the civic integration exam abroad”; the €254 fee; the 90-day decision period and the nine-month period for asylum-based family reunification; and the sponsor rules excluding au pair, working holiday, cultural exchange and seasonal work permit holders and requiring a year of prior residence
- IND, required amounts and income requirements (1 July to 31 December 2026): €2,337 gross per month excluding holiday allowance and €2,523.96 including it, for a married or registered partner or an unmarried couple
- IND, Civic Integration Exam Abroad: that passing it is a requirement for applying for an MVV, that it is a test of Dutch language and culture taken at a Dutch representation or external provider, that results must be enclosed with the MVV application within one year, the exempt nationalities (EU or EEA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Vatican City, United Kingdom, United States, South Korea, Switzerland), and the further exemptions for under-18s, people at state pension age, eight or more years of Dutch residence during compulsory school age, Surinamese nationals with Dutch primary education, and holders of NT2 diplomas, Dutch university degrees or an International Baccalaureate taken in Dutch; registration with DUO followed by the Dutch representation abroad
- IND, fees: €254 for a family member or partner, €85 for a child under 18 joining a parent
- IND, residence permits for family and partner: the separate routes for a minor child joining a parent, a child born in the Netherlands, adopted children and foster children
- MVV-Gezinshereniging (Delissen Martens), normbedragen per 1 januari 2026: that the income requirement is linked to the statutory minimum wage and adjusted on 1 January and 1 July each year
- The Hague International Centre, make an appointment for registration: that family members of eligible employees may register at the centre
Leave a Reply