Can My Spouse Work in the Netherlands?
Your spouse does not automatically inherit a job from your start-up permit. Whether they may work is decided on their own residence document. For some work-related permits the IND says the partner may work without a separate TWV. Check the live IND partner page for your permit type.
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Look at the card, then at IND
Dutch residence documents state whether work is freely permitted (arbeid vrij toegestaan) or restricted. That endorsement is what an employer and the UWV look at.
The IND partner page is a questionnaire. It includes a section on when a partner is free to work, tied to your permit type. Complete it for start-up, not for highly skilled migrant, unless that is actually your permit.
What is published for self-employed
For the self-employed residence permit, IND public text states that family members are allowed to work in The Netherlands without a work permit (TWV), and that the residence permit says work is freely permitted.
The start-up permit is a different purpose of stay. Do not copy the self-employed family-work sentence onto a start-up card unless the IND partner wizard says the same for start-up in your answers. If you later switch to self-employed after the start-up year, that is when the self-employed family-work rule is the one to read.
What a spouse still cannot do
- Work on the founder’s start-up permit. They need their own residence document.
- Ignore TWV rules if their card does not allow free labour-market access.
- Treat unpaid “helping in the company” as a way around immigration law if they have no right to work.
If the spouse will be a co-founder, that is a different design: they may need their own start-up or other founder basis, not a silent job in your BV.
How to check before you relocate
- Run the IND partner questionnaire with the founder’s permit type set to start-up.
- After a permit is issued, read the work endorsement on the family member’s card.
- If you will hire the spouse in the start-up, get employment and immigration advice that matches the card. NLVentureDesk is not a law firm.
For the application itself, see Can my spouse and children join me?
If dual-income is what makes the year financially possible, get the IND answer in writing from the wizard and, if needed, from the IND before you resign a job abroad.
