Can a Small Business Qualify for the Dutch Startup Visa?
Yes, a small company can qualify. Official start-up requirements do not set a minimum turnover, team size, or funding round. The tests are innovation, a realistic step-by-step plan, a facilitator, KVK registration, and sufficient means.
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What the official list actually contains
RVO’s requirements (checked June 2025 on that page) are:
- Work with a trusted, experienced facilitator in The Netherlands
- An innovative product or service
- A step-by-step plan from idea to company
- KVK registration of you and the facilitator
- Adequate financial resources to reside and live in The Netherlands
There is no published headcount floor. A one-founder company can be in scope if the other conditions are met. A ten-person company can be out of scope if the product is not innovative for the Dutch market.
The IND still decides the permit and still checks means. Confirm current living-means figures on the IND required amounts page before you apply. Our cost page cites the figure we used in August 2026 and links the official source.
Where small businesses fail this route
They fail on innovation and on the plan, not on being small.
Typical weak files:
- A consultancy that sells the founder’s time in the usual way
- A local shop, café, or import-export desk with no new product, technology, or organising method
- A company whose only “plan” is to find customers after arrival
- A founder who is only a shareholder
See ideas that are usually too weak and how innovation is assessed.
Small versus “not yet a company”
You do not need a mature scale-up. You do need a product or service that can be described as innovative, and a plan that shows how you will build the company in one year. RVO advises on whether that plan is realistic.
Hiring staff is allowed later if the company needs it and if each worker has their own legal basis. It is not a way to look bigger for RVO. See whether a start-up founder can hire.
Practical examples (not case results)
These are illustrations of how the published tests apply. They are not IND outcomes.
- A two-person team with a new process for a regulated Dutch industry can be in scope even with no revenue yet, if the novelty and the plan are real.
- A profitable one-person web agency that does standard WordPress work is still a standard service, regardless of income.
- A hardware prototype with no employees can be in scope; a franchise of an existing Dutch formula is not made innovative by being small.
Do not treat examples as a promise.
If you are unsure whether “small” is your problem or “not innovative” is your problem, that is the eligibility question. Use the free check, then book a session only if there is a founder route worth testing.
