The Netherlands: In-Country Delays Affect Visa-Exempt Applicants’ Start Dates

• Expatcenter delays. Dutch Expatcenters, which offer combined immigration and municipal registration on arrival, face several weeks to several months delay. Specifically:
  • Amsterdam. Appointment wait times are now more than two months.
  • Eindhoven, Rotterdam. Appointment wait times are approximately two months, up from one month.
  • Groningen, The Hague. Appointment wait times are two to three weeks.
• Immigration office delays. Separate immigration offices also face delays, as several immigration offices were recently closed to account for increased traffic to the Expatcenters, resulting in a lack of current overflow capacity.
• Town hall delays. Amsterdam town hall currently has a two to four-month appointment wait time, up from one to two weeks.
• Embassy delays. Dutch embassies in high-volume locations (e.g., South Africa and Russia) are also experiencing delays, with appointment wait times at two months.

• Work start delay for visa-exempt applicants. The delays impact visa-exempt applicants, who must collect a residence endorsement sticker or a residence permit at an immigration office in the Netherlands before they can start working. The collection location for the permit is indicated on the immigration application and cannot be changed. The residence endorsement sticker can be collected at other offices, but wait times are high and these must be collected before applicants can proceed to municipal registration.
• Social fiscal number delay for all applicants. The municipal registration wait times delay the ability for applicants to obtain a Dutch social fiscal number (BSN), which affects registration on local payroll, obtaining a local bank account and local insurance, and school enrollment for dependent children; among other in-country processes. 
• Best practice. Employers and foreign nationals are advised to account for the delays in their assignment or employment planning; schedule in-country appointments as soon as possible; prepare for appointments and ensure to carry all necessary documents and information; and attend any appointments scheduled. In addition, employers should ensure their employees attend their appointments. If they do not attend, or require re-scheduling, it may take an additional number of weeks before the employee can start work.

In-country immigration and registration appointments are typically streamlined, particularly due to the increase in Expatcenter service capacity over the past years. However, immigration events such as the 2015 refugee crisis, Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict temporarily disrupted government processing as officials support crisis responses.

Some authorities have indicated that they are hiring and opening additional desks, and expect more availability by July, but this is not guaranteed.

As these delays stem from resumed travel after easing of pandemic-related restrictions, they are expected to normalize in due time, although this may take several months due to accumulating backlog. Additionally, Q3 is typically a busy period in immigration due to foreign nationals seeking relocation before the start of the academic year. Employers and foreign nationals are advised to anticipate delays for the remainder of 2022. 

Fragomen’s Dutch government strategies team is petitioning relevant authorities for practical solutions to permit visa-exempt nationals to start employment prior to obtaining the residence endorsement sticker, as was possible during the pandemic. Fragomen will report on relevant developments.