Looking for a retirement visa? The Netherlands doesn't offer one — both its routes here require a job offer from a Dutch employer. See other countries' guides
Working in the Netherlands: do you qualify?
A country built around one clear idea: a recognised employer sponsors you, and the process moves quickly once they do.
The conditions behind the routes above
An employer, a government nomination, or an approved endorsing body has to stand behind the route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Netherlands's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
€11,250 placed as capital, exposed until the residency conditions are met.
The EU-wide route, open to a slightly broader band of job types and salaries than the Kennismigrant permit — worth checking if a job offer doesn't fit the Dutch-specific route's criteria.
The long-standing Dutch-specific route for skilled hires, sponsored directly by the employer.
The order EU Blue Card follows
- 2026-01-01Minimum salary thresholds for the Kennismigrant and EU Blue Card permits rose for 2026 — to €5,942 a month for applicants aged 30 and over, €4,357 for those under 30, and €3,122 for recent graduates of a Dutch or top-ranked international university. The immigration service resets these figures each year for wage growth. source
Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Netherlands's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentEvery official figure on this page is checked against Netherlands's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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